The blaring of the fire alarm interrupts my words. I frown, wondering if the small amount of steam coming up from the noodles could’ve set it off.
“That’s weird. Mom, I need to call you back.”
“Okay, sweetie. Tell the boys Gamma loves them big. Bye!”
I tuck the phone in my pocket before setting the boys’ plates in front of them, one blue and one green. A commotion outside the apartment door draws my attention, and I move to the front door to investigate. The raised voices aren’t at all uncommon here. I look through the peephole and notice a few people rushing by with bundles in their arms.
What the hell is going on?
I unlock the dead bolt and the extra lock I installed myself the second night we were here and I continually heard thumping outside.
“Fire! Fire on the second floor!” a shrill voice screams.
It takes me a few seconds to react. The smell of smoke reaching my nostrils is what does it.
“Oh my gosh.” I spin around, grabbing my car keys and my purse. “Boys! Get your shoes, and let’s go!”
I run into the bedroom, picking up the first bag I see, and throwing in a few clothing items in it for the twins. I gather up each of their favorite stuffed animals and their blankets they can’t sleep without before rushing back out. A small amount of smoke has filtered into the apartment, causing my heart rate to skyrocket.
“Boys! I said get your shoes!”
They were too busy downing the mac and cheese and nuggets to pay attention to me. I snag the shoes by the door and stuff them in the bag before going over to tug on each of their arms.
Dawson hops down from the chair. “Mommy, I want more mac ’n’ cheese.”
“We’re leaving! Let’s go see the horses again. You wanna do that?”
They both perk up at the wordhorses. I try to keep the panic from my voice to make it seem like an adventure. Dutton grabs a nugget for the road and finally follows me. At the last second, I pick up my prettiest pothos plant sitting on the dining room table and shove it inside the backpack. I look longingly at the row of thriving herbs, but I know I don’t have the space in my arms. It’s so stupid because they’re only plants, but the thought of losing more after already losing my entire back garden at my old house makes me want to scream. Last time I was there to get the boys, I noticed they’d all turned brown and died.
The smoke is thicker now. I’m able to hustle them out ofthe apartment and shut the door, not bothering to lock it, right as a fireman runs past us.
“We’re evacuating the entire building, ma’am. Get downstairs to safety! Is there anyone else in the apartment?”
I shake my head, pulling both the boys by the hand down the staircase, all three of us barefoot. My heart is thumping inside my chest. Another fireman is running up the stairs in full gear.
The boys gape at him.
“Mommy! A fireman!”
“Yeah. How cool, right? Hurry!”
I exhale a sigh of relief when we make it to the ground floor. There are tenants gathered around in varying states of disarray. I head straight for my car, watching out for anything in the parking lot that could hurt our bare feet. The boys, thankfully, still haven’t caught on to the seriousness of the situation.
“Mommy, I’m hungry. Can we go back and get my nuggets?” Dawson says, eyeing Dutton as he takes a big bite of the one he brought with us.
“No, we’ll get something else for dinner.”
I unlock the car, thankful it’s parked on the street so I’m not blocked in by any of the fire trucks. I toss the bags into the middle seat before buckling the boys in as quickly as possible.
“I’m hungry,” Dawson whines.
“Look, I brought Big Puppy. Do you want him?” I hand him the brown stuffed dog.
He immediately perks up. Dutton opens his mouth tocomplain, but I cut him off by handing him his favorite stuffed bear.
“I brought you Big Bear.”
The twins are not the most creative with naming their animals.
