Don't Have a Cow by Hester Teddy Cat

Author:Hester, Teddy Cat
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2022-09-28T00:00:00+00:00

But Wally and I are home only a few hours before he wakes me with a whine and a strong nudge. I lie in bed for a few seconds, waking up and orienting myself in the dark room. Is someone breaking in? I don’t hear anything.

Wally whines again, jumps off the bed and trots over to paw the wall. Then I smell it. A faint, acrid scent.

“Good boy,” I whisper at Wally as I toss off the covers and yank on the jeans and sweatshirt I’d worn earlier. “I think the shop is on fire.” There’s no smoke yet, but the smell is stronger.

I call the fire department and throw essentials into an overnight bag. The sirens sound as I grab my laptop and phone, the cylinders holding the chapel building plans from the engineer and the architect, and the van keys. Wally and I fly down the stairs to the shop, where the air is a little easier on the lungs.

Firefighters meet me at the door. “I think there’s a fire in the wall upstairs. Thanks for coming so fast. I’m going next door to see if anyone’s asleep there. Old Mr. Garner sometimes stays over on his futon when he’s up late doing inventory.

The man in charge sends a couple of his men upstairs to investigate. “We’ll take care of notifying neighbors, ma’am. You stay here, where you’ll be safe.” I notice that firefighters are already knocking on doors of the shops next to ours.

One less thing to worry about for the moment. I should have grabbed a few things from the shop before I was kicked out. My mind flits to all the other things I should probably be doing.

Please don’t let the shop burn. Please let the shop be okay.

My phone reads 10:30 PM when I call Dorrie.

“What’s up, boss?”

“Dorrie, there’s been a fire here at the shop.”

“Omigosh, are you and Wally all right?”

“Yeah. He woke me up and we got out as the fire trucks arrived. I think it’s in the wall between our shop and Mr. Garner’s. I’m waiting for the fire department to tell me what they find.”

“Was Mr. Garner there?”

“No, fortunately. Nobody’s working late tonight on either side of us, thankfully. The firefighters checked.”

“Good. Okay, then, I’ll be right there. Anything I can bring?”

“Thanks, Dorrie, no. What I need is a place for Wally and me to sleep tonight.”

Silence. “If it were just me, you know you’d be welcome in a heartbeat. But with Tom’s allergies, Mom won’t let any animals in the house.”

Dorrie still lives at home with her parents and five other siblings. I knew it was a longshot, calling her, but she’s the first one who came to mind. “That’s okay, I understand. I’ll call around.”

“I’m so sorry, Amy.”

“I know, don’t worry about it.”

“I’m still coming, though. I’ll be right there.”

“Thanks.” It will be good to have her for moral support, if nothing else. I’m barely holding onto my emotions. Who knows what damage has been done to Mom’s

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.