Bomb scare

I work at a very busy intersection in the downtown district of the city. We get to see all the parades, demonstrations, and general SF craziness right outside our office windows.

Right around the end of lunchtime (I was working at my desk)we hear police shouting through bullhorns outside the windows. We look out to see the intersection has been cordoned off and people being led away from the area. Some people returning to the office say the mall next door is being evacuated and the so is the bottom floor of our building. Apparently a mysterious bag was left in one of the newspaper stands and now it's being investigated.

We keep watching the scene unfold outside with an almost-detachment. There's been no announcement made to us so we stay put. The main street is completely and eerily empty. Finally our office leader announces that we may have to evacuate and to wait for the call. My (amazingly single-minded) co-worker comes over and asks since we were supposed to go to a meeting anyway, do I want to just leave now? I suppose any excuse to flee the scene will do, so we take off through the building back entrance since the front one has been closed off. We have to circle several blocks through the nasty parts of the Tenderloin since so many streets have been blocked off; but by the time we almost get back to the main street it seems like the police have lifted the barriers. I joke that we should have waited and avoided all this extra walking.

After the meeting we walk back to the office and find everything back to normal: pedestrians and cars in the streets, stores open, life continuing. People aren't that good at dealing with trauma, I don't think. That's why they are so quick to go back to what they consider safe and normal and reassuring, and to act as though nothing ever happened.