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February 18, 2003
Fire Water Burn
Today Alexis and I went to the YMCA for squash. We've gotten in the habit of playing twice a week, and since neither of us are very good, we have lots of fun. As we pulled into the Y parking lot, we noticed a lot more smoke in the air than usual. The church behind the parking lot was on fire. Firefighters were already on the scene dousing the flames, and a large crowd of people had gathered to watch the church burn. It reminded me of highway rubberneckers slowing to see a car accident.
This was the first time I had ever seen a building burn. I've seen charred remains of houses gutted by fire, and I've seen smoke in the distance, but this was the first time I actually saw flames licking the roof tiles (yes, the roof, the roof, the roof was on fire).
We pushed though the crowd an into the Y, but to our dismay the court was under construction, so no squash today. Instead I got my exercise by shovelling the driveway. Somehow it didn't feel as rewarding as beating my little sister at sports.