Chapter 15 The Fire

It was one of those wintery nights, cold with sleet hitting the windows. A night for hot chocolate and snuggling on the couch. It had been misting all day, and it stuck on everything it touched.

Little Kate, now two, and Bret, a big five year old, were asleep in their room down the hall. Mark and I sat together on the couch admiring our new paneled wall and the papered wall in the hallway. We had just completed them the day before. It was Saturday night, just a week or two before Christmas.

We woke Sunday morning to that same sound, the plink of little ice pebbles hitting the windows.

"I'm afraid we are in for some electrical problems if this keeps up much longer," Mark voiced as we sat down for breakfast.

We had no idea that just outside our back door, there behind those shorty-forties, something was happening that would bring our world tumbling down once again.

We were all in our jammies, all but Daddy that is. He had to drive to Grandpa's to do chores soon so we wouldn't be late for church service. After putting on his chore coat, gloves, hat and boots, he bent down to give Bret a hug, and Kate and I got a kiss on the cheek.

"Be careful Daddy. Don't get stuck!" Bret said looking up at him.

"I'll be real careful and will be back to you in about two hours." With that he walked out into the gray morning, hopped in the pickup, and drove down the road.

"Mommy can me and Kate go to the basement to play with our tricycle?" Bret asked coming to me as I cleared the table and carried the dishes to the sink.

"I suppose. Just make sure Kate stays away from that wood stove. It could be hot. Daddy just filled it this morning," I answered. "I'll call you when I'm ready to get you dressed for church."

Their laughter came drifting up the stairs as I put the last of the dishes in the dishwasher and turned it on and headed to the bathroom.

I had just picked up my hair brush to comb my hair when there was a loud boom and the whole house shook! "What on earth was that!" I said to myself. "A sonic boom or something?"

"Mommy the house is on fire!" Oh no...that was Bret! What happened?! I ran to the basement stairs, my heart pounding and out of breath. I stared down those steps and my heart froze! Looking up at me were my precious, priceless little babies. The smoke alarms were blasting their warning. Between me and my little ones were billows of smoke. I had to do something! This just had to be a bad dream...I'd wake up soon...but it wasn't and I wouldn't wake up soon!

"Don't breathe smoke...don't breathe smoke!" Those words kept going over and over in my head. I took a deep breath, ran down the steps, grabbed both Bret and Kate and started back up...then froze.

"Oh no! The steps are on fire! What do we do? I need to get you guys out the window!" But I knew that I would not be able to get out myself.

"No mommy, it's not the steps, it's the furnace!" Bret was keeping me thinking.

"Oh thank goodness!" I ran up the stairs and out the back door. As I put the kids in the car I looked back. Smoke was billowing up through the roof!

I should do something but what? Please God help me think! I got to get to Amos and Ruth's to call for help. Now!

I slipped into the driver's seat and reached for the keys. There were no keys! Oh great! Now what! I remembered....they were on top of the refrigerator just inside the back door.

Without thinking, I turned to the kids in the back seat. "You guys stay here! DON'T YOU MOVE! I mean that! I'll be right back."

This is when I did the most dangerous thing a person could ever do! I ran to the back door, opened it, and stepped inside. The smoke was so thick I could hardly make out the refrigerator. It burned my eyes and throat. I threw my hand over my nose, reached up to the top of the refrigerator, praying I would feel the keys! There they were. I grabbed them and ran to the car.

Bret and Kate were huddled together in the back seat. "We were scared Mommy!" Bret whispered.

"I know sweetheart. I really should not have done that! Especially left you here alone. I'm so glad you're snuggling up to Kate. You're a super big brother, do you know that?" I said as I gunned the engine and backed out of the drive way. Flames shot up into the gray sky, eating our home alive. This just can't be happening...but it was!

We banged on Amos and Ruth's door. When Amos opened it, there we stood, the kids in only their jammie's and me in my robe....hair a mess.

"What on earth? " Ruth came rushing from the living room. "Come on in."

"We need to call the fire station!" I screamed, "Our house is burning!"

"Oh my lands child," Ruth cried running for the phone. "Get a blanket Amos, for Bret and Kate."

"Amos the phone is dead!" Ruth said banging the reciever holder up and down. "What do we do?" Of course it would be dead. The whole neighborhood would be dead! It's a party line!

"We need to go for help," Amos said getting the keys down off the peg by the door. 

"You kids stay with Ruth while I go with Amos," I said looking at those two little bundles sitting in Amos' big chair. Ruth gave me some shoes and we ran to the old pickup. As we turned east I could see the whole valley filling with smoke. I felt plum sick! I just knew our little house would be crumbling slowly to the ground.

As we turned to head south I remembered. "Oh Amos! We need to tell Mark! He doesn't know!"

"Where is he?"

"At Grandpa's doing chores."

We slowly backed to the intersection and drove into Grandpa's drive way. I jumped out and ran screaming "Mark...Mark where are you?" I saw him out at the cattle bunks putting out grain. I ran to him, flung my arms around his neck and told him the worst thing a wife can tell a husband. "Our house is burning!" We turned just in time to see Amos drive slowly out the drive way and on to town for help.

"Get in!" Mark hollered, jumping in the pickup. "Where are the kids? Please tell me they are ok! What happened?" Questions came pouring out as we drove toward that black smoke billowing up above the trees.

"They are ok. They are over with Ruth. Amos went for the fire trucks," I managed to get out. I was shaking now, my teeth chattering.

Mark grabbed a hose and turned on the faucet but nothing came out. We just stood there, side by side holding a dry hose and watched parts of our home fall into the burning flames.

Neighbors came from all directions. "Can we do something? Is everybody alright?"

"Yes, the kids are with Ruth. Amos has headed to get help. The phone lines are out. Wonder if we could get the desk out the front door?" Mark asked running around to the front. "It's just inside the door."

He pushed open the door and was immediately blown back with the power of heat. "You know this fire appears to be fed by propane. Is your tank turned off?" asked a neighbor.

"Oh shoot no!" Mark took off to the tank and turned it off. That slowed the flames some but they were still going high into the air.

I don't know how you ever repay an old neighbor who risked his life for you as he drove on ice to call for help. I don't know how you thank brave firemen who jump out of trucks and give their full attention to putting out your fire. How do you thank neighbors who come to stand by you in your darkest hour? Well...you just don't....you can't.

Hours later, Mark and I walked into that back door he had walked out of that morning. Oh my! The old piano stood in front of our newly panelled wall. Our table sat by the window, all covered in ashes. The drapes were melted and hung in shreds. The green refrigerator sat lopsided, streaked in smoke. A big hole was in the floor at the exact spot I had stepped when I reached for the keys. The lights hung by their single cord, the bulbs blown out. In the bathroom where I was combing my hair, my brush lay on the floor where I dropped it, and the mirror and bath tub had streaks of black running down them. Smoke made the air hazy everywhere.

We walked to the bedrooms. A Bible laid open on the end table among bits of ashes by our unmade bed. In the kids room, their toys were a big ball of melted plastic. On the hangers hung little scraps of material that used to be their clothes. Our home was gone, but we were so lucky....so completely 100% lucky!

"Oh Mark, " I whispered into the stillness. "Do you realize we could have lost both Bret and Kate. They were so close to that furnace." I was shaking uncontrollably.

Mark just took me into his arms and quietly held me there. "I realize I could have easily lost all three of you," he whispered into my hair. His grip around me got tighter. We just stood there for the longest time as snow gently... quietly drifted down through the burnt, black rafters- down around us standing there with Mark's arms around me and my face buried against his chest. The snow gently fell, covering those little unmade beds. It fell, covering the floor, our hair, ourselves... but we just stood wrapped in each other's arms, our two little priceless treasurers safe in that little white farmhouse, across the little stone bridge, down the road.