The ride back to my apartment continued the surreal experience. Kat kept asking questions that she knew perfectly well I had no way to answer:

“How did your apartment catch on fire?” “Are the cats okay?” “Did everyone in the building get out ok?”

My head was still swimming and fuzzy, and “I don’t know” just didn’t seem to be good enough for her. She kept on and on and on until I thought that my head would explode.

“Are you even listening to me?!” she screeched.

“Yes, Kat. I’m listening. I’ve been listening, but I can’t answer the questions you’re asking until we get there.” I answered dully.

“Your freaking apartment is on fire! How can you be so calm?!” yelled Kat.

“I’m just waiting until we get there," I looked at her, "Freaking out now does no one any good, okay?”

The rest of the drive was spent in a very uncomfortable silence. Great, I thought, alienate the people who are really on your side.

When we pulled up to my building, we couldn't see the trucks or the fire - my apartment was around the back side overlooking the park - but between the smoke and the water, it looked like my building had it's own little cloud of doom and it was raining furiously. I got out of the car and started around the building. The shock had to be wearing off because each step I took felt like I was walking into a swarm of angry bees that were trying to hold me back. By the time I got around the building to see the little crowd of people huddled to the to the side of the fire truck parked diagonally in the grass, I was feeling prickly all over and wouldn't have been surprised if I'd have sprouted thorns. Kat came scrambling up to me in her heels as I slowed down. We scanned the people together.

Kat spotted Misery first and asked me, "who's that girl in the blanket and why do I get the impression that it's all she's got on?"

I followed the line of her finger to see who she was indicating and there she was, the bane of my existence, Misery. Her long honey blonde hair was tangled and snarled around her tear streaked face and she was barefoot. Between the two was a red blanket clutched firmly about her lush figure. She looked up and met my eyes just as I saw her, and I thought I saw a flash of pleasure flicker across her face but at fifty feet, who knows for sure?

We started walking over to her as I arranged my features in a mask of capable concern. When I got closer, I could hear what she was saying to the fireman standing by her.

" . . . just don't KNOW! I was just laying down to . . . uh . . .. read a book . . . when the phone rang and I grabbed it - telemarketer - and I was trying to get rid of him when the doorbell rang and I accidentally dropped my . . . uh . . . book . .. . in some paint by the bed as I was grabbing a robe and I got tangled up in the phone cord and dropped everything. Then, I ran into the living room only to hear someone unlocking the door. I grabbed the blanket off the back of the couch and ran back to the bedroom, but the curtain and the walls were already burning so I panicked and ran right out the door . . . " she started crying then and he just stood there patting her shoulder and staring at the line of blanket as it slid lower and lower with every heaving sob.

I rolled my eyes and muttered, "her book, yeah, right!" under my breath.