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

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.