It really is a beautiful day her mother said The sky is so blue It was a nice day and it was good to see the sky and the clouds and the sun Before the rain had put out the fire the air had been so filled with smoke at times that the sun was only a brown blur above them And at night they could see the orange in the sky as the fire burned around them If it hadn’t been so scary it would have been beautiful Thank goodness the town had been spared from the fire It sat on a lake and was protected on the other side by a rocky hill and the highway Those things along with the firefighters had saved it There had been many firefighters in and around the town They had seemed to be everywhere They’d worked around the clock only stopping to sleep and 6
eat before heading back out to continue the fight They had never even changed out of their firefighting clothes big black pants orange vests and helmets Their faces had always seemed to be smudged Her parents called them heroes Everybody did There had been firefighters in the sky too A regular stream of airplanes water bombers had landed on the lake scooped up water and taken off to dump it on the fire
Now as Jasmin’s family drove the scenery stayed the same As far as they could see in every direction there was nothing but the charred remains of trees It was just like burnt fingers pointing up toward the sky No leaves no color except the blackened trees the gray rocks and the earth that looked like coal Do you think our house is gone Hunter asked If anything survived it would be our house their father said Their home was made of cement blocks and stone The roof was metal and there were metal shutters over all the windows And although they lived deep in the forest there were no trees or plants close to the house There was a large gravel driveway in front and rock gardens surrounded the house on 8
all sides Their mother called it a fire break She’d designed the whole house to be fire resistant Our house is just over that ridge right Hunter asked I think so It’s hard to tell because everything looks so different their mom replied Hunter reached out and took his sister’s hand They’d know soon enough
