Devil Drill

Yesterday, the school set off a practice fire drill, only they got mixed up and rang the tornado bell. All the students went out in the halls, got by the walls and covered their heads, and the principal ran up and down the hall shouting, "Get outside! The fire would have gotten you!" Poor little T- was so scared she started to cry!

We went outside in fire formation (line holding hands) and were released back inside by the bell. Altogether a little bit of a fiasco, although much better that it happened during a drill and not a real event. It would definetely be fatal to crouch in the halls during a fire, but even more fatal to get confused the other way and go outside during a tornado.

Anyhow, after we were all back inside, the principal came on the intercom and clarified the bells and sounded them for us: a long buzz for tornado, a long bell for fire, and three short buzzes for an earthquake. (For real, we're in a mid-continent seismic zone.)

As the students left for the day, K- asked, "Mi' Hay', when are we going to practice the devil drill?" "The what?" I asked. "You know, the devil drill. Because when he comes up, he sure is going to burn us all up." "Um," I answered. "I guess we'll treat that just like a fire drill, and hold hands... and go outside."