Kaleidoscope Summer (Samantha's Story) (45 page)

BOOK: Kaleidoscope Summer (Samantha's Story)
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Dr. Ellie stood on
her walkway
gazing in the direction of the fire
.
I joined her pointing
toward the smoke rising in the air. “It looks like it’s the vacant field behind the shops that’s on fire.”

She turned to me. “Hurry inside
. W
e’ll turn on the news.”

“I need to
warn
Maggie
.”
Goldie
and I jumped back in
the SUV
. In the rearview mirror,
I saw
flashing
lights behind
and waited
. A fire truck,
followed by the medics
,
whirled
past in a blur.
I placed my hand on
my
chest
.
Lord,
please protect our town. Please protect the people
and the shops
.

In front of the
antique
s
shop,
I
jammed the
shifter
into park and ran inside
. “Maggie
! There’s a fire!

“I heard the sirens and smoke
’s
coming through the back door of the shop. I—”
I followed her gaze
.
Nicole
had come
in
behind me.

“We’re evacuating the area. Y
ou need to vacate
the premises
immediately.”
Nicole’s
nervousness amplified my own.
I watched her leave and wondered what she wasn’t telling us.

T
he customer
s
dash
ed
for the exit. Maggie’s eyes roved around
the shop
.

“D
o you have any bank deposi
ts
or cash on the premises?” She
nodded and grabbed the bills from her
cash drawer
and
pulled a cloth bag
from below the counter. “Hurry
. Let’s go.”
I picked up the sack and added the cash from the drawer for her.

“I need to take—


We need to leave now. Bring
Wolf
and let’s go.”

The mention of her
dog sn
apped her out of her h
aze
. “
Wolf
. Come
,
boy.”

Nicole
returned
. “Maggie
,
I need your car keys. I’ll bring your
car around to the front

Logan
’s orders.
He wants you and
Samantha
to go to your house
, and said for you to
stay there until he calls.

The two dogs and I loaded into the SUV and followed Maggie.
Ignoring Logan’s instructions, Maggie mad
e a detour into the parking lot designated
for the beach. W
e walked along the boardwalk
where we had a view
of the towering flames threatening
to wipe out Main Street.
The air was so
thick
with ashes and smoke
I could taste
the burnt ash on my tongue
, and water streamed
from my eyes
.
F
lames leaped higher and the intensity of the heat caused sweat to form on my brow.
“Do you think the fire
will consume
the shops?”
Anne’s writings.
M
y heart pounded
.
I started to run
, but
Maggie
grabbed my sweater
and tugged me back
.


Anne
’s
portfolio—it’s
in the bookshop
.”
I tried to sprint away from her.

She
held on to me
, and waited for me to look at her.
“No. You can’t go into the
shop. You heard Nicole
.”

She
pushed buttons on her
ce
l
l. When she finished, she shoved
it back
into her pocket.
“I called
Logan
. The fire crew is
digging a firebreak behind the alleyway. If they can stop the flames from jumping across
it
,
they
might be able to save Main Street
.
He wants us to go to my house—
now.

We had a
better
view of the fire as
we headed
in the direction of Maggie’s
home
.
The fierce flame
s were roaring out of control. With both dogs still in tow, I
drove
away from the fire
. “
Wolf
, do
n’t get any ideas about the plants.

Goldie stuck her paw on
my shoulder. “Everything’s fine, baby.”
And
whispered a prayer that
it would be.

I followed Maggi
e into her driveway as Hank pulled
in behind me
.
I hopped
out of the SUV and rushe
d toward him.
H
e placed the
leather po
uch along with
my
tattered journal
into my hands
. “
Logan
asked me to bring these to you.”

Maggie came over and stood next to me
. “Thanks
,” I
ca
lled to Hank as he got back in his
car. Maggie
fingered the torn book
.
“I told
Logan
you were concerned about
Anne
’s stories
.
I never
mentioned the journal.” Again, Logan had come to my rescue. As much as a part of me wanted to fight it, he had be
come like the prince that I had
dre
amed about since the moment I
watched my first fairy tale.

We sa
t on the front porch. T
he
flames
soared
high
er, making them
appear much closer than t
hey actually were. “Let’s go inside and turn on the news.” Maggie stood and opened the door
,
allowing the dogs to go inside first. She clicked on the local news station
, and
I read the subtitles, mostly what I already knew
.
The fire department continues to battle the heavy flames in an attempt to save Main Street
.

As night fell,
Maggie
brought out bl
anket
s and pillows. She
loaned me one of her
gowns
, and I loved
the
softness of
t
he white cotton fabric,
cool
against my skin.

“Have you read any of
Anne
’s writings?” W
e lay on t
he fl
oor in a parody of a teenage pajama party
.

“Only the one letter.
” I retrieved
the leather portfolio
and
crawled back under the blanket
. P
ropped up
on a pillow, I pulled several file
s
from the pouch. Each story had
been placed in it
s own folder.

Maggie
arranged
a
pillow behind
her,
opened
the first one
and flip
ped
through the pages. “This is a children’s stor
y
about a dog named Charlie.”

I
skimmed through s
everal pages of another story
. “This on
e’s a children’s book
as well.
I
t’s about two sisters, only they’re
rabbits.

I reached out to exchange manuscripts with Maggie.
“These are
wonderful
. The children at the deaf school
would
’ve
love
d
these stories.”

Maggie
reached over,
touched me and pointed to
the television
. A news bulletin flashed on the screen
.
W
ords scro
lled
across the bottom
.
O
ne of the fireme
n
was
seriously injured and has been
airlifted
to
the hospital in
Mariner Bay
.

Long past midnight
,
we finally slept
.
Maggie
sh
ook me
, and
I rubbed
my eyes
,
forcing
myself to
focus on what she
was
saying
.

“It’s
rain
ing
.”

We
dashed
outside
in the breaking dawn
,
a
llowing
the wetne
ss t
o soak our hair and clothes. T
wirling
with our han
ds out
stretched,
my heart soared.
T
he down
pour would help douse the fire
.
Soft flowers floated down from
the lavender trees—nothing was
prettier than a sweet lavender rain.

Trading
ou
r wet pajamas
for jeans and shirts
, we
headed to town.
Maggie turned the knob on th
e radio. Her
face paled as she pulled to the shoulder of the road.
She t
old me
Brandon
Hernandez
w
as
the
injured fireman
.

They found fragments of a plastic gas can in the area. They think some ATV rid
ers left the gas can behind—i
t
went
off like a bomb
,
throwing him several feet into the air. He suffered
severe burns
.


Rachel’s husban
d?”

Maggie nodded and maneuvered back onto the highway.
I watched as
the wiper
blades
hypnotically brushed
the windshield. We parked near Dr. Ellie’s hou
se and used umbrella
s
to back
t
rack
to Main S
treet
.

A
blackened
pall
or had settled over the area.
T
he entran
ce to Main Street remained closed
. We walked a few steps
so we could
see down the alley
. T
he backs of the shops were dark
ened with smoke and soot
, and many of the
w
indowpanes had blown
out
from the intensity of the
h
eat.
Firemen aimed hoses and continued pouring water over the burnt area
. “
E
ven with the rain
,
I guess you
can’t take chances,

Maggie
said. Then
waved
at someone
.
I turned and my heart reacted
.

Logan
strode
toward us
,
his hand wrapped in bandages.
“What are you two doing here?”
Th
e
in
tensity in his eyes
made me glad I couldn’t hear his tone.

BOOK: Kaleidoscope Summer (Samantha's Story)
2.4Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

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