Yesterday afternoon Sam and I attended a showing of the 3D Guinea Pig movie at the big multiplex on Court Street and got a 4D bonus experience for our $24. The theater is two stories underground down a very long escalator. Halfway through the film, the screen went dark. No emergency lights came on and no announcements were made so we sat in the dark waiting for the film to start up again. The theater was full of children, including about 40 kids in yellow shirts from a local day camp. After a few minutes one of the counselors said, "everyone stay in your seats it's just a fire alarm." People started to get uneasy in the darkness using iPhones and blackberries to create some light. I subsequently decided it was time to leave with Sam as people started jockeying past us.
The elevators and escalators were shut off so I took Sam's hand in mine and we began to head toward the still escalator. I put him in front of me and asked him to walk up the escalator as fast as possible. I was right behind him (dragging a 17 pound stroller which in retrospect I should have left behind but at this point we still had no indiction that there was an actual emergency). When we got to the top, there was a fire between us and the door. It was hot and smoky. Flames were pouring out of the popcorn machine and spreading through the concession area. I could see a bottleneck at the door because people weren't making space once they made it outside. Sam and I ran through the smoke and made it out the door onto the street. Some kids were coughing, a few were crying. Sam was neither - just attentive. We walked a few blocks to get some distance from the situation and then watched the fire trucks come. Sam said simply, "I've never been in a fire with flames before." I said that I hadn't either and I hugged him and told him how proud I was of how calm he stayed and how he listened to everything I said. He then asked me when we were going back in. When I told him that we wouldn't be going back in today he was very concerned - not because we didn't see the end of the movie, but because we had abandoned the box of Reese's Pieces that we were sharing. This precious commodity was in danger. And then the questions... "will the snacks burn?... What will they do with them?... Who will eat them? I mindlessly answered these questions while thinking only about the feeling of his hand in mine - of leading him to safety.
