Father’s Day: The Day I Didn’t Die

Sunday was an interesting day for me. Won’t you come along and listen to the story?

It all started with a friendly brunch. Some friends of mine are moving to Ohio. It was a nice farewell brunch for them. Just thinking back on it makes me think of the game, which means I lose. (private joke)

If you follow me on facebook at all you may remember I went to a show last Sunday called Fuerza Bruta. Experiential theater, if you will. Sort of Blue Man meets rave…sort of. BUT, a very VERY good show. My friend Tamale got a bunch of free tickets and invited us along. Well, on father’s day Deanna had someone offer her free tickets as well, so six of us improvisors headed out to a 3pm performance, carefully planning out our ride on the L red line so we would all be in the same car on the same train. SUCCESS! Tara, Rich, Rene, Jaime, Deanna and I all made it there and we even saw about 6 other improvisors at the show.

Since Deanna and I had gone before we knew there was water involved at certain times. We packed light and I brought plastic bags for my wallet and phone. The show was a little less lively than last week, but we were at a matinee this time and the crowd was a little older. At the very end they turned on the water and all but Rene danced in it…soaked.

From there we said farewell to the other improvisors we randomly saw there and the six of us headed to Dairy Queen for lunch and treats. Soaked from the show, cold from treats, we decided to all get on the red line and head home.

Here is where things get…different.

We hopped on the train sometime between 4:30-5:00pm. A couple of stops later, and completely out of the blue, Tony and Mikaela (two OTHER improvisors) entered our train car. FUN!…and then the train car just stopped. Well, it slowed to a stop, but we weren’t by a “stop.”

About that time Rich and Tara both noticed a little bit of white smoke in the car. As I remember it, Tara calmly said “Is that smoke?” and that got everyone else in the car to notice it. Cue various forms of panic/survival mode kicking in for various passengers. Two separate people went for the lever to open the doors. I can understand the thinking…smoke in the train car? Get off the train car. However, they didn’t look out the windows, and when the doors opened in came considerably blacker and considerably more smoke.

Now, I had to go through fire training for my last big gig and I knew to get low and cover my nose and mouth with (preferably damp) cloth. Hey! ALL of my clothes were wet from the Fuerza Bruta show! Bonus.

In the next 3-5 minutes one thing was for sure…the smoke filled train didn’t move. We were in the front car so we had a bonus show. A few people chose to kick on the driver’s door. “WE NEED TO MOVE!” We could also hear various people calling in on the emergency device in panic. Unfortunately, there was a train ahead of us so we were stuck. The driver did a great job of trying to calm people and telling them to stop opening the doors. I remember someone else freaking out and trying to switch cars…which opened a door…which let smoke in.

There was a point when It looked bleak enough to inspire me to send a quick “I love you, I may die” email to my parents. This smoke photo is my view. The dark blue cloth in the bottom corner is my wet hoodie that Deanna and I were breathing through.

Deanna started having a panic attack and I tried to calm her so she wouldn’t breath hard and deep. The smoke was remarkably odor free, or I got used to it fast. The panicked kicks on the driver’s door turned from “WE GOTTA GO!” to “ARE YOU OKAY IN THERE?” Right around that time the train slowly started inching forward. More. A little more. More.

Driver: We’re pulling up to a stop, people in the last two cars, you will have to move ahead to get off. Please move fast and be safe and everyone evacuate the train.

I’ve seen crowd panic before. I was blown away by the orderly fashion in which everyone got off. I think we were all on there long enough to get from “OH MY GOD! I’M GONNA DIE!” to “Well, I guess I’m going to die.” so the crazy adrenaline rush was gone…we were all happy to be alive.

Once we got to the surface everything set in. We noticed that everyone had soot around their mouths and noses, which made us realize that we looked like that. Ambulances and fire trucks everywhere. I forget who mentioned it, but we decided we should probably get checked out. A) we’d been breathing smoke and we had no idea if it was standard wood fire smoke, or some chemical with worse effects. B) We’re actors, some of which with bare bones health insurance. C) We’re americans, so “bare bones health insurance” is still expensive.

It looked like they were setting up triage on-scene so I assumed they would be able to check us out right there. It was chaos. Mostly because of curious bystanders. It made me realize how important it is to view tragedy from afar if you’re going to be a looky-loo. We quickly found out that the triage was just for determining danger level. Most of us were a “3” (see my tag in the photo) which meant we were not in immediate danger, we could breath, etc. Then, more chaos. Mikaela and Tony were sent off in one ambulance, Rene and Jaime in another, and luckily the remaining four of us in another.

Hospital! We got checked in and started the next 3 hours of our day. Get blood pressure tested, go back to wait. Get something else checked, go back and wait. Luckily the staff there was pretty fun. We were in the ER, so it was probably a blessing for them that we didn’t have gun shot wounds. Our final step was for them to do blood work. Know how to check the carbon monoxide level in the blood? Me either…except for the blood HAS to come from an artery and not a vein. They went for the wrist and the first attempt was…poor. A lot of poking around with no luck. And it hurts. The second attempt was gold! While we were waiting there were some fun things…a guy in another room who sounded drunk and also sounded like he was strapped to a bed. He was SCREAMING that he couldn’t breathe. Do you understand that? What is an important element for screaming? Air. How do you get air? Breathing. If you want people to believe you can’t breathe, don’t scream. I also got to see the female security guard checking her match dot com profile on the hospital computer.

Forty minutes later and we were done!

We got home just after 11pm from a 3pm show!

Oh…and Deanna and I were supposed to perform in the two person improv competition, The Dual Duel. We didn’t make it. We were tempted to show up with our now-barely-damp clothes, slightly sooty faces, and hospital bracelets and pull the sympathy vote. But we didn’t.

But I’m alive!