327 Market

Battlefield: Wonderview
I am not the only one who is paranoid.

At 2:20 PM, an announcement comes over the loud-speaker that we are to lock our door and pull the blinds and no one is to leave the room. School is out at 2:30, but the dismissal bell never rung. I had the pleasure of being locked in a small room (that particular room used to be the art room, and it was designed originally to hold 10 special kids) room with a frazzled (but witty, wonderfully sarcastic and who let me eat cookies) teacher and 20 tired clients. We enjoyed an episode of Scooby-doo and multi-cultural music video (we learned how to sing the days of the week in Maori).

At 3:15, the loudspeaker announced that an officer would escort us to the Multi where we would be dismissed.

At 3:45 the officer came to our door and I marched silently, in a straight line with the rest of them. I had never seen so many police up close before. The one at the doorway had a huge.. I don't even know the word... rifle thing (maybe the Contessa can help here). It looked like a toy. It was long, black, had a strap and a shoulder rest, a large magazine, and the barrel had a shroud of punctuated metal.

At 4:30 when the Multi held the entire body of clients, Our Fearless Leader announced that someone made a threatening phone call and said that they were going to shoot somebody at dismissal. The police were currently "securing the perimeter." We could hear the helicopter making passes. The clients started to get a little anxious. A lot of the keepers had told them it was a drill (because they didn't know, either). Then they started dismissing the clients 5 at a time to their guardians. I do not envy the policemen who got to deal with the parents. The Institution has around 400 clients.

At 6:30. After yoga, Simon Says, 20 Questions, finally they released the last client. The Powers declared it was time for a Debrief. They gave us popcorn from Christmas (it wasn't that bad) and we went over business. The Catholic was the only one who talked (she always talks at meetings... she harangued the other keepers for not doing a good enough baby-sitting job... puhleeze).

At 6:45 I wobbled to my car.

At 6:55 I wobbled to Campus.

At 7:10 I started to draw the model, but my hands were shaking.

At 8:00 I got food at Trader Joe's.

At 8:15 I started to eat'n draw.

At 9:50 I dismissed the model and started breaking down the room.

At 11:45 I hit the sack.