A City Tossed and Broken by Judy Blundell

Author:Judy Blundell
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.
Published: 2013-01-14T05:00:00+00:00

April 18, 1906

Wednesday

Midnight

I am at the Crandall residence on Green Street. I am awake, we are all awake. Because of the smoke and the fires it was dark early — six o’clock. No one feels comfortable indoors. We sit outside on the living room furniture Mr. Crandall has dragged from the house with the help of the neighbors. We’ll spend the night outside here on this small patch of lawn. There is too much danger that cinders and sparks could land on the roof and the house will go up. All the neighbors are out and some have dragged furniture to sit on the lawn with us. We are all keeping watch.

When we arrived Mrs. Crandall pounced on her husband, demanding to know why he was gone so long. She is his height, but round and puffy-looking, and she hung on his arm while she talked. You could tell he wanted to shake her off and just sit down. He explained that the streets are sometimes impassable and he was almost caught in the fire when he went to check on Mr. Sump’s properties on Mission Street. He had tried to help rescue people from a collapsed building but the fire came too close.

Mrs. Crandall said she was out of her mind with worry and then finally noticed me. When Mr. Crandall introduced me she instantly swiveled, pushed at her hair, and offered me tea that, it turned out, she could not provide.

Then I saw what it was like to be not only rich, but the source of somebody’s income. As the heir, Lily Sump held this family’s fortune in her hands.

I would be untruthful, diary, if I said I did not enjoy this a bit.

She found me a chair and a glass of water (how precious water is to us now! I shared it with a neighbor who came by) and has been so solicitous of my comfort, even while not being able to offer me any comfort at all.

The sky is orange with the flames, and they have been dynamiting to create firebreaks. We are almost used to the blasts now.

As the night wore on Mrs. Crandall directed Mr. Crandall to fetch this or that from the house, just in case we have to evacuate. I don’t understand how she thinks we can transport all these trunks, clothes, and bedding without a car or a horse and carriage. I realized that she looked puffy because she is wearing two dresses and a shirtwaist and I don’t know how many petticoats. She doesn’t want to leave her best gowns behind.

We are several blocks east from Van Ness Avenue. West of Van Ness, they say, is not on fire. Mr. Crandall said they will try to use Van Ness as a firebreak since it is a wide avenue. So if we have to walk away, we don’t have far to go. The Army will tell us when to leave.

It seems as though the entire city is walking. The people carry

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