The Fire

The Fire

It was a dull-grayish day as I sat in my cozy living room, my eyes glued to the television set in front of me as if transfixed. Just a few short days before, I had been looking forward to the Veterans Day Holiday, a three-day weekend in which to relax. It was now Tuesday and I was wondering if I even had a job. The television blared the news that my office building was still burning, having been aflame for more than 24 hours. The details became a blur.

Feelings of despair and helplessness engulfed my being. I did not fret so much about the building itself. Structures can be rebuilt. I was frightened instead of the unknown. What did the future hold for me? A new Job? Would I be able to pay my bills? Try as I might to think of other things, these questions haunted me.

This shadow had followed me ever since I heard the news the previous day. Every now and then I would chide myself. Was I, in truth, getting the proverbial "cart before the horse?"

That morning I had been determined to learn of my fate. I awoke to my alarm and readied myself for work just as I would at any other time. The traffic moved smoothly until I neared the cutoff leading to the expansive building where I had spent the last few months of my life. The highway cloverleaf was jammed with cars going nowhere. The early morning sky was blackened with thick, heavy smoke conbimed with the offensive odor of burning tar.

I had to come to the realization, though it was not easy, that there would be no work, at least not that day and perhaps for many more. I found little comfort with the fact that I was only one of many caught in this turn of events.