Because Of A Firefly
Because Of A Firefly
Margaret Meacham
Avery was deep into Dracula, her new book. She was reading in the dark with just a flashlight because she knew her parents wouldn’t want her to be up this late reading, but she just had to finish before she could sleep. She unconsciously chewed on a strand of her long dark hair, tension showing in every movement.
Just then, out of the corner of her eye, she saw a brief flash of light. Still tense because of the undead vampire about whom she was reading, she slowly approached the dark window. Nothing was there. Not even the moon was out. She had just convinced herself that it was her imagination when it, whatever it was, happened again, a small flash just at the edge of her property.
Her heart thumping in her chest, she glanced down at the book, still lying innocently on the ground. Taking a deep breath, she gripped the thick hardcover with sweating palms and slipped outside, holding it in front of her like a shield, determined to find whatever beast could be lurking in the dark.
As she neared the place where the flash of light had appeared, she slowed, peering into the deep blackness surrounding her, trying fruitlessly to get a glimpse of whatever was out there.
Suddenly, a bug flew past her. It lit up, illuminating some of the dark around it. Avery, having whirled around and prepared to run at the light, relaxed as she saw that it was just a firefly. She almost laughed with relief as she realized that she had been scared to death by a bug.
Shaking her head at herself, she turned to go back inside. She scolded herself for being so naive as to think for a moment that an insect was a fearsome creature from fantastical lore.
Suddenly, a gravelly cough sounded behind her. Jumping in fright, she threw the only thing she could get her hands on—the heavy Dracula book—in the direction of the cough and sprinted back to the house. Throwing herself under the covers, she only managed to get to sleep when she convinced herself that the sound was only her neighbor out for a midnight stroll.
Meanwhile, by a house down the street, a man was lying unconscious next to the road.
A little more than an hour later, Avery was woken up by sirens, and she stepped out of her room to find her parents talking to a paramedic in the living room while a man in a firefighter hat watched, holding a thick hardcover book.
As she slipped into the room, she wondered in amusement why a firefighter would bring a book with him.
She focused as her mom said, “No, we’ve all been asleep since ten o'clock. We had a busy day because our daughter’s birthday was today… or rather yesterday,” she amended, glancing at the clock that read 3:37 a.m.
The firefighter glanced up as she said “our daughter’s birthday.” He broke into the woman’s next sentence that was already forming on her lips. “Mrs. Scarlette, is your daughter’s name Avery by any chance?”
“Why, yes! How did you know?”
In response, the fireman held out the dirty book. Avery’s heart sank as she saw spiky red letters proclaiming “Dracula” on the front cover.
“On the inside of this book, there’s a note saying, ‘Happy Birthday, Avery! Hope you like Dracula. From, Auntie Jen.’ We saw that you were up and were going to ask you if you had any knowledge of a girl named Avery. According to Mr. Sanctura, someone, possibly Avery, snuck up on him and attacked him with a book.”
Mrs. Scarlette looked bewildered, but Mr. Scarlette turned in time to see Avery inching out the door.
“Come here, Avery,” he said sternly. When she reluctantly complied, he presented her to the firefighter.
“Young lady, a certain Mr. Sanctura was recently found unconscious near this house next to this book. Claiming insomnia, he said that he was out for a little stroll when someone jumped at him and attacked him with this book. This same book has your name inside it. Is it yours?”
Avery gave a small, scared nod.
“Good. Now, why don’t you tell us all what this book was doing out there.”
Avery shifted uncomfortably. “Well, um, you see, today was my birthday, and Aunt Jen sent Dracula to me… I started it, but before I could get too far, my parents sent me to bed. I, well…” She trailed off but continued when the firefighter gave her a harsh look. “I stayed up to read it because it was so good. It was really scary though, so when I saw a light flash outside I…” She stopped again.
The firefighter was about to ask her to continue again but before he could, Mr. Scarlette said firmly, “Avery, I strongly recommend that you finish this extremely interesting story right now.”
Avery, with a nervous look at her parents, hurriedly finished. “I went outside! I brought Dracula for protection because I thought it might be a vampire!” Fearing that her explanation might have sounded ridiculous, she protested, “I was scared! Dracula’s creepy! The light turned out to be a firefly, but I heard someone cough so I threw the book at them.”
At this point, the paramedic let out a cough that sounded suspiciously like a laugh. Avery paused, confused, but her father gestured her on.
She finished with embarrassment. “So I ran back inside and hid in my bed.”
The paramedic let out two more choked laughs, silenced quickly by the firefighter, though even he, stern as he seemed, looked a little bit amused.
“Thank you, young lady, for telling us the story. We will check it out, and, should it be true, we will certainly tell Mr. Sanctura that no harm was meant. We’ll leave you to sleep, and we’ll contact you when we have more news.”
They both left the room, and in the dead silence that followed the door closing, Avery could hear the paramedic start laughing again.
The firefighter hissed, “What were you doing, laughing in front of them? She’s going to think that it’s okay to sneak out at night and, I don’t know, throw books at people!”
“Come on, Frank. There’s no way that this is the girl’s fault! Mr. Sanctura is the heaviest drinker in town. It’s highly unlikely that she even hit him. This is the fifth time we’ve found him passed out somewhere. Besides, it’s unlikely that a young kid like her spends her free time chucking books at people. It makes sense, kind of. She was reading Dracula! That’s pretty advanced reading, and definitely a scary book. I think I had to read it with all the lights on in a sunny room hung with garlic and I still had nightmares… It’s no surprise she was on edge afterwards.”
The firefighter let out an amused snort. “Didn’t you also have trouble getting through Jurassic Park, though?”
The paramedic laughed again. “The dinosaurs were scary!”
Their voices faded away, and Avery turned to face her parents. Neither of them seemed to share in the firefighters’ amusement.
Her father pointed to the door to her room. “Bed.”
She entered her room, and despite all that had happened, or perhaps because of it, she fell right asleep.
Two weeks later, two men, a firefighter and a paramedic, approached the Scarlette house. Mr. Scarlette opened the door and ushered them in. Mrs. Scarlette was waiting just inside.
“Good morning, Mr. Scarlette. I’m not sure if I introduced myself before. I’m Frank Jelue. This is my associate, James Reginald,” the firefighter said.
Mr. Scarlette nodded, shaking his hand. “You can call me Harry. This is my wife, Natasha.”
Frank gave a slight bow to Mrs. Scarlette. “Pleased to meet you officially. I’m sorry about the unfortunate circumstances that brought us here last time.”
James held out his hand as well and asked, “Does your daughter want to be here? This does concern her.”
Harry and Natasha had a fierce but silent argument. Apparently, Natasha won because she gave a brilliant smile and said, “Of course, I’ll get her.” She retreated to Avery’s room, and, after unlocking the door, brought Avery out.
James smiled at her, and Frank said formally, “We have come to tell you that Mr. Sanctura’s collapse had nothing to do with you. He did see a book flying at him, but it went past him. No medics say that there was any contact with an object before he hit the ground. There is no indication that you had anything to do with the collapse.”
Natasha frowned. “Then why did Mr. Sanctura…”
Frank coughed slightly. “Well… it was a Saturday night… and he had been out for a while… possibly at a party.” When she still didn’t show comprehension, he continued, “and we think, well, that he may have consumed some fluids that didn’t agree with him.”
Natasha, understanding, blushed deeply and nodded quickly. “Oh, yes, right. Sorry.”
James took it up. “So, as you can see, your daughter is completely innocent… and least of breaking the law,” he added with a smile. Then, looking at Frank as if for permission, he continued. “There is something else, though. We received a very nice letter from your young lady, apologizing for the inconvenience, assuring us that she meant no harm, and asking if she could do anything to help.”
Mr. Scarlette looked at his daughter in surprise.
James smiled. “I guess she didn’t tell you about this? Anyway, it was a very thoughtful gesture, and we at the fire station took particular note of the interest she had in the fire station. We came to this conclusion: if she wanted to, she is free to come down to the station twice a week to help out around there. We took the liberty of talking to a few of her teachers, and they all thought it was a perfect idea. Now, you three should discuss this and get back to us.”
Frank was focused on Avery this whole time, watching for signs of interest.
Avery already had leaped out of the couch in excitement, a smile stretching from ear to ear.
James smiled. “I’ll take that as a yes.”
Frank nodded to her parents and turned to the door. “We’ll call you tomorrow, and you can talk this over and give us your answer then.”
Harry recovered from his surprise in time to escort them to the door and bid them goodbye.
The next day, Avery was officially accepted to work at the fire department, after a long discussion with her parents. It was agreed that she would try it out and “prove her responsibility,” as her father put it. She had gotten into quite a bit of trouble with her parents after sneaking out, and she hadn’t been allowed outside, so her excitement was as much about regaining her freedom as working at the station. Right after school, she rushed down to the fire station.
James welcomed her and showed her around the fire station. She met the firefighters, saw the trucks, pet the dogs, and did chores that anywhere else would have been menial but here were a privilege. Avery was smiling as she strolled home from the station. She couldn’t help it. After all, she was a firefighter now.
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It had been twenty-one years since that first day of working at the fire station, and since then, Avery had graduated, become a successful firefighter, and was one of the senior firefighters at that very station.
On her parents’ anniversary, she was driving upstate in a retired fire engine to visit them. It was then that she received a radio message from her fire station, alerting her of a fire in a small, one-room schoolhouse nearby that the other firefighters had no chance of getting to in time because of the condition of the roads and several detours that had to be taken. She was the closest fire engine, and she needed to get there as soon as possible.
Immediately, she wheeled around, heading towards the school building, sounding the siren. Unfortunately, it only let out a half siren before the sound went out with a feeble cough.
Groaning, she turned on the lights, and, hoping that they were on, raced at full speed toward the small school, following the directions that were radioed to her by the fire station.
She reached her destination in just seven minutes. Praying that the hose still worked, and fearing it would be too late, she set up the powerful jets of water and directed a crying bystander to point it for specific amounts of time at different parts of the schoolhouse.
She recruited two more bystanders to set up and shoot the other hose, and then, without hesitation, she plunged into the raging inferno.
The fourteen youngest children were near a window that was quickly being devoured by fire. A hysterical teacher stood by them, trying to help one get through the currently unburned part of the window.
Heading there first, Avery picked up three of the youngest children and gave two others to the teacher. Motioning for the rest to follow her, she headed towards the opening that she had created near the back of the school. Handing the children over to some nervous onlookers waiting at the entrance, she whirled around and went once more into the shaky building. The fire was crackling and snapping around her, making it hard to see or hear anything, but she managed to see four of the younger children still crying by the window. She started to head towards them, but then, out of the corner of her eye, she caught a glimpse of five older children, their backs pressed against a wall.
As she changed course toward them, a flame leapt up next to one of the girls who let out a piercing scream and fainted on the older boy standing next to her.
Avery, yelling at the top of her lungs over the sound of the collapsing building, told the boy to carry the girl through the opening and motioned for the other three to follow her toward the younger children. Two followed immediately, but the third, as a flame exploded next to him, let out a yell of fear and sprinted for the opening instead.
Resisting the urge to curse, Avery headed to the group of younger children and handed a younger child to each of the two that had stayed with her. Grabbing two herself, she led the way to the opening. Just before they could reach it, however, the hungry flames reached it.
With no way out, Avery moved to the part of the room that would burn last. As her small group huddled together, the flames got closer and hotter. The air was so thick with smoke that they could barely breathe. Then, without warning, a jet of water burst through the window closest to them.
It dissipated the fire just enough for Avery’s crew to reach the crumbling window and escape the death trap.
It was just in time, too, for as soon as they had crossed the threshold of the building, the fire made a final leap for the window, and catching hold of it, devoured it hungrily.
Avery sank down to the ground, gratefully relinquishing crying children to their parents. She looked up and saw that the older boy and girl that she had sent out first had taken control of one of the hoses and had fired it where the survivors were, saving all their lives.
It was then that the sound of sirens filled her ears, and she looked up to see her fellow firefighters charge out of the fire engine, hoses ready. Just as they emerged, though, there was a large cracking sound like that of a cannon, and the building collapsed.
The two older children who had saved her reached her first. The boy held out his hand to her, and she shook it. He had a firm grip.
He smiled at her. “Thank you for saving our lives. My name’s James. This is Annalee.”
Avery’s head jerked up at the name, but James bore no resemblance to her old mentor. She smiled back. “Avery, Scarlette.” Before she could say any more, the rest of the firefighters pushed their way in front of her.
“You saved them? All of them?”, the nearest one, David, asked. Avery nodded tiredly. “We never would have made it in time,” he said wonderingly.
“If it wasn’t for you, Avery, twenty people would be dead,” someone called out.
Avery started to protest, but James cut her off. “No. You did this.” He gestured around him, to where people were reuniting tearfully with their families. “Thank you, Avery.”
Avery looked back up at him. She held out her hand, and he pulled her up as the crowd started chanting, “Avery! Avery! Avery!”
She and the rest of the firefighters made their way to the fire truck, and headed away as the paramedics arrived to check for any injuries.
Ten years later, Avery sat outside a hospital room next to two young girls. Every time someone passed, she would straighten up, as if anxious for some news of what had happened behind the door that she had been keeping such a careful vigil over.
It was three hours until a nurse came out, finding Avery sitting with the two girls next to her fast asleep on either side. When Avery saw the nurse, she stood, waking the children.
The nurse smiled reassuringly. “It’s alright. It’s another pair of twins. A boy and a girl.”
Avery almost cried in joy as she clasped her hands in front of her. “And is Annalee okay?”
The nurse nodded happily.
A man, James, came out. Avery rose as he beamed at her, saying, “The babies are both okay. They’re named Edward and Lauren.”
Avery smiled again. “That’s amazing, James!”
“And it’s all thanks to you. If you hadn’t saved us from the fire that day…”
Avery held out both her hands to him. “If you’re going to thank me, I’m going to thank the firefly.”
James cocked his head at her. “The firefly.”
Avery smiled, if possible, even wider than before. “Of course! After all, it all started with the firefly.”