Page 40 of Smoke and Fire
Sione scowled, his upper lip curled. “Ugly thing. Mark is tracking it. He said that it’s several canyons west of the camp. Obviously, it would have to cross the highway and cross a river to hit Adventura, but still too close for comfort.”
“Can a fire do that?”
“Probably? Dunno.”
“How far away is it from Adventura?”
Sione shrugged. “A few miles, I think. Mark says the topography isn’t in Adventura’s favor. He hiked up one of the mountains behind Adventura with Megan and Justin the other day. They could see the smoke clearly from there. Justin thinks that if the fire made a run with the right wind conditions, it could hit the camp.”
My eyes widened. “Do you have to close down?”
“Only if they issue an evacuation order. For now, we’re watching.”
I relaxed a little. “Stay safe, please?”
He waved that off.
“Always. We’d have plenty of time to get out, and Stella checks for notices obsessively. They said the Pineville hotshot crew went up there yesterday. That’s good. I’m grateful for intense people that do crazy jobs.”
The text messages with Bastian still rang through my head now, setting me off-kilter.Intense people that do crazy jobs.Yeah, that made sense. Bastian seemed like the dive-into-danger type of guy.
“Let’s hope they don’t do anything stupid,” I muttered.
Sione sent me a questioning look that I ignored. He was used to my habit of talking to myself.
“Everyone in town is talking about the fire when they come in for coffee.” I hoped to intentionally turn the topic enough to avoid further questioning. “Lots of speculation. Some old people said there hasn’t been a fire around here in decades.”
“That’s not good. More to burn.”
“Will it be safe here?”
I motioned outside the RV. Mountains butted up to the back of the RV park where I lived. A cascading flow of trees led down the slope of the mountain in front of me, like I’d parked in a river of pines. Fire in the mountains behind it would quickly flow here.
What if it came in the middle of the night? Were there emergency notifications for that kind of thing? I had a California number, not a local one. Would that make a difference? I frowned at the flood of concerns that followed the topic. Maybe I should have asked Bastian these things before he left.
“Think the fire will get much worse?” I asked.
He shrugged. “I don’t know. I’m not used to fire, just water. Hope not.”
Truth. Our people were water people, not mountain people. But I couldn’t deny the novelty, majesty, or safety of a place like Pineville. As if he sensed the shift in my thoughts, Sione nudged me with a foot. He made a hissing sound through his teeth to get my attention, the same one that Dad made when we were growing up.
My gaze lifted to his.
“Yes?”
“You good? You’re distracted today.”
His words went deeper than general convention, and I immediately nodded.
“Yeah. Good.”
He hesitated, then held up both hands in a concession not to ask anymore. Sione had always known when to back down. Dad, not so much. To change the subject, and do a little exploring of my own, I nodded to the laptop.
“Got a temporary job.”
“You need more work?” He threw up his hands. “Dahlia. Why didn’t you say it? Come work at Adventura! We need counselors. Thesepalangisare afraid of the water. You need to show them how a real woman swims.”
“Too far. I can’t afford the gas and Adventura doesn’t have RV hook ups.”
