Saving lives, yep, that's what I do

Yesterday, I rescued some neighbours from a rather peculiar predicament.

Alex had just gotten home from work, and we were sitting on the balcony when a woman in the next building stepped outside, appeared to be talking to someone upstairs in our building, then turned and hailed me. She said, "The people in 403 are locked out and stuck on their balcony. They say the hallway door is unlocked. Can you go and open their patio door for them?"

So up I went, and their door was ajar; a small boy, maybe three years old, appeared instantly. I followed him into the living room (same apartment layout as ours; they are cookie-cutters) and there were the young parents looking in at me through the glass doors, with expressions both relieved and panicked. I had time to notice something boiling furiously on the stove and a light but distinct pall of white smoke throughout the place. Quickly, I headed to the doors and unlatched them. The young woman ran to the stove just as I was saying, "I think something is burning!" and then ran back to me with outstretched arms and threw them around me in a huge hug. The young man pumped my hand and must have said thank you a half-dozen times.

As you might have surmised by now, they'd been standing outside when their son shut the patio-style door behind them. It latched securely -- better than our double doors, I might add, which don't even shut completely. (Should be interesting this winter.)

I imagine they will never stand outside, either alone or together, while their child is unsupervised in the apartment.

(p.s. They have the view I want: the unobstructed 4th-floor vista of Montreal and the river. I will certainly be inquiring, should the opportunity arise, if they are planning to move out next summer.)