False Alarm

by L

So, I have a very sensitive fire alarm in my very ancient apartment. Like, the pre-pubescent tween girl kind of sensitive. It’s definitely better than the alternative, but seriously the second I turn on the stove, BAAM! the thing is blaring.

Now normally, my taller than me husband has the thing off the wall before it starts wailing. But last night I was home alone and forgot to take it down. Sure enough, before I know it I have a pot on the stove boiling wildly and a blaring fire alarm that I can’t reach. So I’m scrambling for a chair and frantically trying to get the thing off the wall while slicing my finger open, all before our neighbors freak out and the fire department comes.

Now let’s stop right there.

Growing up, I was under the impression that if the fire alarm went off for more than about a minute, the fire department was alerted and would come to the rescue. And it would be very very expensive to send them away if it was a false alarm. So it was very very important to make sure to turn off the alarm ASAP if it went off due to bad cooking skills.

Yeah…apparently that is a LIE, unless maybe you have a fancy dancy alarm system. Which we didn’t. We were the family that had the ADT sticker on our front door as a scare tactic (oldest trick in the book, Dad).

So, back to last night when said tall husband returned home. I was telling him (while bandaging my finger) that it was a good thing that I was able to get it off the wall, but that it was a close call and I was nervous the fire department would be alerted. To which he laughed in my face, and informed me that he has seen the fire alarms in my childhood home, and they are definitely not linked to any “system.”

So. MOM…DAD… whatever you said to me, it stuck. But I’m not happy about it. And I’m really wondering what else you “taught” me that I should have disregarded.