Pa was shoutin’ to get the water hose and buckets. There was a loud crashin’ sound inside the barn and our cow could be seen runnin’ away from the barn. She must have kicked her way out of her stall to escape the fire.
Within ten minutes the whole barn was lit up on the inside and every window and door had flames shootin’ out.
From the direction of the old house, now Christopher and Meggin’s home, we saw lights flashin’ off and on. Minute later we all realize it was Christopher drivin’ his truck like a wild man behind the wheel. He had seen the flames and rushed to help but the fire was already more then we could deal with.
By the time the fire men arrived it was too late, the barn was completely engulfed in flames. Pa and Christopher were shoutin’ at everyone to get back and we did just as the gas used in the tractor exploded. It felt like someone kicked me in the chest when the gas went and nearly knocked me over. It did knock Catherine and Nugget on their backsides.
At first the firemen tried to put the fire out, but with all the hay in there they quickly realized that they were fightin’ a loosin’ battle. Instead they focused on the house, hosin’ it down with water to keep it from gettin’ too hot and catchin’ on fire too.
Pa, Christopher and one of the fire fighters had gone into the house to get ma out and bring her to a safe distance.
Later I found out that fireman was none other than Uncle Billy-Ray. He’s not really our uncle but we call him that ’cause he’s just like family. When Billy-Ray was about my age he nearly drowned and it was my pa, his best friend that saved his life.
There was nothin’ any of us could do but watch the fire. It seemed to burn for the longest time and when it finally fell in on itself I looked around to see that everyone was cryin’ except for me and Nugget. Benjamin and Kristen were sobbin’ hard and holdin’ onto ma who was cryin’ probably the hardest.
So many people we know from around here seen the fire and rushed over to help. Meggin’s pa and ma were the first to arrive, even before the firemen came. The Hawthorn family that runs the junk yard came right behind the fire truck. Out of everyone that came, they live the furthest away and said they first heard the fire truck and when they looked out they seen the horizon lit up like a birthday cake.
It took until well after the sun was up for the firemen to put out the fire but it still smoked and popped for more than two days after that. Pa’s truck was parked close enough that the whole driver’s side was burned and the tires melted. Under the hood all the hoses and belts and things were melted too. Funny thing was, inside the truck nothin’ at all was burned or melted except for the door panel and part of the dashboard. The tractor burned up in the barn as did all our chickens and all but one of our pigs.
It wasn’t until nearly lunch time on Sunday when Christopher and Catherine came walkin’ our cow back home that anyone realized that Whiskey was no where to be seen. As Christopher was comin’ up on the porch pa asked him, “Did you take Whiskey with ya?”
“No, just Kathy,” he answered, his words trailin’ off at the end. And that’s when the lot of us realized what pa had already figured out. Whiskey must have been in the barn to stay warm and was burned up too.
Well, somethin’ else had happened about the time the firemen were gettin’ the fire under control. With a wail that got every last person’s attention ma started to have pains and everyone knew that the baby was coming.
Mrs. Hawthorn, who’s nearly as old as God and probably the nicest lady I know ‘cause she always has candy in her purse and lets us sneak some durin’ church. She had been kneelin’ next to ma when the baby decided it was ready to come out.Mrs Hawthorn told Christopher, pa and her son, Jed to pick ma up and carry her back into the house. All the rest of us could do was watch the firemen finish puttin’ out the fire and stand around cryin’ and feelin’ useless while ma screamed inside.
Mrs Hawthorn, Mrs Griffith and Connie took care of ma and helped to deliver my new baby brother. When we heard the baby cryin’ everyone started to cheer and hug on each other. It was Connie that ran out to shout, “It’s a boy!” and the firemen all cheered along with everyone else.
Just about the time that church is usually lettin’ out on Sunday the most incredible thing began to happen. Meggin’s pa returned pullin’ a horse trailer behind his pickup. In it were four beautiful pigs, two he gave to pa and two he offered to Christopher and Meggin. It was plain that Mr Griffith was still sore about Christopher sneakin’ off with his daughter but he was tryin’ real hard to do right by them. Also in the bed of his truck were at least two dozen bails of hay. That wasn’t it; also in the trailer were six sacks of feed grain and two enormous sacks of oats.
Not much longer after Mr Griffith had brought all that, a parade of church goers, friends and other town folks started arrivin’ one after the other. They brought chickens, turkeys, hay, straw, feed, seeds, tools and more food then we could eat in three winters.
The Pastor hadn’t preached a sermon, he had got up in front of the congregation and told them what had happened durin’ the night and then dismissed everyone. He didn’t say for everyone to go get stuff and bring to us; he didn’t tell them to do anythin’. Everyone just did it on their own out of the goodness within them.
Shortly before suppertime is when Nuggets ma and pa came to get Nugget. Since Nugget had slept over that night they had decided to take advantage and went to some fancy place; just the two of them. They had also given Basset the day off so it wasn’t until well into the evening before they found out what had happened.
I think Mr and Mrs Goldberg were the most concerned out of everyone that came and it wasn’t so much for Nugget but for all of us. I mean they were worries about Nugget but they also not satisfied until they got to see for themselves that each and every one of us were completely unharmed.
It was Mrs Goldberg that asked ma the question that everyone else had somehow managed to not think to ask up until that very second.
“What’s his name?” she asked while takin’ the baby from ma and holdin’ him in her arms lovingly.
Pa smiled so dang big I thought his face was goin’ to split in half crossways. “Philip!” pa said proudly.
Nearly everyone in the room gasped with disbelief.
“But that doesn’t start with the letter K!” Kristen objected.
Ma swatted at pa, “Stop teasing!”
Pa laughed, “I’m only kidding! His name is Kole Ross Doctavio!”
All the girls squealed.
“Oh I love it!” Connie said.
“Kole with a K, that’ so beautiful!” Catherine added.
“I bet you don’t even know how to spell Kole?” Vincent-Lee said to Kathy. She just shot him a mean look and then ignored him.
“Does this mean I am not the littlest no more?” Benjamin asked a little too loudly.
“You are not the baby of the family. Now you’re a big brother too.” Christopher said messin’ up Benjamin’s hair.
Benjamin thrust his fists triumphantly into the air and cheered, “YEAH!”
“Shush! You’ll wake the baby!” Christopher said puttin’ a hand over Benjamin’s big mouth.
I went up to the baby, touched Kole’s tiny little hand and he grabbed a hold of my finger. “Boy he’s strong.” I commented.
“Hi there Kole,” I said softly to him, “I’m your big brother Kristian.”
It was Nugget that started singin’ softly, “Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday to you!” and the rest of us softly joined in, “Happy Birthday dear Kole! Happy Birthday to yooouuuuu!”