So, last night I get back to Jennings at about 4AM. No one else is outside or in the front area, and a palm tree is blazing right next to the entrance.
No, I'm not joking.
I start freaking out, thinking about how the fire department is going to have to come and everyone will be forced to evacuate and sit on the lawn in the wee hours of the morning, freezing to death and hopelessly watching as the building burns down.
I finally find my keys, throw open the door, and run to the front desk to tell the clerk that there is a fire outside.
"A fire? What kind of fire?"
"A fire-fire. Like, right next to the window."
"What do I do?"
"Call the fire department...?"
A girl who had been talking to the clerk came back outside with me to verify that there was indeed a tree flaming dangerously close to the building.
"Yeah. There's a fire."
"Oh, shit."
Now the clerk comes outside to verify that - for Pete's sake - THERE IS A FUCKING FIRE, and somehow in those 20 seconds between Exhibition No. 1 and Exhibition No. 2 it had disappeared. All that remained was a small patch of fallen fronds and leaves trying pitifully to stay ablaze. The clerk stomped on it, and that was that.
I swear: between the Chinese man with the blinker incident and last night, I suddenly feel as though living here was a bad, bad idea.
So if you're going to come to Jennings in the next day or two, make sure you go in through the front entrance near the pond. Take a look at the palm tree to the left of the bench. Notice anything gray?