Thought I should let you all know that we are okay. A 5.6 –5.8 hit this morning, shortly before noon. Shook the place up pretty good. I was 7 stories up in the office shitter... Washed hands, walked out the door, felt a few pounds lighter; figured that was a good sign, then felt immediately nauseous.... And thought some homer in the WC must have slipped me something. A real feeling of inner-body imbalance. Could the morning constitutional have been that profound? Or was I experiencing some sort of early thirties stroke of sorts? WTF?
I turned into the hallway to watch it snake and roll before my eyes, tossing me softly side to side (like walking down the bow of a ship) I thought 2 things.
1. I have definitely been drugged.
2. I better get down this hallway before the bag men hog-tie me and get me into the back of some drive-by van to question me about last month’s shipment to Panama.
Then I realised this was my first earthquake of magnitude. Weird.
Throwing the office door open I announced that people should stand in the door frames. Funny how all the PSA paraphernalia comes back when you most need it...
My twenty year old assistant looked at me, riveted to her now sliding around the floor chair, filing cabinet drawers sliding open and shut, doors swinging and slamming closed, and she scrunched up her face and began to cry, in that little kid (well , I guess 20yr old) way.
“Camille. For fuck’s sake. Get in the door way.” Empathy has never been my strong point.
40 odd seconds later the heaving and shaking subdued to a gradual roll. The building is on rollers itself (thankfully) skated around back and forth what felt like a good 2-3 metres. Trippy indeed.
Looking out my window and watching the cars roll the extent of their handbrake or park-gear engage on the rooftop parking of the structure opposite, I realised that nature has an inherent knowledge of this sort of thing. The birds had been clustered together in large flocks the past few days, nervously squawking and circling around, almost too timid to land anywhere. The morning was unusually overcast and even cool. Those same birds now looked at me through the glass, their beady, black, lifeless eyes cawing - “Told you so. Silly fucker with the corner glass office.”
Once diminished, I confronted our publisher Mark who lamented that he had been stuck in the elevator on the way up the entire quake and felt nothing. Whilst he begged for big comeback aftershock, I excused myself, grabbed Camille and headed over to the pub for a couple of pints to take the edge off.
Very strange feeling indeed. Aftershocks are predicted for the next 2-3 days.
So, happy to say that Shelby and I are fine and the condo is still standing. Shame it didn’t come a few days earlier – could have helped me shake the tiles off the wall of the bathroom and saved the jackhammer rental.
