"It certainly has all the characteristics of a door."

I still have no idea why the firemen showed up to our apartment building at 3:30am and tried -- loudly but unsuccessfully -- to hack down a sealed, unmarked door on the first floor that covered the sheet rock behind it. 

We woke up late last night/early this morning to what we thought was our downstairs neighbor's bass vibrating the floorboards.  Fair guess. This would not be the first time.  So as I put on my sweatpants -- backwards, I would later discover -- I very quickly reached my boiling point while considering exactly how I would articulate my irritation. Fortunately, I was too groggy to find a blunt, heavy objects.

Before we made it out the door, though, the Girl grabbed my arm -- "It's not the stereo."

That's when she pointed to the flashing lights outside our third floor windows: ambulance, fire truck, two police cars.

From furious to abruptly confused, I stepped into the hallway and looked over the railing, and saw two things: the back of another tenant's head who was doing exactly the same thing, and three firefighters laughing at their discovery that they were battering down the wrong entrance. 

"It certainly has all the characteristics of a door," I could hear one of them say.

Yeah, except for the wall behind it. 

I wonder how long it took them to figure out the axe wasn't going to be especially useful?

After another 10 minutes of laughing and shouting, they all filed out into their respective vehicles.  Someone in jeans and a sweatshirt hopped into the back of the ambulance, but they didn't seem to be in a hurry to get anywhere as they pulled away. 

It took a long time to fall back asleep.

All in all, a total mystery.  There are splinters in the hallway and the main entrance no longer locks -- but these are nothing more than bizarre reminders of why my espresso isn't going the distance today.

Clearly, I need to get the story from Creepy Maintenance Man.  I'm sure he has hidden cameras wired in every corner of the building.

Also, how the hell is it October already?  Not that I don't love autumn in New England, but Jesus, this means we're only weeks away from snow, and I'm nowhere close to ready to quit the beach (although the beach seems perfectly happy to quit me).

Comments

[Erika]

That is the one for the anthem wall, for sure. I love how public employees can just come, break things, and leave, though.

[Derek]

Yeah. I talked to my landlord today. He had no idea what happened last night, though he said it wasn't the first time.