fire in the disco

hey drk, when you read this, if you feel like it type up your account (which you've told me but i'll totally mangle if i write it) and i'll post it. oo also any good shots?
...
this morning, around 5am, i was dreaming about cars. buying a car, testing the car horn, something like that.
i woke up because a car horn in the neighborhood was going off steady. ern and i live ona busy street and there are accidnets pretty regularly. i couldnt tell what it was just by sound so i went to the living room and looked out our big picture window.
and saw a big fire.
i grabbed our phone hootin' and hollerin' to ern about a fire @ derek's house.
derek is our friend and neighbor, we've known him since the 10th grade and he and his wife liz recently moved in across dutton from us. (the large wds network, remember?) so i run out side barefooted and in my boxer-briefs and run to the corner. i didnt have my glasses on either so i couldnt tell 911 whether it was a car fire or a house fire but they needed to get there quick. ern had run over with a fire extinguisher so i ran back to get our other one and a garden hose. ran back and saw some neighbors on the corner watching. drk's "new" van, parked on the street in front of their house was completely engulfed in flames. the heat was pretty strong and odd hissings were happening. i was hollerin for ern 'cause i couldnt see where she was and wanted to make sure she was away from the van in case it exploded.

ern had passed the fire extinguisher off to a neighbor and hopped drk's 6ft fence to bang on their windows and make sure they were ok. they came pouring out the back fence but there was little to do at this point but watch it burn and hope it didnt spread across the trees to their new house.

the fire truck arrived pretty quickly, i was hopped up on adrenaline and standing in my boxers so i went back to the house to get pants and my camera. i got my pyjamas and camera and got back to see them begin to put it out. i still forgot shoes though. after they had the flames mostly out, josh and anarchy dave and his gf caitlin happened to be driving by so they stopped. a little after that a cop showed up (the one from the jc) and shortly after that, a fire investigator. drk and i were takign all kinds of pics and stuff. drk and the FI talked, josh, dave and caitlin took off 'cause they'd been up for 24hrs at that point. i went back to the house to get jeans and shoes and a sweater as the adrenaline had worn off and the cold was setting in.

the sun was starting to rise as this all happened, it was about 5:30a. the FI/cop said a suspicious blue suburban with kids had been reported by someone somewhere so they asked if we had seen it. we had some tea then ern and i decided to go back over to our house to catch a couple of hours sleep. drk and liz were pretty much up so set about dealing with it.

just recently drk got his contractor's license for carpet laying/flooring so $4k of tools were in his $2k van. when he first saw the flaming van from his porch the passenger door was open. the FI determined it was arson, the only thing he couldnt determine was how it was started: but it definitely started in the driver's seat. all of his tools and cassettes were still there when they went through it later.

ern and i woke up around ten and threw clothes on to go help clean up. i brought my big broom, shovel and rake over as drk's brrom got burnt up in the van. his dad and brother were over and they were salvaging the light covers and van badging for mementos/scavenging's sake. shortly after that the tow truck came and he towed it away. it wasnt able to burn long enough to destory the tires so he just jacked up the front end and rolled it out on it's back wheels.

drk and i swept and shoveled up the remaining mess, then i went home to clean up.

(then i got a horrible headache, ern and i went to kill it with food @ carlo's, then ern went to a baby shower and i tried to rest it off. drk and liz called to go get coffee but i couldnt really imagine that happening, though i ended up going later. i beat halo2 and unlocked a bunch of tracks and stuff in wipeout:pure <3 PSP omg liek whoa.)

my headache is gone and i've closed our front driveway gate. the porch light on in case the kids come back tonight, though the popular idea is that it was completely random: which makes sense in that it doesnt. yay entropy, apathy and chaos.