rebirth by fire

My neighbor’s mobile home went up in flames 9/11/10.  What is it with that date?  Sept 11, 2001 Twin Towers, Pentagon, plane are taken down.  Sept 11, 2004, I was taken down by Jhole.  That’s a whole other story there.  Actually, I really need to think out how I’m going to tell my story of 9/11/04.  Anyway, I got side tracked.  I’m back.

So Dave, my neighbor, has a fire in his home.  We saw the smoke clearly and I ran through the woods.  There’s a dirt type road between our homes.  More stone than dirt honestly.  Walking it has risks.  Twisted ankles, scrapes from twigs, poison ivy, oak and sumac.  Like one type of poison isn’t enough from Mother Nature.  I get to the top of the hill…

Smoke was pouring out of his home and his truck wasn’t there, but he wasn’t answering his cell.  I went to check his parents and passed him.  He had been washing his truck at their house when the police arrived.

Dragon’s breath flames shot out open windows while the firefighters punched out the closed ones.  It seemed to melt in slow motion into its self.  Dave mobile burned quickly and kicked off heat.  The gas bottles were already moved so no fear of a sudden large explosion.  The beautiful big screen tv began to bow to the flames and her frame succumbing to the fiery beast.   A small four-wheeler parked outside the porch door began to drip around the hand grips.  Dave’s sons helmet obviously wasn’t fireproof as it became elongated, similar to an egg.  The inner foam bubbled up and oozed off the visor, like contaminated yoke ready to fry. 

The kids were fascinated and I likewise.  After the fire was out and declared safe people began poking around.  That was around 5pm if I recall correctly.  Around 4 am it caught on fire again.  Damn that beast.  9/11/10….another day in flames.

Now things are different.  The fire was from a bad electric adapter, or possibly an extension cord.  Doesn’t really matter.  All is going well.  He has a girlfriend now and he and his sons are alive.  They might have lost everything but their clothes on their back that day and dad’s truck but Dave didn’t let that keep him from starting over.  It was a fresh start for his family and…..he had a clean truck.