Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Forgetting Gabriel

By 10:30, the custodians had been and gone. I was tired. I packed up my stuff, turned out all the lights and set the alarm. On my way out, I noted the unfamiliar car sharing the deserted parking lot with my own; then I glanced up at the building to see that the custodians had left the upstairs hall light on. "Huh! I wonder why..." Then I remembered that my student Gabriel was up in the computer lab, checking his e-mail. S***! I started sprinting to the back door, where the alarm is, praying that he would just. Stay. In. The. Lab. But Gabriel must have sensed that he was alone in the building, so he came downstairs and opened the side door to go out.

WEEE-OOOO-WEEEE-OOOO-WEEE-OOOO

Flashing strobes, blaring sirens. Lights coming on in the houses...

Gabriel was standing on the porch, shouting, "SORRY, TEACHER! SORRY TEACHER!" above the racket.

No, Gabriel. My fault. Whoops.

4 comments:

dive said...

Hee hee hee

The World According To Me said...

Oh! Sounds like an alarming incident!

Maria said...

Bing and I have a house alarm and I swear that thing is more trouble than it is worth. I can't tell you how many times I have forgotten to punch in the code when I get home and suddenly there is this LOUD clanging and banging. And then, of course, I have to call the alarm company to tell them that it is not a robber, just um...me, Maria. And yes, we are on a first name basis.

Amrita said...

Life should have drama in it