The dream had me back in the elevator, alarm sounding until it woke me. I sat up with heart pounding, only to find the alarm real.
“What’s that?” Ray said, finally waking.
“Alarm. You think the elevator is stuck again?”
Just then came a pounding on the door. “Fire! Evacuate the hotel now!”
“Geez,” said Ray as he flipped on the lamp. We looked at each other, then sprang from bed and started dressing. Once clothed, we grabbed wallets and jackets and ran into the hall.
“Stairs,” I said when he headed for the elevator. “Never use an elevator in a fire.”
We joined the descending throngs, most in nightclothes, our group mixing with second-floor throng until we had a veritable herd reaching the lobby.
“Out front and away from the building,” shouted a clerk. “Go clear to the sidewalk and st
