Page 6 of Book and Ladder
I pause to smile at the eager faces looking up at me as if I am in sole possession of the key to a brand new world.
“Do you know what?” I ask them.
“What?” the chorus of little voices answers me.
“My mom and my grandma used to read this story to me when I was your age.”
“Before you were bigger?” Luna asks, her brow scrunched severely as if she’s trying to reconcile the bizarre idea of me as a little girl.
“Yes. Many, many years ago. When I was little.”
It was only twenty-three years ago, but to them that might as well be a hundred lifetimes.
I smile, thinking of my childhood in this shop.
I hold the cover out and pan the room with it while I say, “Frog and Toad are Friends, by Arnold Lobel. Arnold Lobel is the author and the illustrator. He wrote this story and he drew the pictures.”
The previously wiggly group of children sit in rapt silence, their precious faces all tipped up toward me, eagerly awaiting my next words.
I push thoughts of Patrick O’Connell as far from my mind as possible, turn to the first page, and read, “Frog ran up the path to Toad’s house …”
Chapter 3
Patrick
A hero is no braver than an ordinary man,
but he is brave for five minutes longer.
~ Ralph Waldo Emerson
The alarm shatters the quiet.Captain David’s voice blasts into the bay through the intercom: “Structure fire—barn on County Line Road. Livestock at risk!”
We ditch equipment checks and scramble into our turnouts.
The crew loads up, sirens wailing.
Heat hasn’t touched me yet, but my skin feels it. My lungs clench from unseen smoke. My ears already hear the sounds of animals screaming. Old barns collapse quickly. If we’re late, something dies. I’m calm, but there’s a buzz of tension in the truck.
Dustin, our rookie, has only been with us a few months. He’s got a handle on how to gear up and manage most fires. Still, it’s his first barn fire and I can tell he’s nervous.
“I’ll be right in front of you, Dustin,” I say into my headset.
“I’ve got your back,” he answers.
“Just another day at the office,” Greyson adds in his usual deadpan tone.
“You’ve got this, Dustin,” Cody adds in that big-brother manner that always makes you feel seen.
“I’m fine, guys. We’ve got this,” Dustin says, relaxing into his seat just the slightest bit.
We’re silent the rest of the drive, the only noise is the sound of the dispatch running details to us as the fire progresses.
Cody pulls the truck to a spot on the property that’s close enough to the barn, but still a safe enough distance to avoid the extreme heat and any spreading flames if it comes to that.
I peer out the window of the passenger seat. Flames lick out from the roof, glowing orange and yellow. Smoke pours through the cracks in the wood below.
Henry McKeehan runs across the field shouting, “The kids’ 4-H calves and pigs are in there! And our mare’s still inside with her colt!”
