Fire Alarm

I went to elementary school in Mason City Iowa. It was a small town where everyone knew everyone and you couldn't get away with anything without word getting around.

I remember when someone pulled the fire alarm in my school. It was third or fourth grade and the middle of winter. I'm guessing the kid that did it wasn't to smart because everyone had to go stand outside in the snow, and half of us didn't have jackets. The teachers wouldn't even let us take five seconds to grab them from the hooks in our classroom. Nope. They made us all run outside in single file and stand out on the sidewalk in our sweatshirts, and in some cases, t-shirts, shivering and pissed off.

This one girl that I absolutely hated had broken her foot and had to be carried out by one of the firemen that came into the building shortly after the alarm was pulled. I was so jealous of her. I remember thinking that she probably just waited inside so that all the attention could be put on her. She was always doing selfish things like that. Even at such a young age she knew exactly how to play people so they would pay attention to her. God I hated her so much.

Like every group of small children, rumors started to spread about who pulled it. I think we had narrowed it down to one or two people; they were older boys of course. None of us wanted to admit that any of the kids in our own class were that bad. It had to have been one of the older kids. Probably a fifth grader.

As it turns out, it just happened to be faulty wiring or something that set the alarm off, but for several weeks after the event the student body of first through fifth graders had nothing else to talk about.

"Remember when the alarm went off? You were so scared you stuff was going to burn."
"I would have grabbed my backpack if it had been a real fire. I just got a new GigaPet!"
"It had to be Grant that did it. He's always getting into trouble like that."

The rumors cycled over and over throughout school, each day a new story would pop up about how a kid was in the bathroom and had to quick pull their pants up, or how rebellious they were by sneaking out the side door rather then going out the designated fire escape rout like they had practiced seven times earlier with the fire drills.

The fire alarm was the talk of the school for weeks until a new student arrived. And everyone had completely forgotten about the event entirely.

Reflection:
Looking back at the incident I find it quite funny. We were all so scared when it first happened; everyone thought their things were going to be ruined. When everything was all said and done, and we continued to talk about it for weeks, everyone just seemed to be trying to make it seem like their story was the best and most adventurous out of everyone else who told one. It's funny because as little kids, we all thought this event was so huge and so bad. Back in elementary school, the fire alarm going off without warning completely shook up our entire world. I realize know that it was nothing. I can only wish I could be that naive and innocent again.