Two a.m. Rita’s eyes snapped open. Something was wrong. The doorbell was ringing and there was an acrid sting of smoke clawing at her throat. She coughed violently, gagging, as she scrambled out of bed, screaming for Thom and Sennen as she did so. Flinging her window open, she quickly shut it again. The smoke alarm on her landing started to shriek its warning.
But she’d seen enough: the Cosy Café was on fire!
She ran downstairs and pulled open the front door. ‘Rita! Oh my God!’ Zenya’s voice cut through the haze as she stumbled in through the door. ‘I’ve called the fire brigade and Teo is on his way up with Jude.’
‘Fire extinguishers, get hoses from the old tack room…’ Rita demanded. ‘Shit!’
‘Don’t you do anything, Rita,’ Zenya instructed. ‘Leave it to us.’
Flames licked the edges of the barn door, orange and hungry, twisting into the night sky.
‘Not the barn!’ Rita shouted, the heat hitting her like a wall as she stumbled toward it. Then animal instinct took over. She had to move away, had to get her and her precious cargo to safety.
In a blind panic, Rita bolted back from the barn door, the heat roaring in her face. She didn’t see the discarded bucket until it caught her foot. She stumbled violently, arms flailing, and pitched head first towards the marquee structure of the café.
‘Oh my God, no, Rita!’ Poppy’s voice screeched through the crackling inferno. She lunged just in time, catching Rita by the shoulders and twisting her body away from the fire. Rita’s knees buckled, and she fell hard, scraping her hands and knees on the packed earth. Poppy dropped beside her. ‘Are you hurt?’
A searing pain ran through Rita’s foot. ‘My ankle.’
‘Can you walk?’ Poppy lifted Rita gently.
‘No.’ Rita started to cry.
‘Keep the bad leg off the floor if you can,’ Poppy demanded, ushering Rita as gently as she could away from immediate danger. ‘We’re OK here,’ Poppy soothed, taking off her cardigan, and rolling it up to for Rita to rest her head on.
‘I’ve got you,’ Poppy panted. ‘Breathe, Rita. Breathe. I can hear the sirens. You’re safe now.’
Rita’s chest heaved, smoke stinging her eyes. Poppy held her tighter, steadying her trembling body.
‘Stan!’ Rita gasped, as the old farm hand appeared with a fire extinguisher in hand.
‘Mrs Jory, oh no.’ He crouched to her side.
‘I’m fine, Stan, just save the barn, please, please. We can’t lose the barn.’
‘Ring an ambulance too, young’un,’ Stan shouted to Poppy as he ran towards the flames, not realising that two had already been called. Thom, Sennen, Teo, and Jude were fighting the fire with the little resources they had, their faces red and sweating.
Amid the chaos, Jago screeched up in his Defender. Going straight to where the fire was, he shouted to Thom, ‘Where’s your mother?’
‘I don’t know.’ Thom’s voice was full of panic.
‘She’s being looked after,’ Stan hollered.
Through the choking smoke, a movement caught Jago’s eye. His heart lurched; someone was wobbling inside the café, disoriented.
‘Hilda!’ Jago shouted, panic lacing his voice on recognising her. Relief hit him as three fire engines arrived, firefighters began spilling out and began in seconds to do the job they do so well.
Jago sprinted across the smoke-choked marquee, dodging sparks, and embers. The old lady teetered near a fallen chair, one hand bracing against the counter.
‘No!’ she wheezed weakly. ‘I’m old, leave me! Find Rita! She… needs you more than me… she’s pregnant!’
At that moment, Hilda collapsed. Jago tried to help her, his mind reeling. A burly firefighter intervened. ‘I’ve got this, mate, and get your arse out of here, now!’ The firefighter lifted Hilda like a feather outside to one of the waiting ambulances. Poppy was instantly at Hilda’s side as the paramedics got her swiftly onto the stretcher.
‘You’re going to be all right,’ Poppy said softly. ‘I haven’t told a soul this yet, but… I’m training to be a nurse, you know.’
Hilda’s eyes fluttered at that. A trembling hand reached up, tugging weakly at her oxygen mask. Poppy leaned closer, easing it away just enough.
‘I saw them,’ Hilda whispered, her voice thin but urgent. ‘I saw them.’
