‘Please be careful.’
He leant forward and kissed her forehead. ‘I will. You keep a lookout at the front and that hand under the running cold water.’
He left the room and ran down the hallway. Reaching a back door, he unlocked it and opened it, standing under a porch to survey the vicinity. The trees at the end of the garden and all around them seemed untouched, so he ran outside and when he was far enough away to look back and see most of the farmhouse roof he turned and looked up at it. No smoke, or any damage that he could see. It was a massive relief.
He was about to return to the house when something caught his eye to the left. It was smoke and coming from the side or front of the house. ‘Fire?’ He didn’t waste time thinking but not wishing to leave Lettie and the dogs somewhere potentially dangerous ran back to the house and through to join her in the kitchen.
‘You saw the smoke,’ he said when he saw she was dragging her coat up over one arm as she pushed her right foot hurriedly into one of her boots.
‘What are you doing?’ Brodie took hold of her arm, not wishing her to do anything reckless.
‘Didn’t you see it? There’s smoke out there and I think it’s coming from the barn. The animals…’ She burst into tears and tugged her arm from his hold. ‘I have to get to them and let them out.’
Without waiting to hear more, Brodie ran outside closely followed by Lettie.
‘No, Spud, you stay inside with Derek.’
He heard her shouting instructions to the dogs before slammingthe front door. Brodie raced across the yard. His heel connected with a sharp stone reminding him that he was barefoot. Uncaring that his feet were bare, he kept going. He looked up to see the smoke was coming not from the bigger barn that he had assumed Lettie was referring to, but the smaller one next to it. Smoke was now billowing through what he assumed might be a hole in the roof.
His first thought was to get whatever animals might be in there to safety. He would worry about rounding them up later when any immediate danger to them had passed. He heard a noise behind him and realised Lettie was sobbing.
‘Hurry, Brodie, please hurry. Fire service please,’ he heard her say relieved that she was calling the emergency services.
He reached the door and yanked it open. ‘What’s in here?’
‘Five, no six goats. Um, four elderly cows that Dad couldn’t bear parting with,’ she explained as she went to run past him. ‘The alpacas are in the other barn, so they’re fine.’
Brodie grabbed her arm. ‘No. Please let me go in.’
‘They’re my animals.’ She tried to shrug his hand from her.
‘Lettie, like it or not, I’m stronger than you. Let me do this.’
‘Fine.’ She didn’t look happy, but he was relieved she had seen sense.
Brodie counted the goats as they poured out of the building and waited a moment for the cows to follow. When they didn’t, Brodie covered his mouth and nose with his sleeve and ran into the burning building. His eyes stung from the smoke and in one corner he saw the ominous orange glow of spreading flames. Where were they?
‘Look to the left near the back,’ he heard her shout from the doorway.
Hearing Lettie’s instructions he changed course and reached the first cow within a few seconds. ‘Come along,’ he urged grabbinghold of the cow’s horn and pulling the animal towards the door relieved when the other three followed. As soon as they saw Lettie just inside, the animals ran towards her.
‘Well done,’ Lettie sobbed flinging her arms around him as he tried desperately to take in fresh air. She let go and apologised. ‘Are you all right?’
Unable to speak for a moment he raised a hand as he coughed.
‘That was so brave of you.’
He didn’t have the breath to argue with her. Bravery had nothing to do with him going into the barn; all he could think about was rescuing the trapped animals. And he had. The relief weakened his knees and he lowered himself to the ground to sit.
What was he doing? He pushed himself to his feet and looked around for a hosepipe. Seeing Lettie pulling one towards the barn he ran to turn on the tap then returned to her.
‘Do you have another one?’
‘Yes, but it’s around the back.’
‘That’s fine, I’ll turn it on to the rear of the building.’
‘The fire service shouldn’t be long,’ she said just before the sound of several sirens emerged from the rain.
