Tonight, there had been no fatalities, and for that, Bess was grateful. But deep down, she was thinking about her dad, theman nobody would ever take the place of, the man she missed so much, it hurt like a head-on collision.
He’d be disappointed if he could see the way she’d been living her life lately, but as they cruised over the town’s ribbon-like river, which looked completely different in the dark and yet was still magnificent, she couldn’t regret her choices completely. Maybe she should, but there was always that little voice in her head that said,Live every day as if it were your last,the words on the silver fob of her keyring.
Life was precious; life could be taken away from you in a moment.
And she wanted to make the most of hers. She had to.
3
Gio switched off the shower but promptly turned it back on again to clean the dirt gathered in the corners of the white tray. Apart from what went on in his head, depending on whether lives had been saved or lost, dirt and grime was the other part of his job he couldn’t help bringing home with him.
He wrapped a towel around his waist and wiped the back of his hand across the mirror. He’d missed some grease from the side of his face. No matter the temperature of the water or the steam, sometimes dirt remained stubborn. He rubbed at it with the hand towel for the friction and dumped the towel in the wash basket when he was done.
Gio loved his job; he buzzed on it: the adrenaline, the excitement, the demands and the need for fast reactions. Today’s late shift had been quiet until a couple of hours ago. The crew had finished supper and embarked on a theoretical training session – not his favourite sort because it meant sitting in a bland room talking about what may or may not happen when he’d rather be in amongst it, doing the job or job simulations rather than talking about them.
Then a shout had come in, the piercing alarm at the station taking them all out of that dull meeting room, down the stairs, to their kit, which they pulled on before leaping aboard the fire engine and roaring out of the Whistlestop River fire station.
A house fire in a rural cottage five miles from town had had the potential to claim casualties but the family of four were all outside as Gio’s crew pulled up. Bruce, the officer in charge, spoke briefly to the family and did a 360 of the property to get as much information as he could while the crew began to run out the hoses and waited for instructions to be given.
Gio had his full breathing apparatus on and with no one inside the cottage, the hoses were filled with water, checked and then taken into the residence. They would hit the fire directly at its source: the lounge at the front where candles had been left unattended.
The flames, fierce and unforgiving, could’ve taken the entire property. Nobody would know at this stage the extent of the damage, but the main thing was that everyone escaped with their lives. That was always a good day in Gio’s book. Possessions and property could be replaced; people couldn’t.
When Gio and the others emerged, the little girl from the family was freaking out. Her dad’s arms were the only thing stopping her from running back into the house. Gio had lost count of how many fire talks they’d done where they reiterated personal belongings were not worth risking your life for.
But then he heard something about a dog and he realised she wasn’t after something that could easily be replaced. He was right back inside to look for it, his teammate Jeremy following close behind as his back-up.
They went from room to room and eventually found Ziggy, the cockapoo, cowering under the stairs.
He brought Ziggy out in his arms and handed him to thelittle girl. Her tears immediately stopped and the smile on her face as her whole world brightened was priceless.
‘Do you all have a place to stay tonight?’ he asked them as he pulled off his mask.
No sooner had he asked the question than the folks from the nearest property who had likely seen the flames, heard the sirens, came and assured the family that they all had beds for as long as they needed.
As Gio and his crew had left that job, he’d looked back at the property as they drove away and watched the family. They were devastated, it was quite likely that their house wouldn’t be the same nor liveable for quite a while, but their faces said it all. They were safe. They had each other.
And Ziggy, of course.
He smiled as he readjusted the towel around his waist. He thought about the little dog, shaking in his arms, wagging its tail as soon as it saw its owners. Gio had never had a dog as a boy. He always wanted one, but it had never happened and when he got his own place, he’d told himself maybe one day, but with his job and the shifts, he knew it wouldn’t be fair to leave it for long periods of time. He knew what it was like not to feel a part of a family and he wouldn’t wish that on anyone, not even a canine.
Gio put the main light on in the bedroom. It was approaching midnight but he was still buzzing. You didn’t just come down from a shout and the last one had been so close to end of shift that the adrenaline was still pumping through his veins.
He reached for the charger cable to juice up his phone but it came alive in his hand and his mum’s name appeared on the display.
Midnight was late for most people but not for Marianne Mayhan. Whenever he saw her name on the display, he wastempted not to answer but knew that if he didn’t, she’d keep on calling and calling until he picked up.
‘Did I wake you?’ She put the same question to him that she did every time – it didn’t matter whether it was midnight or midday, she’d always ask.
‘No, I got off shift an hour ago, just finished in the shower.’
‘You work so hard; I worry about you.’
‘I’m forty-four, Mum. No need.’ And why start now?Not mother material,wasn’t that the phrase people used when a person was unsuitable for the role? He’d tried to accept what she was like over time because he was a grown-up, but she didn’t make it easy.
‘You’ll always be my little boys, both you and Marco.’
He didn’t have time for a lengthy woe-is-me conversation, which he sensed she was about to embark upon. He knew exactly how it would go too – she’d say she would always be their mother, then she’d bemoan the fact that Gio and Marco didn’t need her these days, then she’d tell him it was hard when you felt as though you had no purpose.
