2005-11-28 - 8:52 p.m.
A man is in bed sleeping when he is awakened by his wife, “There is a fire.” She says.
The man and his wife rush out of the bedroom, into the hall at the top of the stairway – it leads down into smoke-choked blackness. The two traverse the stairway in un-natural darkness looking for the source of the smoke and choking on it as they go. The man stumbles to the kitchen, the dining room, the living room…stumbles through the black looking for some sign of fire. Through the darkness he sees the glow of fire outlining a window in the living room – the fire is coming from outside. He rushes to the window and looks out – the porch is engulfed.
The man stumbles back to the stairs where his wife is waiting, choking on the thick, black smoke, “Get out! Get the children, call 911, and get out!” She rushes up the stairs.
And then, like a miracle, through the blinding smoke the man sees an outline…the outline of one of his sons lying on the living room floor. He rushes to him and takes him up, along with a blanket and runs to the back of the house where he intercepts his wife, “Out the back…go out the back! The front is on fire!” He guides her to the back door, to the deck and hands off his son – he heads back in for the dogs. He finds one nearby and drags it to the deck, but the dog turns and runs back into the house. He grabs the collar, but it breaks in his hand and the dog disappears into the blackness.
The man is surrounded by flames – he looks to the living room and sees fire burst and race across the carpet toward him in a second as the windows in the back of the house explode. He rushes toward the exit, now a wall of flames.
The man bursts from the house, crosses his deck and crashes through the railing. His military jump training instinctively kicks in as he falls the twelve feet to the ground below – feet and knees together, hit, roll. The roll extinguishes the fire on his clothing.
The man gathers his family and moves them to the street away from the house – its 19 degrees out. His son wears only a pair of underwear and the blanket he was wrapped in; the other two children are in their pajamas.
They stand there in the street and watch there home burn – the trappings of their memories burn.
On Thanksgiving night my friend’s home burned to the ground. He and his family made it out alive, but they nearly lost one child – if I never believed in miracles before, I do now. The house is gone, all of their possessions are gone, their cat and one dog are in a surgical hospital and one dog is missing, but has been seen around the neighborhood.
They have nothing.
We talked on the phone tonight – the first time I have spoken to him since the fire. It was all I could do to keep from losing it on the phone – the thought of his son lying there on the living room floor was too much. I cried after we hung up the phone and thanked god that they are all ok – I thanked god too for all that I have.
I’m an agnostic…right?
I don’t know what to do. He’s staying with a neighbor friend, but he has no car, no clothing, no access to money…we’re energizing every possible resource, but it doesn’t seem enough. No amount of money or food, no amount of clothing and shelter can give them back what they’ve lost, nor take away the memories of such a horrible occurrence.
And they are without a home.
I will find a way to help them re-build.
I’m still in shock.
