Gas Line Explosion
A gas line explosion occurred in our neighborhood when I was in sixth grade. The first indication we had that there was a problem was the loud "bang" we heard while sitting in our last period, middle school study hall.
We didn't think much about it because a circus was setting up in the vacant lot across the street from our school. I, like everybody else who was gazing at the events outside our window attributed the noise to the work going on to get ready for the circus.
We became alarmed when our principal, going from room-to-room, arrived shouting, "Get the kids out of here! Don't go back to homeroom for anything!"
We all poured out of the school and began running home. Since it was a neighborhood school, there were no school buses. Needless to say we were confused and anxious.
As we got closer to our homes, we saw flames engulfing a whole side of the street of the block across from ours.
Carl's store was in flames and so were the next four houses beside the store. People were standing outside their homes, watching them go up in flames. Firetrucks from every little town in our valley were clogging the streets so there was no movement of traffic in any direction.
Reaching my house, I found my mother standing on our porch, holding my four-year-old brother who was mesmerized by the firemen as they ran toward the flames.
One thing that caught my attention was my sweet, little old next-door neighbor who was with my mother, holding about five purses on her arm. Guess she didn't trust banks.
The explosions did not reach our street, but the lesson of the day touched us all: the unexpected can occur, and it will happen when least expected.
What can we learn from this horrific neighborhood event? That the life in which we feel so secure can be engulfed by the flames of change at any point in time, without any warning.
Are you ready?
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