The Wail

I was in the middle of a meeting in my office when the wailing began. "I am sorry" I said. "It is a fire alarm." "I hope it is not a serious thing" one visitor said. "No. They have installed fire alarms everywhere. The alarms keep going on periodically, without an actual fire anywhere." "Perhaps some smoker goes to the toilet to smoke, the hospital being a nonsmoking area" suggested the other visitor." "That is possible" I said "But it is not the cause of the alarm. They have not installed smoke detectors in the toilets." The alarm continued relentlessly. I asked the servant to contact the contractor's engineer and get it stopped. The process was initiated, but did not complete until I wound up the meeting. It was a trial, I learned later. "How do we put it off if it a false alarm?" I asked the contractor's engineer. "It is quite simple" he said. "You have to press it here." I went on vacation for sixteen days and joined duty yesterday. At the time of my departure, the alarm went off, and would not stop. The engineer had been called, and was reported on his way. On my way home, i went to each alarm terminal, and pressed where he had taught me to press. Then I realized that all alarms in my department were ringing, and none of the stoppers was able to stop them. I hope they have managed to stop them when I go back to work on Monday.