The month of April started out unusually cold and the townspeople had become concerned for the crops that needed to be planted soon.
Angie had stayed after class to help Miss O’Brien clean the blackboards and straighten the desks. Angie enjoyed talking with her teacher and she volunteered to help Miss O’Brien faithfully every Friday.
Many months before, Miss O’Brien made a point to have a serious talk with Pearl and after that time, Pearl stayed away from Angie, at least while in the classroom at any rate. Other than the dirty looks and snide laughing with her girlfriends, Pearl reluctantly obeyed her teacher’s instructions, which made life at school bearable for Angie.
As Angie waved goodbye, bolting out the schoolhouse door, Miss O’Brien hollered, “Have a good weekend, Angie. See you on Monday.”
“Bye,” Angie called back to her teacher as she ran down the dirt road, huddled in her wool coat and clamping her books to her chest. The cold chill in the air made her run a little faster than normal, thinking about the warm fire that would greet her at home.
As she quickly made her way through the living room door, she tossed her books on the sofa, stripped off her coat, and ran to the fireplace to warm her hands.
“Angie, did you put your belongings away?” her mother called from the kitchen. “You didn’t toss them about did you?”
“I’m putting them away,” Angie answered back so that her mother could hear her.
“Good girl. You have such a horrible habit of leaving your things lying around the house.” her mother reminded her.
Angie picked up her coat and gloves and hauled her books upstairs. As she entered her bedroom and dropped her armload of items on her bed, she could hear her mother yelling up the stairs after her, “Do you have homework tonight?”
“Yes,” Angie reluctantly answered, “but I have until Sunday to get it done.”
“Sunday is a day of rest,” her mother said, “Get it done tonight and you’ll have tomorrow to play. I expect you to finish it before dinner.”
“Yes, momma,” Angie answered as she heard her mother return to the kitchen.
Billy ran into her room and jumped on her bed.
“Be careful of my blanket,” Angie warned, “You’ll get it dirty!”
“Do you wanna play a game?” Billy smiled.
“No, I have homework to do,” Angie responded.
“Aw, come on, please? Just one game?” Billy begged.
Angie hesitated, “Alright, just one very short game.”
Billy ran to his room and brought back the old worn board game. They played a game of checkers, then another and another, until mother called them for dinner.
The McKennas had come to join them for the evening, and more wild stories were told around the fireplace that night. The evening flew by and the next thing everyone knew, the McKennas were saying their goodbyes as they donned their coats. Billy had already fallen asleep and William was taking him upstairs to bed. Angie hugged Elma and George and then yawned as she realized she was getting sleepy too. She dragged herself upstairs, changed and prepared to climb under her warm blanket. Her parents had just tucked her in and her eyes were growing heavy when she realized that she had not done her homework, as promised. Her mother always made it a practice to go over her homework in the morning with her. The fear of not having the homework ready to show her mother made her waken. She listened for her parents to retire for the night and then quietly slipped out from under her covers.
She slowly and carefully made her way downstairs, not wanting to wake her parents. She found her way through the dark and into the living room, found the lantern from the living room table, hid it under her robe and brought it back to her room. There, she lit the lantern and pulled out her homework. The night was going by quickly as Angie worked feverishly to complete her papers. It was not too long before she signed her name to the work and set the completed homework down on the floor on the other side of the bed. She blew out the light and brought the lantern back downstairs, set it back down on the table and returned to crawl under her blanket, smiling to herself. Now I won’t get into trouble…again! Angie thought. She shut her eyes and felt herself drift off into dreamland…
“Angie! Angie! Wake up!”
Angie slowly drifted from her dream back into reality. She opened her eyes and saw only darkness.
“Angie! Wake up now sweetheart!”
Before she could get a full picture of what was happening, her father was wrapping her up in her crocheted blanket and quickly lifted her from her bed.
“What’s the matter?” she asked as her father rushed her down the stairs.
“The house is on fire,” he answered and then carried her outside, placing her down next to the safety of a big tree by the road. Angie watching the burning of their home as it lit up the night sky.
“Where’s momma and Billy?” she asked as her father knelt beside her.
“I don’t know,” William was alarmed, “They were supposed to be right behind me. Stay here, I’ll go get them. Stay here! Do you hear me?”
Angie nodded, wrapped her blanket tightly around her, and watched her father run back into the burning house.
Her eyes kept searching for them to come out, but they didn’t emerge. After what seemed an eternity, she got to her feet to go after them, but her father’s words kept running through her mind and she hesitated. Suddenly voices from down the road caught her attention. Neighbors were emerging out of the darkness. She ran to them and pointed to the house, saying “My momma and daddy and brother are in there!”
Several neighbors ran past her and tried to get into the house but the flames drove them back. Others stood beside her and muttered to each other, women holding hands over their mouths. Men were shaking their heads and wondering what to do.
“Help them!” Angie cried, “Help my family!”
“There’s nothing we can do,” one man told her. “The fire is too hot. We can’t get near it.”
Angie started to run toward the burning house, but someone caught her arm and stopped her. It was George. He held her fast as she screamed for someone to help. Elma grabbed Angie and held her tightly against her chest. As she knelt in the grass, she got Angie to look straight into her eyes, “Child, you must come with me. You can’t go in that house. You will perish too.”
“Perish?!” Angie said. “What does that mean?”
“Your family has gone to see Jesus, child.” Elma stressed the words, “They are no longer here in this world.”
“No!” screamed Angie, “that’s not true!”
“Yes, child, it is true. Come with me now. There is nothing here you can do.” Elma turned Angie away from the blazing sight.
Angie looked stunned. She felt as if she was in a daze and knew this was only a horrible nightmare that she would soon awaken from. She sensed she was floating down the road, not really understanding the reality of it all. George and Elma were on each side of her, speaking gently to her, but Angie couldn’t recognize the words coming from their mouths. Her mind was filled with confusion and unbelief.
As she was being tucked into a bed of down, she knew she would wake in the morning and all of this nonsense would be gone. She would be back home in her own bed with Billy laughing in his room next to hers, and wonderful smells coming from the kitchen. She knew it would turn out that way. She just knew it, and the comfort of the thought helped her drift back to sleep.
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