Viernes Almost Up In Smoke

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In the alley is a set of holiday lights coiled up like a snake between the garbage cans. The dog and I begin our frosty walk. I nudge him to walk a little faster since I'm running late to DLT's.

Of course the bus passes me up. Being the impatient knuckle head that I am I walk the 11 blocks to the studio. My breath comes out like a phantom wisp in the night air. Blocks later I see the old warehouse by the river. On the third floor I can see his art studio glowing like a lantern.

When I finally make it inside he is there drinking coffee with a friend. We hung around for a moment and kept hearing the sound of sirens. On my way to the bathroom I hear what sounds like an electric saw noise. Plus I hear banging on something somewhere on the other side. It smells like burnt saw dust, but I think nothing of it.

DLT decides to go to the bathroom after I come back. When he returns he says, "we need to get out of the bldg. there is a fire somewhere in the bldg."

Of course I look around in horror. If it's a fire that is out of control we need to figure out how to get all his paintings out of the studio. I was envisioning all his hard work go up in flames. Of course I was going to be damned if I walked out without trying to save the art work. We decided to see how bad the fire was. yes, dumb instead of evacuating we go all the way to the other end of the
hall and see smoke beginning to fill that area of the warehouse. Looking into DLT's eyes I knew that if the fire wasn't contained to the other side of the bldg and spread that he wouldn't recover from the loss of his paintings.

We are about to get out when we notice someone's door is opened. We go in and there is this guy in there totally oblivious to everything. By the time we get downstairs we run into someone from the bldg. and he tells us they have managed to contain a fire in one of the elevator shafts. We are beyond relieved, but still concerned because a moment ago the upstairs was gathering a lot of smoke for a contained fire. The man reassured us that it was really all under control.

After we walked out into the frosty night, we walked in silence for a while until we got to the new art warehouse down the street. When we made our way to the door the one and only Zhao brother #1 or is it #2 stood blocking the door. For a brief moment i thought he was going to battle us to get into the building. I mean he's standing there in a black trench coat and long black hair blowing in the wind like in some super samurai sunday flick. I was actually disappointed when he just stepped out of the way and held the door open for us.

The stairwell is a fire hazard in itself. We walk up and it's freezing. Finally, we make to the main floor. People are mingling and drinking sangria. (very good by the way) Saw two people that annoy me. The first one a Diana also. Felt bad for being a little difficult so I went back and made a genuine gesture to see how she was doing. The second sap, well I let DLT take care of her. Inside the art studios I noticed that I could see my breath. The poor things had to bring in heaters to try to heat up their spaces.

Once we made the rounds we left early and bought polishes. Walking back I looked at DLT in his navy hat and coat. It's like he hasn't aged since I met him. Still the same persistent gaze under the angry black eyebrows. We laugh at how we've come into contact with people and he says his name and they say, "yes, i've heard of you before." His response is just as long as you don't believe the bad things. We try to walk the two blocks quickly before the polishes freeze. We are the only one laughing and having a good time up the frosty street. We are still thanking the Universe this evening for keeping that fire contained.

**Just a final note. If a building is on fire don't jump into the flames**