Smoke is seeping under the door and billowing into the room. I’m guessing that the fire is in the kitchen. We have to escape through the conservatory. Once Mum is outside I’ll try and get my phone and call for help. And I must wake George somehow.
‘Save yourself, Lizzie. Get out! I’ll slow you down,’ Mum wheezes as I wrap my arm around her waist and lift her out.
‘I’m going nowhere without you.’ I’m standing on the side of her fractured ankle, so that I can take the weight. ‘Lean on me and we’ll soon be out of here.’
Mum puts her arm around my shoulder and we set off.
It’s an arduous process, baby steps, coughing and spluttering, but gradually I help her back into the conservatory. It’s too full of smoke now to see my phone and I can’t stop to look for it. Mum is like a dead weight and seems barely conscious. We inch our way across to the French doors and I open them out into the garden. Fresh air rushes in. A couple more steps and I can seat Mum on one of the wicker chairs. She removes the pillowcase from her mouth and starts coughing, huge coughs that wrack her body. I’m worried about her but I’ve got to wake George and get him to call the fire brigade.
Mum is obviously thinking the same thing. ‘George,’ she croaks.
I haven’t got my phone and I’m not running back into that house, we were lucky to get out of it. Mum and George’s bedroom is overlooking the back, so I shout George’s name as loud as I can and look around for a stone to throw at the window. Then suddenly the back door bursts open and George comes out, his face black, his dressing gown untied, brandishing the fire extinguisher. Mum keeps one on the landing upstairs and one inthe kitchen. Thank goodness! The fire had obviously woken him up and he’d grabbed the fire extinguisher on the way down.
‘Judith! Darling! Are you all right?’ He puts the fire extinguisher down and runs over, kneeling down beside Mum and hugging her.
‘Oh, George!’ She clings onto him, sobbing, and as I watch them I wonder how I could have possibly thought that George was harming my mum. It’s clear that he dotes on her.
‘We need to call the fire brigade,’ I tell him.
‘No need, I’ve managed to put the fire out,’ he replies. ‘Leave them to deal with more urgent cases.’ He stands up. ‘Thank you for getting Judith out. I was so worried about her.’
‘I think she should see a doctor. The smoke could have damaged her lungs.’
‘I’m perfectly all right, Lizzie. There’s no point in us all hanging around in A&E for hours,’ Mum says.
‘I really think you should go and get checked over,’ I tell her. ‘Smoke inhalation can be dangerous.’
‘Seriously, my chest feels fine. Let’s see how I am tomorrow,’ Mum insists.
‘How bad is the kitchen?’ I ask George.
‘I put it out in time to avoid any real damage, thank goodness. Everywhere is black though, we will need to completely redecorate the kitchen and probably the back room too.’
He looks at me and I can see the accusation in his eyes. ‘The hot plate on the cooker hadn’t been turned off and the tea towel fell on it and caught alight. That’s what caused the fire.’
It’s clear what he’s saying. I warmed up the milk to make our hot chocolate and he thinks that I didn’t turn the cooker off. But I did.
Didn’t I?
I start to shake as I think how we could have been killed while we slept. The smoke would have killed us before the flames did.
65
NICK
It’s pitch black when I’m woken by the ring of my mobile. Half asleep I instinctively reach for it then sit up, instantly awake when I see the caller is Lizzie. My eyes dart to the clock on my bedside table. Three fifteen. My heart races. Why is Lizzie phoning me at this time? Something must have happened. I press answer and shuffle myself upright. ‘Lizzie?’
Half-sobbing, she tells me how there’s been a fire in the kitchen, they’re all safe. ‘George put it out in time.’ Her voice breaks.
‘Oh my God, Lizzie. Are you all okay? You could have…’ I don’t finish the sentence. I can’t bear to think what could have happened if Lizzie hadn’t woken up and got her and Judith out of the house before the fire took hold. And if George hadn’t heard the commotion and managed to put the fire out.
‘Yes, just a bit of smoke on our chest. Thank goodness George got to the fire extinguisher. Will you please make up the sofa for Mum? I’m bringing her over now.’
I’m not sure that sleeping on the sofa is the best place for Judith when she has a fractured ankle but I can hear the panic in Lizzie’s voice. And I’m desperate to see her and make sure she’s safe, but the kids are fast asleep in bed and I can’t leave them.
‘What about George?’
‘The upstairs is fine, but the back room has been smoke damaged. Mum can’t sleep there. I’ll be home in a few minutes,’ she adds.
