My generation was raised with plans to respond to epic disasters. We practiced to duck and cover the last Friday of every month if the Soviet Union struck, we had routes and planned and cars with earthquake kits in them, I had them for fire. I was going to get the documents kept organized in our safe, pictures, my diploma, all manner of things. Those plans were made for waking and smelling smoke, oh no the house is on fire, but that’s not what was going on January 7th 2025 in Altadena,
What was happening in Altadena was the Eaton fire as it was to become known, it was a wind storm still to me. I finished closing all the windows starting from the 3rd floor, heading down to the second and all the bedrooms. Familiar vistas and the smell of smoke. That was new, not that the other fires in the foothills were smokeless this time it felt like Satan was having a cookout next door. To say I had abandoned all thought of fighting the fire from my roof is an understatement, I became a fierce advocate if bugging out and to that end I packed for what was in my mind a few days over mom’s house,
I went to my closet and grabbed my teacher's garanamels Sweetie had assembled for me, three shirts, three pairs of pants and 5 pairs of drawers, because accidents happen. It was a Tuesday and I selected clothes for three days of school. I pushed them in my teacher bag along with Ella Flutesgerald, my flute, a JBL music cube, and Percy the Rescue Penguin. Percy joined me soon into my teaching career where I saw him in the middle of an east los angeles street, and I was moved to get out and pick him up. He became an ambassador I used to visit with frightened kindergarten kids not so sure about the big ole half a scary Black Santa substitute. I could tell them about Percy and how he was afraid until he met me and that he loved his new job going to school with Mr, Johnson, so I didn’t even pack Percy he just lived in the bag.
Sweetie had filled her car, and I got in it and put my teacher bag between my legs and hollered out the window of her car “LET’S GO!” as she was completing another round of stuffing things, into her car.
Sweetie became Sweetie to me from Absolutely Fabulous. Her full name is Sweetie Darling in this context and I Am Edina Monsoon. I was fully Edina that night when she asked me, If I had lost my mind getting in her car, and not my own, these questions where soon followed by ones along the lines of the HHR I used to ferry myself about was empty? All I had was my teacher bag? And I can look back now and see her recalculating things she was going to take with us and directing my activity to filling my car, I made sounds like Qbert when he fell of his blocks, but in less than 20 minutes I got my car mostly full of little grey boxes. I got in the HHR and it didn’t have any gas, I had to stop and get some, and my soul sister had had enough of me. I left 1255 and headed down the hill in the same way I had for decades, To school, to work, to the movies on a date, head west on Altadena Dr, past the Armenian school that used to be Altadena Crane’s house, past the church where I was a boyscout and the gas station on the corner where cool Phil worked and south on Lake.
I got some gas and it took almost 2 hours to get into Los Angeles where mom lived. Tuesday January 7th had a tremendous wind event, there were trees down everywhere and behind me Altadena was burning, maybe even my house, but i didn’t know. I was waiting for Sweetie to pull in behind me and she did about 20 minutes later telling stories of the fire is close, and dates from the palm trees on fire and raining on her car.
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