Monday, February 1, 2010

I Climbed Mt Everest in my Kate Spade high heels

I had a fantasy about climbing Mt. Everest. I hate the cold, detest the sight of snow , and have a fear of heights but I could still dream.

"Chirp, chiiiiirrrrp, CHIRRRRRPP !" Holy crap, what was going on? I bolted up in bed and wildly looked around the room for a bird that must be loose. I checked the clock, it was 3:02 a.m. My first instinct was to burst into tears and my second was the same thing but that wouldn't stop the incessant chirping. Did I need a net or a gun? Having neither I summoned my trusty yellow lab to go hunting with me, after all he's a bird dog and we had work to do. I wondered if boxer shorts and a t-shirt were proper attire. Down the stairs we traipsed trying to find the source of the shrill hideous noise. I'm cursing, the dog's half asleep and not on the scent. "Elliot, where's the bird, get him boy, go hunt."

He laid down and fell asleep in the living room while I stood there trying to track the chirp. It was directly over my head , but it wasn't flying, it was a round white object - the smoke detector. Crap. The battery must have been low, but I was much lower, approx. 10 feet. I stared up at it with venom in my eyes. I had to stop it or be driven stark raving mad. Chirp, chirp, chirp! "Shut up", I screamed for no reason other than it made me feel proactive. There was no ladder so I had to make do with a chair. I scaled the chair in my bare feet and reached up.... I was 2'8" away from peace and quiet. Now what? I needed more elevation fast. A fat phone book seemed like a solution. I set the book on the chair and up I went. Damn, I wasn't even close. Two phone books had to do the trick. Nope, I still couldn't reach the freaking thing. Three phone books? I was getting dizzy and my tower of books was shaking but I was closer. Chirp, right in my face as if to taunt my effort. Why wasn't I taller? And then an "ah ha" moment struck me. I ran upstairs and put on my cute Kate Spade raspberry red 3 inch suede high heels. I knew I'd wear them someday! Fortunately no one saw me in my climbing attire: striped boxer shorts, ratty white v-neck t-shirt and heels. Look away or turn to stone! With trepidation yet determination I scaled the phone books. I had no climbing ropes mind you, or anything stable to hold onto. There I was solo, in peril, teetering on top of my man made Mt. Everest. I barely got my hand around the chirping monster and yanked it off the ceiling. Victory was mine and I did it without supplemental oxygen! Or Sherpas.

I put the detector on the counter and started to trundle back to my warm cozy bed. "Chirp....chiiirp, CHIRP!" I was going insane. How could this be happening? There it sat on the counter with no battery yet still chirping at me. I picked it up and held it in my hand, tears streaming down my face. "Chirp, chirp." Was I in Edgar Allen Poe's "The Tell Tale Heart?" I was tired and broken. My only remaining solution was to get it out of the house. I dragged myself out to my car, threw it on the front seat and slammed the door. Silence.

As I trudged back upstairs feeling victorious and like a later day Sir Edmond Hillary I realized I had fulfilled my dream of climbing Mt. Everest.  Remarkably I did it in a pair of raspberry red Kate Spade high heels.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

All smoke detectors must be programmed to run low on battery at 3 AM. I've never had one start beeping during daylight hours. what's up with that?!?!?! -Kit

Anonymous said...

I had a friend once and she was forever telling me not to do things for my health and safety or to do things for my health and safety.

"Wear a helmit while riding your horse." "Don't get so excited or you'll get a heart attack." "Don't dive into the above ground pool from the roof." It never ended.

So you can imagine what I thought upon hearing she was climbing a chair with three telephone books in high heels at 3 AM ... in the morning. Probably took a sleeping pill before going to bed. Probably had a couple of glasses of wine at dinner.

I thought 'DON'T DO THAT!!"

Dr. Ruth formally known as Viking Jen said...

That's way funny.. BTW Anonymous, you crack me up.. Some people don't do what they preach.. That's for sure.

Ok Gail, phone books on a chair and then high heel shoes. Now that's smart, however, Macgyver would have NEVER done that. Here's what I did last time the damn thing went off at 2am, I put the chair under it and couldn't reach so I grabbed the broom and tried to push up so the darn thing would fall off the wall, that didn't work. I got down from the chair, went to the bedroom, grabbed my gun and looked at the damn thing and said to myself "self, not a good idea to kill it with a bullet" went back to the closet and brought out my whip, grabbed that whip and whipped the crap out of it.. It stopped for a second and then it went off again. I went to my sports closet and grabbed a baseball and a glove, I aimed and hit it twice, nothing, the son of a bitch was still chirping like a porno flick on a Friday night (ask you know who, he knows lol). I went for the bat, yes the bat, climbed up on the chair and got the bat and then I realized that I could hit it wrong and mess up the wall, I was one angry woman by then, so I went back for the gun and shot it 2 times, then grabbed the whip and pushed it down, it hit the floor and can you believe that that piece of chirping crap was still chirping? however the chirp sounded injured and weak, so I grabbed the bat and beat the crap out of it.. Thats how you take care of 2am chirps chirp chirp from the smoke alarm...The only problem is that the cops knocked on my door, the neighbor called police, he thought I was being shot and then beaten by some thief with a gun and a bat.. Did I tell the cop the truth? Oh hell yes but I skipped the gun part, I showed him the alarm in pieces and didn't mention the bullet on the wall, I am Mrs Macgyver darling I know what to do and tell the cops "And Officer I can go to sleep now, good night" Yes I had to replace it but it was worth the $20.00 for the darn thing and $5.00 for wall putty to cover the gun shot. So forget the phone books darling. BTW how many darn phone books do you have? Have you heard of www.yellowpages.com? Oh wait, you would have put your computer on top of the chair, ok never mind. Invest on a gun and a whip and a baseball bat, that's all you need in case of ANY emergency what so ever this includes mirrors that don't make you look gorgeous.