Ok, this one does not involve my inlaws, for a change 🙂

Some of you who know our house in Milton probably also realize that our property line backs into Summit Hill Elementary school – which is where Nikita goes. You cannot see the school from our house since there is a good five acres of forest in our property but you sure can hear all the commotion of a playground with kids in it during all hours. Which is, by the way, one of the best sounds you can hear in the mornings. The mind goes back to my own school days and the pure fun kids have on the play field with nary a worry.

You can then well understand my consternation when I heard a fire engine clanging from what seemed to be the direction of the school this morning. I tried to figure out whether it was one of the drills for the kids but the noise persisted for some time. With all the scary and unfortunate incidents in various schools, of course, the parent’s mind in me immediately got worried and started jumping to worst case scenarios. Illogical fears started creeping in. I remembered dropping Nikita in the morning and she was dressed smartly for the day – it was Career Day in her school. She was excited to be an Interior Designer and was carrying carpet pieces, measuring tape and such with her. I was feeling sorry if all that excitement got canceled due to whatever it is that had happened for which the fire engine had to be called.

I was anyways on my way out for a doctor’s appointment. I rerouted myself so as to drive on the road where her school is. I was totally relieved that there were no swarms of cop cars near the campus or road blocks. However, I also noticed a big fountain of water – it seemed like they were trying to douse something. Because of a small mound, I could not see any of the action – just the high water spout. The good news is that the water was being thrown AWAY from the school building. I figured out, in the worst case scenario, it is grass fire (although it is too early in the season) or a car on fire.

And so I drove on. At the next STOP sign, I saw an ambulance coming towards me (headed in the direction of the school) with the lights lit up! I could not help myself anymore. I panicked and called up Sharmila and asked her to call up the school to find out what was going on.

A few minutes later, Sharmila called back, extremely irritated. Evidently the folks at the front desk had a hearty laugh. In fact, they said “it is very cute that you were concerned”.

Turns out that the school had arranged for the local fire engine and emergency services to come and demo to the aspiring students on what a career in emergency services entails!!

Ha! Ha! I am so glad I made her call up the school 🙂