AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I straightened myself out. “Is everyone OK?” Ondrej looked around, panic evident in his eyes as he assessed the situation. “I don’t know. I think so. But Pavel, hell, I don’t know where he is.”
I looked around as well, trying to find Pavel Novák, but he definitely wasn’t in the courtyard. “Pavel? Do we have a list?” Ondrej said, shouting over the fray.
Berco rushed outside. He pulled out his iPad and opened what was the guest list for the day. “I have the reservations here, and here are the dinner reservations. Although we can’t account for walk-ins, on a night like this, I don’t think there were many. And here is the roster for everyone who is clocked into work today. I suppose we can go through one by one?”
Ondrej nodded, the panic still evident in his eyes.
I reached toward Berco. “Let me. I’m really good at this kind of thing. Let me handle the manifest, and you guys go back in there. Make sure that we find Pavel. Make sure everyone else is OK.”
Ondrej looked at me with absolute gratitude. He handed me the iPad with urgency in his eyes. “I’ve got this. Go do what you have to do,” I said.
I took a breath, then raised my voice above the crowd. “Attention, please!” It took me a few tries to get everyone’s attention. Finally, a staff member stepped up to my side, realizing what I was doing, and he shouted in Czech.
Soon, everyone's attention was turned toward us. “Thank you. Do you think you can help me translate? I don’t know if everyone speaks English,” I said.
She nodded furtively. “Of course.”
I cleared my throat. “Attention, please! Thank you so much for your cooperation. We are so sorry for what has happened. There’s been a small fire in the kitchen. We believe that everyone is OK, but if you would please cooperate in doing a headcount, we can make sure that no one is still inside.”
I waited a moment for the staff member to translate. The crowd looked nervous but remained calm.
I took a breath, nodded, and then showed the list to the staff member. “I don’t know if I can pronounce all of these names. Do you think you can read off the list for me?”
He smiled at me and nodded. Together, we went through the list one by one. With much relief, we found that every guest who had registered was accounted for. And all but one staff member were present.
“Who is this?” I asked.
The staff member looked at me. “Oh, he’s one of our cooks. Oh no. He is known for taking a lot of smoke breaks.”
“OK, we will find him.”
I didn’t want to announce that the only other person not accounted for was Pavel.
Just then, I heard the sirens in the distance of the fire brigade. A collective sigh echoed through the crowd as people looked on. As the flashing lights of the fire trucks bathed the scene in a surreal glow, the local fire department sprang into action with efficient haste. Their presence brought a palpable sense of relief.
The flames were visible through one of the kitchen windows, threatening to spread to the rest of the hotel. I closed my eyes and breathed. The damage to this beautiful building was going to be immeasurable. But we were lucky. We were lucky they got here in time, and it seemed mildly contained.
But now, I was starting to panic. Where were Ondrej and Pavel? Worst-case scenarios raced through my brain at high-octane speeds. The next moments unfurled in a blur. The truck pulled up, and a dozen men and women jumped out and raced toward the building. It was both hours and moments before the flames had been beaten down into submission, and the brigade came back out. They looked exhausted but satisfied, a job quickly and well done. Just another day at the office for them. But a day of devastation for the Nováks. And a step of devastation for me as I watched the faces around me crumble along with the ashes.
Moments later, I heard some more commotion. I turned toward the hotel’s front door and saw two firefighters carrying out what looked like the hotel cook. His hand was bandaged, and he looked a little frazzled with black smudges across his face, but he seemed otherwise unharmed. He was walking on his own with just some slight assistance from the two firefighters.
“Is he alright?” I asked one of the firefighters.
“He is fine. He got caught in the back when the fire broke out. Burned his hand trying to open the door. But he will be OK.”
I sighed with relief, knowing that one small burn injury was probably the best outcome we could hope for. But then I remembered Pavel. I frantically looked around again when I saw Ondrej emerge from the hotel with his brother at his side. I almost collapsed with relief.
“Ondrej!” I exclaimed.
He looked at me, and then he smiled. They both walked over to me and hesitated for a moment before both of them threw their arms around me. I didn’t know what else to do, so I both laughed and cried at the same time.
“I’m glad you’re both alright,” I said. “I was getting worried.”
“It takes more than a kitchen fire to put out these brothers,” Pavel said with false bravado.
“I’m so sorry about the hotel.”
Ondrej touched my cheek tenderly. “Yes, I wish I could say it’s all right. But it’s not. This sort of changes everything.”
