Up in smoke

 

Come on, get up.

We got to get out of here.

My little brother had roused me

And my sister and was now leading

Us four on our hands and knees

Down the hall to the ground below.

Where we stood for hours 

Under a tree waiting

The smoke had filled the room

It was an electrical fire

My parents had gone out to dinner

In the days it meant 

We would not see them 

Until maybe the next morning

Those all nighters

Where the job was important

And so was image patrol.

They were not bad people

They had just been raised 

In a climate of trust

Amongst neighbors

Something we were never allowed.

When they finally arrived by taxi

The fire trucks were mostly done

For the night of fire prevention

We had no apartment to go back

So, it was a good thing they arrived

At all, wasn't it?

We four spent a lot of time together 

In those years before destruction

Came down on us through Candance

It was not our first fire 

Nor the last time we were a family

It was just that moment 

In moms' eyes 

When she surveyed the damage

And knew she had enough.

Another family had lost their two daughters

The other Pelosi family of San Francisco

She was tired and worn down

She never did recover the breakdown

She had after all the work

Her parents put through 

From her abduction as a child.

Turns out the same family 

Just kept following us around

I recall my father driving all 

The way from Washington

To California to explain

To me about his childhood

It was not pleasant

He was raised by a woman

Who was not his mom

His mom having died when he was six weeks

Grace was not the nicest 

Person that I recall

But Jimmy loved her 

As she did her bidding

It was my father torn 

Between two families

And two worlds 

Trying to tell me about his life

And how mine had to be different.

We both tried to be true

The boys were taken away from us

She kept after them in her illness

While Jimmy and Candy 

Were allowed by the State

To have custody of us

Without reason nor why

Just to lazy to process

The court orders

Or to prevent false paperwork

From appearing.

I was almost killed tonight.

Once again, those senses alert

Without warning my alarm 

Went off with a small whine

I got myself together and went

Out to the hallway

Only to realize it was just my room.

The Fire alarm is supposed to go off

For the entire building

So why was it just my rooms?

I explained at the office

It was seven and a few girls 

Had forgotten to go home

They were seen scurrying

A few minutes later

Caught at work on Wednesday

It appears that staff 

Has difficulty understanding

A single thing I say 

It might be my bad tooth

Or that they just don't listen

Since I am no longer important

Enough to send real government 

Instead of false untrained wannabes

After dickering around I was told

To go back and turn the thing off

Myself, by bumping it with a stick

I did try this with my cane 

But I noticed the bedroom 

Had a strange sound

And it was dripping liquid

Back to office 

Just as the scurriers 

We're reaching for their keys

Who's to blame them 

It has been a long week 

They were simply hiding from home

Another discussion and now the maintenance man

Is going to have to come off hours

I also asked the stupid question

Was someone upstairs?

Do they have a leak?

The security did respond

They are not allowed inside your rooms

But he did knock on the door

No response madam 

He told me as I finally got the annoying

Sound overhead to stop

I have bad tinnitus and can't hear out of one ear

All sounds send me foaming at the mouth

Into migraine attacks

Reflecting on my life of struggles

Some would just give up

Commit suicide

Why keep trying 

No one is going to stop 

Nor care enough with their own families

Endangered to come to the aid 

Of yours while they are under threat.

The guy showed up

Like a lost lover

Always me who has the strange

Ones, a toilet handle that won't flush

Strange water in my closet

And now a smoke detector

Which is acting as if it wants 

To set itself on fire

He took it down 

And it was hot and melting 

On the part attached to the ceiling

And the smell of smoke or burn

Was present but he did not know 

What to do until morning

Then I mentioned it again

That the water was dripping 

From above, do they have a leak?

A short time later 

He returned sad and sorry

He had to leave me now

His job was going to take him away

To the upstairs where their sink had overflowed

I listened to him for the next hour plus

Going at it with his tools

Unplugging the sink

And draining it with his power tools

Meanwhile, there were more drips on my floor

And I remember my neighbor who would 

Not stop calling the cops on me

For making noise at all

One discussion I was not to make a sound before noon.

She would then through things around

And drop heavy objects

I also explained to the management

More than six months ago

That I thought she was trying to break

The floor above me 

Just where the smoke detector sits

I was wondering what in her bathroom

Could cause her such destruction.

But they took her away one night

Not having explained anything at all

To me but I no longer have the police

Knocking at my door.

There is the very spot she damaged

Is the spot that when an overflow occured

It went straight down like a well trained puppy

Almost as if it was done on purpose.

Wonder if she was the one who did the damage?

I did catch her standing in the window

Right over my desk and computer

Just standing and listening to me.

Even my key board strikes make sounds!

What would have happened if I had been asleep?

Or if the alarm had gone off and I had not awaken.

The room would have filled with smoke

The kind that does not go away

The kind my tender lungs can't handle

The electrical fire would have resulted 

In more than one unit having the same issue

It might have been morning before they found me

Or the weekend or the next week depending on which neighbor

Noticed I had not surfaced

No one to wake me up 

Nor anyone to call when it is over.

Jimmy and Candy made sure of that

Jimmy with his stalking and sabutauge

And Candy with her obssession

Running straight into each other's arms one night

Who would have thought 

Two different world colliding.

But stranger things have happened.

Such as a mail carrier actually delivering a letter.

Or a teller cashing a Bonafide check.

Another day to live

Another day to regret

Another day to atone for your sins if you have any...

Oh, by the way

The lottery has risen 

To a new height of over a billion dollars. 

Should not sell my house 

And buy up the nearest liquor stores

Entire stock of tickets....

Hmm, not suspicious at all.

Woke up to find the President 

is going to visit my city,

Has nothing to do with the incendiary device 

Being the very thing that is supposed to save my life.

The smoke alarm being drowned by the upstairs apartment!