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Chapter 10
The confusion at the place we once
called home is now chaos. Firemen
were running everywhere, many dragging hoses and working tight together…
but it was obvious to all that everything was lost.
All they could do is keep the fire from spreading to our
neighbor’s houses; in firefighting known as containment.
I had done some volunteer firefighting work, and know when all is
lost; they just want to keep it from spreading.
We started to have all eyes fall on us, one by one, as they
realized when we walked up that we were the ones that lived there.
Our hearts sunk, knowing we lost all the personal things and
memories that were in that house, a slate cleaning event that has stricken
us, taking away a lot of our memories, our past lives.
Margie broke down with big tears as she held me; me with a numb
feeling in this surreal moment. I
turned around and there stood reporter Amy Streeter, with her microphone
and cameraman standing there looking at me.
She had nothing to say, with a very blank, yet sad stare.
You could see her remorse, as I am sure I showed mine.
Somehow you wonder if she felt partly responsible; that fateful day
she noticed my comments at that Senator Speech forum; unknowingly pulled
me into something much bigger than I was.
She showed the emotion of a person that got you involved in a
crime, and we got busted together; her feeling very sorry she got me in
trouble. I read Margie’s
expressions all the time, and Amy’s expressions at that moment were more
expressive than any I have ever seen.
“Are you all right Goldie?”
“Yeah Amy, we’ll be ok. Can
you do me a favor Amy?” “Sure
Goldie, I’ll do anything you want.” “Could
you leave us out of your pictures? I
know you have a job to do, to report the events of the day.
Could you report on the fire this time and leave us out of the
camera shots?” “Sure
Goldie. Anything you want.”
“What
are you going to do Golden?” “Oh,
hey there Dwayne. How is my
good neighbor?” “I am here
for you old man. Come on over
and stay at our place tonight. I
did see the fire first and called 911, and got your RV and Truck out of
there just in time. They were
already starting to get hot.” “Oh
thank you Dwayne. I can’t
thank you enough. Tell you
what, you got a deal.” Dwayne
has been there for me in a number of occasions when we have done our
nature outings together. He
has pulled me out of the water like a wet dog from a canoe spill, served
me food from his plate when my dinner ended up dumping in the campfire,
even let me stay in his tent when mine was full of water from a heavy rain
storm. This was the way Dwayne
was, and he always had that calming voice.
It was an automatic response from me to accept food and home from
Dwayne, almost a running joke if you will.
It always got me fed though, a place to sleep, and the new morning
always seemed to be a new and normal day.
Tomorrow will be different this time.
We didn’t just burn our campfire dinner, or be able to throw away
a tent that lost its waterproof values.
This was different. We
lost everything we own. We do
still have the business, the building, and can stay in the back of the
store if we have to. At that
moment our cell phone rang. I
answered it hearing, “Mr. Simms?”
I said, “Yes?” I
then heard the news that made my heart sink deeper.
“Sir, I am sorry to say your store has burned, and we couldn’t
save a thing. I don’t want
to be assuming and we will do an investigation.
I think it was arson Mr. Simms.”
I said, “Thank you” hanging up the phone.
Margie was standing close enough to hear, and see my expressions.
She looked white as a sheet. As
we stood together with Dwayne and Amy, we just watched the remains of the
house burn, popping and crackling, steam rose from the fire hoses and
water, thick over the hot remains of the house.
Tomorrow indeed will be a new day, and we had no idea what was in
store. I had learned of a
thing in psychology called nuclear events, including events such as loss
of job, home, life, and we hit two out of the three all at once.
Standing there, we felt like nobodies, homeless.
“Take us home, Dwayne. We’re
ready to go home now.”
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