So, yesterday I called my mom and said, "I just wanted to let you that we are fine." To which she replied, "Why are you calling? That doesn't sound good."

The truth be told, I hadn't planned to call, and we had been dealing with the situation just fine all afternoon long. I had stocked up on bottled water, canned goods, flashlights, batteries, band-aids, you know, basic emergency supplies. And, I didn't want to worry our parents. And then, I logged on to the Internet, and found out that the story had gone national. There in blazing red ink on Foxnews.com, the headlines flashed: Chemical Fire Forces Evacuation of Thousands in Bryan, Texas.

You see, we live in B.C.S. (Bryan, College Station). As a matter of fact all morning long, the sirens were wailing all around us and I believe there were at least 4 other cities that sent their fire departments as well as the county fire department. Apparently there was this huge, orange cloud that hovered on the horizon for an hour or so, and then it disappeared and was replaced by black clouds fading to gray and a sharp smell.

We missed all of that. The guys were comatose because of their early morning stint with the tarp, the window and the rain (sounds like a CS Lewsi book title), and the girls were playing outside and spraying each other with water, and I was making lunch and cookies. We didn't find out about this emergency until Blinn College called us to notify us that classes were canceled for the rest of the day, and that we needed to follow evacuation procedures.

That was when we turned on the radio, and sent me for emergency rations. Boy was the town busy. People driving everywhere. Parking lots filled. Stoplights backed up. It took me 20 minutes to drive to the store. I would rather have walked, but the chemical fire... I could've walked to the store in 15 minutes. Oh, well.

Even then, we didn't think of calling anyone. I mean, this stuff happens in Portland all the time, and it never makes the headlines. We didn't count on the fact that a city of 80,000 was being evacuated. Excuse me, a city of 80,000 near a campus of 50,000 near a city of 4 million. I guess that makes it national news for at least 30 minutes.

So, at around 6:00 last night, I guiltily picked up the phone and made my first phone call: my mom. At 6:10 I finished my last phone call: my mom. Yup, I only called one person. I figured if she didn't know about the fire, then probably nobody else had heard of it. Especially since she was at home, not working, watching TV with Big Grandma.

I guess I was mistaken. I woke up this morning to a plethora of emails. Sorry about that. Thanks for the concern. I guess I should've called....