🚨 Four-Alarm Fire, Part One 🔥

Last Friday as I sat in the dark reading Substack posts with my coffee, I smelled a faint whiff of burning plastic. Then I heard someone scream.

It was four-thirty in the morning. Teenagers at their middle-of-the-night shenanigans? Someone stumbling over from the methadone clinic a block away?

I looked up from my iPad to scan the apartment. Nothing seemed to be on fire inside. When I heard another scream outside, I beelined to our street-facing window.

While scanning, I heard sirens approaching. Once the fire engine turned onto our street, I threw on my Uggs and puffy coat and ran outside, heart pounding.

A few buildings down, this is what I see:

I was up early that day because of restless sleep.

After a busy week, I punted the big decisions I was weighing to Friday morning. I’ll focus on them with my morning coffee at the end of the week, I kept telling myself.

Between us, Michael and I had three contracts in limbo—all due for signing that day.