Today, I put a piece of Janet's cake into the oven to broil it, as I always do in order to make it more crispy. In that moment, a friend called and I engaged myself in a lovely Christmas conversation.

Suddenly a horrible sound blared out and a loud voice rumbled: “Fire! Leave immediately!”

The noise upset the dogs; they started to bay.

“What is THAT?!” I called out scared and confused.

“FIRE!” the omnipresent voice continued.

My friend on the phone kept saying something but I couldn't hear her.

“LEAVE IMMEDIATELY!" sounded from the walls.

“Stop it!” I shouted back.

“Wuff! Wuff!” the dogs went crazy.

I noticed blue smoke billowed over the oven where I have forgotten my piece of cake.

“FIRE!”

“There is no fire!” I made a poor attempt to calm the almighty voice.

“Ruff! Ruff!”

“LEAVE IMMEDIATELY!” the voice was drilling itself into my brain.

How to turn it off? I couldn't concentrate.

“Owoooo!!!” the dogs started to howl.

When I finally composed myself enough to deactivate the alarm system, I heard someone pounding at the door.

I opened and got blinded by flashing police and fire truck lights. I took a deep breath. That was a moment when I needed to apply my best English...

“What about a cup of tea?” I asked and smiled at seven men in uniforms.

Janet's Christmas cake is in the meantime entirely gone and I must say they all liked it.