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Mom and Marianne stared, not saying anything.
“No, seriously, can you smell fire?”
I stood up and began searching up and down the street. Then, my gaze turned further away, and I saw a thick plume of black smoke.
“Is that coming from the garden centre?” I stammered as I finally realised what I was looking at.
I told myself it didn’t necessarily mean it was the garden centre. There were other buildings close by. A feeling compelled me to go there.
“Oh my God!” I exclaimed. “If Slick comes, tell him where I went, please.”
I raced down the steps to my old car and jumped in, throwing my purse on the seat. Quickly, I reversed out of the drive and headed in the direction of the burning. As I approached, the smoke got thicker, and I could almost hear the roar of flames. I turned into the lane leading to the garden centre, and my heart sunk.
The smoke was indeed coming from here. There were flashing lights everywhere as the fire engines wrestled a blaze ingreenhouse three. All my new samplings and shoots were inside. Several weeks’ worth of work.
I parked the car and raced forward, and a uniformed officer caught me.
“Ma’am, you can’t go over there,” he stated.
“This is my business. I need to get the sprinklers on in the other greenhouses, or the fire could spread,” I gasped loudly.
A passing fireman stopped.
“Do you have a sprinkler system? We’ve got hoses on the greenhouses closest, but I fear they may go up,” he said.
“Yes, I have sprinklers. Can I turn the system on? I can’t lose my business!”
“Wait here,” he ordered. He returned a couple of minutes later carrying something.
“Put those on,” he demanded.
I shrugged into a pair of fireman’s pants and tightened the suspenders to stop them from falling down. He helped me into the jacket and shoved a helmet on my head. I stamped into the heavy boots he offered and let him pull the trousers over the top.
“Stay with me and lead the way,” he said.
I nodded and began dragging him towards greenhouse two.
I could see two firemen holding a hose on it, and I raced to open the door. The fireman came with me as I fumbled for the lights and switched them on. Anxiously, I rushed to the panel on the wall and turned the air conditioner on and the sprinklers. The heat in here was horrendous, and I worried I might lose the plants anyway.
Once everything was operational, I allowed the fireman to lead me to the greenhouse four and repeat my actions.
“I must start the sprinklers in the remainder because of the heat. The plants and flowers will be severely damaged otherwise,” I said.
At first, I thought he was going to argue, but he led me to number five, and even though it was further away, the heat was still bad. I could almost hear the plants sigh in relief as the air-con and sprinklers switched on. The fireman led me around his colleagues to number one, and I stumbled inside and repeated my actions. As I went to leave, I tripped over something and crashed to the floor. I lay there stunned as the fireman began to curse, and then he was shouting for paramedics.
“I’m not that hurt,” I gasped, shoving myself into a sitting position.
“No, but he is,” the man replied.
And I turned and nearly fainted as I saw Uncle Brian lying on the floor with blood coming from his head.
Chapter Nine.
Summer
Isat numbly in the ambulance as it rushed towards the hospital. The sirens were screaming to everyone that an emergency was on board. The paramedics had let me tag along as long as I stayed out of their way. In quiet desperation, I watched as they stabilised Uncle Brian. From the bruises on his arms and face, he’d been in quite the fight.
The paramedic had speculated that Uncle Brian had caught whoever was setting the fire and fought them. His partner had agreed that the marks and injuries Uncle Brian had sustained had been due to an attack.
