Page 18 of Head Room

“Not usually.Not even during winter.But sometimes in the winter, we’d see smoke from their chimney, you know?But this smoke wasn’t anything like that.It was way too big and...”She searched for a term.“Angry.It was rising way up above the tree line and then, when I followed it down with my eyes, I saw something between the trees.I was on the phone with the fire department because of the smoke, when I realized there were flames.Big ones.Couldn’t believe my eyes at first.That’s what I told them, too.

“After, I got the baby in the truck and came this way — getting her loaded up takes some doing and the first fire tanker was already here.I made sure I didn’t park in the way, so it took us a while to get close enough to see the cabin and then the firefighters told us to keep back.I wouldn’t have gotten too close anyhow because of Vidalia and the heat.It was really, really hot.”

“Were there other people there?”

“A few.Otto.”That was Paul’s uncle.“A couple of the Walterston boys.And the McCrackens came to see if they could help.They said they’d seen smoke, too.”

The baby yelped in indignation.Hannah reached through the window opening to retrieve, wipe, and return the pacifier with the ease of practice.

I don’t think the kid even fully woke up.

Even better, the interruption didn’t waylay Hannah’s account.

“The flames, they surprised me, because of all the rain we’ve had.The whole place was going up so fast.It wasn’t even still a whole cabin when we got here.The walls were open-like...like...like lace or something.They stood there, longer than you would think they could and then they’d crumble.”

Tears came into her eyes.

“It came down so fast then.Pieces falling in on themselves.”She shook her head.“As wet as it’s been and even with the trees and brush kept back, it would’ve been scary if the fire guys hadn’t been here.”

“Did you know any of the firefighters?”

She looked at me like I wasn’t very bright.“All of them.Some at the end were from Horse County.I know them, too.”

“Who was in charge?”

“Ned Irvin.”

“Anybody else who might know a lot about the fire, how they fought it, what they found?”

She stared at me for a long moment.As I was about to give up, she listed three more names, adding, “They were telling the others to do this, do that.”Her brows folded.“I don’t remember exactly what they said.There were, you know, terms they were using I didn’t know.”

“I understand.Were you here when they found the body?”

Her eyes rounded in imagined horror — imagined, because she shook her head decisively.

“From what we heard — Paul and me — that happened after we came by the day after the fire.We’d heard the firefighters had the fire beat by then and we came by to see if there was anything from the cabin we could save for...well, not for the sergeant, because...”

Because he was dead, which she did not want to say, because she didn’t want to accept it.

“But maybe there was family we didn’t know about, who’d come along later or...something.”

Her impulse to preserve physical belongings of her neighbor said something about her.Her inability to explain it also did, though I wasn’t going to parse out either.

“That was thoughtful of you,” I said blandly.

She dropped her head, as if overwhelmed by effusive praise.“Wasn’t much there.Not much there to start, I suppose.And then with the fire...Although it sort of was hit and miss, the way you see tornados on the news, ripping one wall off here, leaving a table set there.Well, it wasn’t quite like that,” she amended carefully, “but I suppose I expected it to be all ash.And some was, but not all.”

Having covered the full range of ash/not-ash, she ground to a halt.

“But you saved a few things?”

“Uh-huh.A metal box with his medals, photos, and a flag.A stool his father had made for him when he was little that we thought maybe he’d approve of us having for Vidalia, because he didn’t have any family we know of.Though, if some show up, we’ll give it to them, right away.Told Ned that.”

“Ned Irvin, who you said was in charge of the fire scene?He said it was okay to take those things?”

“Uh-huh.The other thing in the box was this.”

Her arms tightened around the bag she held.