“What’s the CFS?” she asked, unwilling to be redirected. “What plan, Mackenzie?”
I could tell her. Everyone had sat around the table once the real heat started and gone over the bushfire plan in detail. That we tried to keep everything damp that we could, but that water supply could be cut off without a moment’s notice. Polyethylene water tanks could melt. The surge in demand as too many people fought to save their homes could result in low pressure, or worse. Pumping stations, pipes, and infrastructure could fail if the fire damaged the wrong area.
But I didn’t.
“Mom, it’s just like home.”
That didn’t help at all. I noted the way Mom clutched at her chest, frowning slightly because she’d never done that before, but then she started firing off questions.
“Are you watching the emergency report?” she asked, not waiting for a response. “Are the firefighters on their way?” When she looked off screen, I knew it was at her laptop. “Where abouts are you again? I’ll see if I can get the emergency reports here in the States. Mackenzie?—”
“Mom, we know what we need to do.” I got up off the bed, setting Roo’s bottle down, and the little joey hopped after me.“We’ve just gotta put the plan in place, so that means I need to go.”
“Call me.” She ground that out, looking far too pale. “Mackenzie, tonight, or the next morning, whatever it is on Australian time. I don’t care. I just need you to call me.”
“Of course,” I said. “Don’t be scared. We’ve got this and I love you.”
But that advice fell on deaf ears. Probably because my heart started pounding as I left the room, meeting Charlie in the dining room. If I couldn’t stay calm, how the hell did I expect Mom too?
“Roof sprinklers—” I said.
“Already on,” she replied in clipped tones. “Garden is trimmed back and as soaked as we can get it.”
She had more to say, but I stared out the front door because the first waft of smoke came blowing into the house.
“That—” I said, my voice taking on the same shrill edge as my mom’s.
“Is miles away,” she said in an artificially calm tone. “This is scary, but I’ve been through it every summer of my life and we always come out the other side.” Her hands went to my shoulders. “It’s not too late to head to the city if that’s what you want to do, but you need to do that now.”
“No way.” With a shake of my head and a smile, I made for the front door. “So we’re going to start the misters in the rescue?”
Roo followed us part the way out of the house, then went perfectly still. Those silky grey ears swivelled and her whole body quivered as she scented the air. Wild animals hadn’t survived for so long in Australia without being sensitive to weather changes, so I picked her up and carried her towards the rescue. She’d be safer there than out on her own in the bush.
Nugget had other ideas.
On seeing Charlie, the wombat made a beeline away from the rescue, but she scooped him up in her arms, carrying all thirty-five kilos of struggling macropod over to the door. Inside, she dumped him down onto his feet, the beast making huffy sounds of disgust at being locked up. I let Roo join the other kangaroo joeys as Charlie and I worked as a team. Turning the sprinklers on, making sure to dampen everything and everyone within the rescue. To keep the animals like koalas hydrated, but also to hopefully deter any stray embers that might float our way.
That knowledge was all academic, up until now.
Looking around the refuge as we started to organise ourselves, I saw it in a whole other light. Before it was a haven, but as acrid smoke wafted our way, it was hard not to see it as a cage we were all locked into. The two-way radio at Charlie’s side crackled as she moved about the space.
“Fire at the Simpson place,” someone said. “Extra teams en route. Gotta stop it in its tracks before it hits the big forest.”
“Getting close,” another voice said. “Got three tankers…”
“We’ll be fine.” She stopped before me, staring into my eyes. “Now remember, we need to stay calm.”
“The animals sense our fear,” I repeated back to her, remembering the advice she’d given me and sure enough, the kangaroos were all poised and ready to bolt. Paws were clutched to their chests, ears twitching as they tried to make sense of what they were feeling. “We stay calm, they stay calm.”
I saw the sense in it, but it was hard. Training to use the firefighting equipment on the farm was an academic thing until now. The guys would fight the fire where it was currently raging, but we’d be the last defence if it got through.
“Clean out water bowls,” I told myself. “Toss out uneaten food.”
“Good girl.”
Once we’d moved through all the jobs needed, we came to a stop in the middle of the refuge and looked around.
“How we doing, Scotty?” Charlie asked down the radio.
