It was a while since I did this, but it seems the right time to put this up...

 

Alarm Bells Story

 

It happened in the Vale of Leven Hospital on the coast of Loch Lomond.  Peter, an electrical engineer from Clydebank was there to see his wife Katherine giving birth to their son.  They had been married some months before.  They had a tumultuous affair that nearly ended when Katherine said to Peter: "Marry me and start a family or it's over".   Peter had relented.  They were married quietly in the centre of Glasgow and now, here they were, preparing to have their first child.

 

Peter stood by the bedside as Katherine lay stretched out, her waters breaking.  A midwife stood ready to assist when the baby emerged.  Then all of a sudden "BRRR-BRRR-BRRR-BRRR! An alarm started wailing, and everyone started running for the doors.  Peter looked at the midwife, who told him to leave.  As Peter left the ward, he glanced back at Katherine.  She heaved on the bed - the foetus inside her was swelling as it prepared to burst out of her.

 

Peter was swept up in a tide of people, many of whom were falling over themselves to get out.  They gathered outside and watched the building, anxiously searching for any signs of a disturbance or a fire.  After several agonizing minutes in the cold Scottish weather, a porter shuffled out the front doors, looked at the mass of people before him and mumbled "Sorry folks, it was a false alarm."A huge collective groan chased him back into the building as everyone returned to where they'd been before, muttering and moaning about the madness of it all.

 

Peter went back to the ward.  Katherine was there lying on the bed, her face flushed with relief and joy.  The midwife held aloft the child, mewling and crying in her arms.  Peter looked at Katherine and started laughing.  "False alarm" he thought, "I wonder..."