Page 69 of Kaine

“Where did you get the scar?” she asks without hesitation.

And I answer the same way. “In a fire.”

She nods and says no more. I don’t know if I’m relieved or not.

“Okay, my last question – what’s your favorite ice cream flavor?” I ask her as if it’s the most important question in the world. She giggles, her whole body shaking, and I wrap my arms around her, wanting to be part of the constant joy she exudes, something I haven’t felt myself in so long. “What? You can tell a lot about a person from their favorite ice cream flavor!”

“Well, I don’t like ice cream,” she says and turns and looks at me just as my face expresses my horror.

“You don’t like ice cream?”

“No,” she shrugs, then her face breaks out into a grin “I FREAKING LOVE IT! I would eat ice cream for every meal of every day if I could.”

I clutch at my chest. “Oh, thank God. I thought I was going to have to leave you stranded here. I can’t be seen with someone who doesn’t like ice cream.”

“Vanilla,” she finally answers.

“So plain?”

“Because it’s plain. It’s a blank canvas; a delicious, sweet, fragrant canvas, you can add anything to it, it’s so versatile and forgiving.”

“Well, that’s good, because... it’s my favorite too.”

I reach over into the basket and pull out a small tub of vanilla ice cream and two spoons.

“You really did think of everything!” she exclaims, reaching for the tub. “So, I have a deal, I have one last question, and we’ll both answer it.”

I nod and hand her a spoonful of ice cream.

“What is... the biggest dream you have for your life?” she asks.

I suck the ice cream off my own spoon, taking a moment before answering.

“That.” I point across the river to my building, the ASH logo illuminated, bright against the night sky.

“That’s your building? That’s what your biggest dream is?”

“No, well, yes. In a way. Not just the building itself, but what my company and my team are trying to achieve.”

“And what is that?”

“Zero deaths from house fires by 2025.”

She lets out a slow long whistle. “You don’t think small, do you?

“Well, I dream big, whether it’s achievable or not... well, no. Scrap that. I will achieve it. Can I show you something?”

“I’d be honored to see it.”

I pull my cell phone out of my pocket and open a video. It’s a video of the FireFree prototype. I hand it to her and she watches it, her eyes fixed on the screen.

“It’s a product I’ve been working on for the last five years. It’s the most innovative and intuitive smoke detector the world has ever seen. Developed to detect the smallest trace of smoke, determine what kind of smoke it is, and discern different levels of danger. It’s runs on a 20-year lithium battery, so there are no 6 monthly battery changes, one of the biggest causes of undetected fires in homes that claim they have smoke detectors. On top of that, one of the biggest complaints was that smoke detectors are ugly, an eyesore. So, we’ve collaborated with DuPont, and customers can order the detector in any of their 25 most popular complementary colors and there’s a choice of four designs. But it’s the future we’re looking at. The aim is for all new houses to be fitted with them, and we’ve created a line where they can be built directly into the ceilings of new homes, hooked directly to the electrical system and never even be seen. So, there will be...”

“...no excuse for a house not to have a smoke detector ever again,” she finishes. I nod. She gets it, of course she does.

“We’re also working with a number of New York’s biggest construction companies right now on a community campaign. For every smoke detector they order from us for their new properties, we will donate one to low income housing areas in the city. No fire related deaths for everyone. Not just those who can afford it.” I take a deep breath. I can’t remember the last time I talked for so long without stopping.

“Kaine.”