Mac Davenport was almost asleep when a distant explosion woke
him back up. Cornelius; lying next to Mac's bed, suddenly lifted his
head and began barking frantically with Kato suddenly leaping from
off Mac in the process. Mac, being a former firefighter, knew from
the sound of the explosion that it often meant disaster. He leaped out
of bed and ran into the living room with Cornelius and Kato right
behind. Looking out the living room window he saw an orange glow
in the northeast area of town. Mac knew right away it was coming
from the trailer park.
I'm so glad Julie and Alex are with the Canfields, Mac thought.
Karen Williams was just about ready to turn out the light on the
small nightstand next to her bed when a thunderous boom caused
her to exclaim, "What was that?" Karen could hear the thumping
of feet in the hallway as she knew her parents had heard it too.
Karen flew out of bed and to the hallway and said to her mother
and father, "Mom! Dad! What is that?"
"I don't know, honey!" came her mother's reply.
"Sounds like it came from the east!" Karen's father added.
As soon as Richard said that, he heard the eerie tone of the
Newberry Fire Department fire siren winding up.
When Richard heard the siren, he said, "Whatever it is, it's
trouble if that fire siren is any indication." The three of them
went toward the kitchen as their kitchen window faced east.
Sure enough as Richard pulled the curtains back he, Neva,
and Karen saw the orange glow which lit up the night sky
around it.
Richard looked out and said, "The only place that would be
in that direction is the Sunrise Trailer Park."
Karen put her hand over her mouth in shock when the trailer
park was mentioned as she knew Julie Benson and Alex Hobbs
had lived there. Karen clasped both her hands together, looked
up and praised God aloud, saying, "Oh thank you Lord that Julie
and Alex are safe with the Canfields!"
"Yes, indeed," Richard replied, also looking up.
"Thank you, Lord," added Neva.
The sound of the explosion in the eastern part of Newberry had
also reached the home of the Canfields as they were getting
ready to turn in also.
Brian Canfield was the first to react and immediately ran to the
window to see where the sound came from, with Alex along
side him. He could see an orange glow in the distance. Alex
could see it too and said, "A fire."
"Yea Alex, I see that." Brian replied. That was when they
heard the fire siren go off.
"I hear siren," Alex responded.
"I hear it, too," Brian said, "That's the fire department siren."
Brian and Alex could hear the sound of feet hitting the floor
in both Dawn and Julie's and their parents' bedrooms.
Dawn and Julie burst into the boys' bedroom with Dawn
the first to start with, "Brian! What do you see? Is it a fire?"
"Yea," came the answer, "you can see the glow from here."
All four children were gathered around the window to watch
the glow when Gary and Vera came in with Gary asking, "What's
going on?"
"There's a fire not far from here," Brian answered, "Must have
something to do with that explosion we heard."
"We heard it, too," Vera put in, "I think it woke all of us."
Gary and Vera came over to see where the glow was and
when Gary and Vera noticed which direction it was, they
looked at each other with the look of realization of how
blessed Julie and Alex were to be with them now.
Fearing Julie and Alex might figure out where the fire was,
he said, "Okay, let's get back to bed. We have church
tomorrow and we have to get there early to pick up
everybody."
Everyone went back to bed, the fire siren finally ceasing
its call to summon, but only to be followed by a multitude
of smaller sirens as the fire department raced to the scene
where the orange glow was.
This concludes Chapter 19.
No comments:
Post a Comment