Ollie Escapes the Great Chicago Fire by Salima Alikhan

Author:Salima Alikhan [Alikhan, Salima]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: 1871; Smithsonian; Great Chicago fire; rebuilding Chicago; historical fiction grades 3-6; escape and rescue stories; 19th century U.S.; orphan stories; Lake Michigan
Publisher: Capstone
Published: 2021-10-20T00:00:00+00:00

Ollie grasped Leo’s and Eliza’s hands and marched right into the water—then stopped.

The water was icy cold. Chills shot up his legs. His teeth started chattering.

He knew immediately that there was no way they’d survive for long in the lake.

Chapter 5

New Plans

The heat at their backs was so bad that the three of them inched farther into the lake anyway, following the other people. The air above felt like a blast furnace, but the water below was unbearably cold. There was no relief.

Leo was so short that soon the water was up to his neck and he was gasping at the cold, so Ollie picked him up. Eliza stood shivering next to them in her thin nightdress. Ollie kept an arm around her to keep her warm. He tried not to think the thing he was most afraid of—that they wouldn’t last very long out here in the frigid water.

They turned to watch the city burning— the fire raging across the buildings, the flames shooting into the red sky, the embers showering down. Around them, people in the water and on the shore were crying out. They were losing everything.

Ollie tightened his grip on Eliza. Thank God we’re here together, he thought.

She was shivering harder than ever, though. Her lips were turning blue.

Ollie looked around, desperate for a solution. At the shore, a woman was pushing a small rowboat into the water. She had a child with her—a little boy about Leo’s age. She helped her son into the boat, then climbed in herself.

“Please!” Ollie splashed over to her, holding tightly to Leo on his back and dragging Eliza with him. “Please, can you take these two? They won’t survive the cold!”

He felt so desperate he was almost in tears. He couldn’t stand thinking they might have come all this way only to die in the freezing water.

The woman in the boat gazed at Eliza, blue-lipped and shivering. Then she looked at Leo, who clung to Ollie and cried softly.

“Quickly,” she said. “The three of you come aboard.”

Ollie felt something inside him let go. Tears streamed down his face in relief as he helped the two younger ones into the boat. Once they were both inside, he felt like he could breathe again. He scrambled on board after them, trying not to tip the boat over.

When all were in, the woman began to row.

“I can help with that, if you need me to,” Ollie offered, wheezing.

“You just rest for now,” the woman said.

Ollie sat, his legs shaking. He couldn’t quite let himself believe they’d made it to safety.

When they’d gone far enough out that the air felt a bit clearer, the woman said, “Now, we wait. My husband, Ned … I don’t know where he is. He went to get my mother to safety, and I wanted to wait for him, but the flames came so near our house that we had to leave.”

Ollie sat close to Leo and Eliza and rubbed their arms to keep them warm.

“Where are you from?” the woman asked.

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