Fire!
„Go away, let me sleep!“ Peter moaned. He tried to push the dog away. But Lucky did not give up. He grabbed a corner of Peter’s duvet with his teeth and pulled. Peter sat up and rubbed his eyes. „What’s the matter with you? Silly dog!“
He glanced at the window.
„Oh no! Fire!“ he shouted. He jumped out of bed and climbed up the ladder. He shook Tom, who was asleep in the bed above him.
„Get up! There’s a fire!“
He ran into the hall. „Everybody get up! Fire!“
He ran from door to door and woke the others.
Katie came out of the bedroom, „What’s all this about?“
„The barn’s on fire,“ Peter shouted. „Where’s the phone? We have to call the fire brigade.”
„Oh my god, the animals!“ Katie yelled and ran down the stairs.
Daniel and the kids followed her. Daniel ran into the kitchen and dialled the fire brigade.
„We have to save the animals!" shouted Katie.
She ran into the yard. She could hear the horses neigh and the chickens and ducks cackle nervously. At the far end of the barn a pile of wood was on fire.
„Peter, get the hose, it’s in front of the stable. Try and put out the flames!“ Katie commanded. „The others stay here in front of the barn. We’ll get the kittens and the cages out and you take them from us. Whatever happens, do not go into the barn! Is that clear?“
In the dark Peter stumbled across the yard. Luckily he quickly found the hose. He opened the tap on the wall of the stable and dragged the hose to the barn. But the hose would not reach the barn properly, no matter how hard Peter pulled.
„Aim at the wall!“ Daniel shouted, as he came out of the barn with two kittens in his arms. „If the wall is wet, the fire cannot cross over to the barn.“
Peter put his finger on the front end of the hose, in order to increase the pressure. There was a hissing sound, when the water hit the flames. While he hosed off the wall Katie and Daniel one after another brought out six kittens, their mother and some cages.
„Take them into the house!“ Katie said.
The kids ran into the house with the animals. The cages were so big and heavy, that they had to be carried by two kids at a time.“
„Ugh! Mouses!“ Maria shouted out, when she looked into one of the cages.
„Don’t be silly“, Miguel said, „we need to rescue them too. You behave just like a girl. Give us a hand!“
The sirens of the fire engine could be heard now. Lights flashing it raced into the yard. The firemen jumped out. One of them talked to Daniel briefly, while the others dragged a thick hose from the vehicle.
„Listen, kids,“ Daniel shouted. „Let’s go back into the house, because we don’t want to be in the way. Head count. Is everybody here?“
The children nodded.
„Have we got all the animals out of the barn, Katie?“
„Yes,” said Katie. Out of breath she ran over to the children. “Thank you all, without your help we wouldn’t have been able to manage.“
From the house they watched how the firemen extinguished the burning pile of wood.
„You were lucky, that the fire was noticed so early on. This prevented the fire from getting big,” one of the firemen later said. „My people checked the other buildings too to make sure everything is okay. By the way, we found an empty petrol container behind the barn. It looks very much like arson.“
„Oh my God,“ said Katie. „Now they’re getting serious.“
The children looked worriedly at each other.
„They won’t come back today,“ Daniel said reassuringly. „We should all go back to bed. Tomorrow morning we will be calmer and work out how to go on from here.“
The children were really tired now. Just before he fell asleep Peter thought about how much he would like to e-mail all this to his friends.
Next to: Calls for help!
or
Back to: So many animals!