wall feverishly pawing as we stumbled and crawled along the floor. My hand hit something-Bill.
“Stand up. Stand up. We got a window.” But he stayed there on all fours, a dog beaten down, seemingly to expend the one last effort that would save his life.
I reached under and unclipped his harness at the chest and waist, I should have done earlier but had forgotten, and I dragged air bottle off his back. “Come on, goddamn it.” My bell stopped. For a split second I froze, realizing that frantic of leaking air had ceased. I closed my mouth, fighting the urge in the poisoned air from around the gap in my mask, and, as much of Rennie as I could manage, I launched both of us the floor and toward what I hoped was a window. There was a crash, a splintering of glass.
I felt cold air on my neck in an embrace, we both toppled headlong out the second window.
We rolled out the window, hit a shed roof, fell off its edge, and landed in some bushes, still locked together like two lobsters in mortal combat. Rennie didn’t even get hurt.
But we didn’t go back inside. The hot embers from the stove were reignited by the blast, returning the first floor to its hellish first appearance. For the rest of the night, our firefighting consisted of trying to save what we could from the outside, preserving the walls of the coffin for those people within.
It wasn’t until dawn, after the last water had flowed and I sank exhausted onto the tailgate of Buster’s fire truck, that I realized I hadn’t escaped unscathed. It was Laura, there as a member of the women’s auxiliary, who discovered that I’d burned my ear, and who set about putting it right.
“Ow. What the hell is that stuff?” “It’s Bag Balm. It doesn’t hurt; it’s the burn that stings.” I ducked away from her hand. “You’re not on the receiving end.” Laura gave me an exasperated look. “Good thing, too; it’s all over your hair now. Stay put.” I stayed put, but only because the pain was mitigated by her sitting so close to me. In the cool breeze of early morning, I could smell her cleanliness mixed in with the bitter odor of charred wood. Whether it was the fatigue, my brush with death, or just the fact that Laura stood in such contrast to our surroundings, I found myself swept up by the romantic notion of being tended by a pretty woman in the midst of a virtual battlefield.
She held my chin in her other hand to steady my head. “I can’t believe you got off so lightly.” I looked across to the blackened, punctured, sagging building.
“I’m not sure I believe it, either.” Rennie, in fact, was stuffing his face with doughnuts at a long table the auxiliary had set up in the driveway. That’s what had brought Laura over to me in the first place-a sugarcoated, creme-filled monster that had done wonders for my spirit, if not for my arteries. Laura leaned back and admired her work. “That should keep it from getting infected. It’s going to sting like hell if you shower.” “I’ll work around it.” She handed me the green tin of Bag Balm. “Here, keep this.” I took the tin and smiled my thanks. Her eyes were on the green side of hazel and looked straight back into mine with refreshing directness.
“I’m almost glad I burned my ear. Her cheeks tinged very slightly, and I regretted having tipped my hand, even when she responded, “So am I.” I shifted my position to lean against the closed rear compartment door, suddenly feeling all the aches and pains of the night’s activities. My bunker coat was covered with a thin sheen of ice that crackled and flaked as I moved, but it was tight and warm on the inside, although damp with old sweat, and I didn’t want to take it off. I closed my eyes for a moment, trying to sense with my face any warmth from the rising sun.
“What was it like?” Her voice was surprisingly soft. “In there?”
“Yes.” “Oh, I don’t know…. Hot, confusing, scary… noisy. Very colorful, though.” “They told
“Stand up. Stand up. We got a window.” But he stayed there on all fours, a dog beaten down, seemingly to expend the one last effort that would save his life.
I reached under and unclipped his harness at the chest and waist, I should have done earlier but had forgotten, and I dragged air bottle off his back. “Come on, goddamn it.” My bell stopped. For a split second I froze, realizing that frantic of leaking air had ceased. I closed my mouth, fighting the urge in the poisoned air from around the gap in my mask, and, as much of Rennie as I could manage, I launched both of us the floor and toward what I hoped was a window. There was a crash, a splintering of glass.
I felt cold air on my neck in an embrace, we both toppled headlong out the second window.
We rolled out the window, hit a shed roof, fell off its edge, and landed in some bushes, still locked together like two lobsters in mortal combat. Rennie didn’t even get hurt.
But we didn’t go back inside. The hot embers from the stove were reignited by the blast, returning the first floor to its hellish first appearance. For the rest of the night, our firefighting consisted of trying to save what we could from the outside, preserving the walls of the coffin for those people within.
It wasn’t until dawn, after the last water had flowed and I sank exhausted onto the tailgate of Buster’s fire truck, that I realized I hadn’t escaped unscathed. It was Laura, there as a member of the women’s auxiliary, who discovered that I’d burned my ear, and who set about putting it right.
“Ow. What the hell is that stuff?” “It’s Bag Balm. It doesn’t hurt; it’s the burn that stings.” I ducked away from her hand. “You’re not on the receiving end.” Laura gave me an exasperated look. “Good thing, too; it’s all over your hair now. Stay put.” I stayed put, but only because the pain was mitigated by her sitting so close to me. In the cool breeze of early morning, I could smell her cleanliness mixed in with the bitter odor of charred wood. Whether it was the fatigue, my brush with death, or just the fact that Laura stood in such contrast to our surroundings, I found myself swept up by the romantic notion of being tended by a pretty woman in the midst of a virtual battlefield.
She held my chin in her other hand to steady my head. “I can’t believe you got off so lightly.” I looked across to the blackened, punctured, sagging building.
“I’m not sure I believe it, either.” Rennie, in fact, was stuffing his face with doughnuts at a long table the auxiliary had set up in the driveway. That’s what had brought Laura over to me in the first place-a sugarcoated, creme-filled monster that had done wonders for my spirit, if not for my arteries. Laura leaned back and admired her work. “That should keep it from getting infected. It’s going to sting like hell if you shower.” “I’ll work around it.” She handed me the green tin of Bag Balm. “Here, keep this.” I took the tin and smiled my thanks. Her eyes were on the green side of hazel and looked straight back into mine with refreshing directness.
“I’m almost glad I burned my ear. Her cheeks tinged very slightly, and I regretted having tipped my hand, even when she responded, “So am I.” I shifted my position to lean against the closed rear compartment door, suddenly feeling all the aches and pains of the night’s activities. My bunker coat was covered with a thin sheen of ice that crackled and flaked as I moved, but it was tight and warm on the inside, although damp with old sweat, and I didn’t want to take it off. I closed my eyes for a moment, trying to sense with my face any warmth from the rising sun.
“What was it like?” Her voice was surprisingly soft. “In there?”
“Yes.” “Oh, I don’t know…. Hot, confusing, scary… noisy. Very colorful, though.” “They told
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