THE CHASM

THE CHASM   By Tess a Harvey     Part Three- Awesome Fire     Dylan stood close to the other firefighters. They had soaked the old stone building and as much of the surrounding hard-baked earth as possible, and held some water in reserve. Another truck had joined them, the man and woman, tired and scorched, but determined to stand and fight.   Apart from the terrible roar of the fire, it was quiet.     All around, on every side, the fire raged. It was hard to breathe. Smoke swirled, embers flared and died on the sodden ground. There were seventy-three men, women and children in the school. Most were holding loved ones close, some were praying. Nearly all were silent, even the children. All other life had gone.      The fire, that monstrous dragon, as almost upon them.     Emery Henderson came outside. "Everything ok in there?" the senior firefighter asked. Emery nodded, then gazed, appalled at the leaping fury all around t...

THE CHASM  By Tessa Harvey     The firefighters had managed to sleep a few hours in a small staff room at the school. They had been temporarily stood down and ordered to rest. They had not needed much urging.     One of the fire watchers came to wake them, accompanied by her four year old daughter. The little girl looked at them. "Are you going to help us?" she asked. "I can see the monster far away, but it is roaring - and spitting sparks." She said the last two words with a lot of emphasis on the 's', then sucked her thumb, looking at them carefully. "Sure," one of the men said, "we got lotsa water." He flexed his biceps for good measure. The others laughed a little.     Dylan looked at the firie, chewing on a warm bacon sandwich, gulping down thick coffee. He looked at the awesome flames and thought of the young bloke that looked like him. If they came through this, he would visit the school. Meanwhile he sent a text, asking Ari to pra...

THE CHASM   By Tessa Harvey     Emery drew back his fist to hit the young firefighter and found his arm held firmly by the curve of a sturdy walking stick, his wife on the warpath.     "Emery John Henderson, stop right there! Do not touch these young heroes or so help me, I will not cook you a morsel for a month! Just think - no more fried mushrooms!" The older man, still muttering, lowered his arm. His wife limped forward, diminutive, but feisty, despite her grey curls. "And," Betty continued, "I saw you check that old stump after the campers had gone. How could they see anything if you could not? Eh!"     "Sorry guys," she turned to face the young men who looked so tired and dishevelled, soot and ash-stained. "Come inside the hall - soup, hot drinks, sausages, sandwiches." The younger man left, hungrily, but Dylan was staring. "Who did you see? I have only an uncle left...."     His mobile beeped. It was a text from Sandra a...

THE CHASM   By Tessa Harvey     Gavin's great-grandfather had been in charge of a German camp for undesirables. These people needed to be kept in check. He was very proud of his heritage.     Gavin did not much like his French sounding name. Perhaps he could convince Dylan to change it back to Sturm, his mother's name. He must leave a pure legacy. Only his nephew remained.     At that moment, Dylan was driving a firetruck down a twisting forested trail. What had initially been a training exercise had suddenly become a cataclysm of fire now causing immense devastation.      His young partner was very nervous, had asked to be dropped off at his family's place to help defend the property. But the training was for two firefighters. The fire around them was not too severe at present, but then the wind roared and a wall of flame soared . They had to go back somehow.     Dylan had only one option. Retreat. Carefully, he reversed the f...

THE CHASM By Tessa Harvey     Ariella hopped off the bus,   so happy to be coming home at last. She had settled well into college and eventually, at her parents' earnest pleading, changed her surname to McDermott. "It was your grandmother's name before marriage. Please, dear, do this for us," Esther asked, softly. "Anti-semitism is very bad now, Ariella, and you still have your faith, your belief in God," Daniel added.     Feeling cowardly, Ariella had reluctantly agreed, but knew nothing could ever lose her faith.     Her parents were delighted to have her home for a few days, but she noticed how much older and more frail they looked, even after a few months.     Ariella began telling them a funny story. Then there was a loud knocking. She was quickly on her feet. She smiled at her parents. "I'll go."     Shutting the lounge door behind her to keep out the cold, the young woman opened the front door.     It was Mr. Dufaye...

THE CHASM  By Tessa Harvey     Dylan was bent over a coffee table, carefully scooping out a clever design of a kookaburra bird on a gum tree branch. It looked really good. When he finished, he would varnish the table, bringing out the rich dark colour and swirls of the mahogany. A molded glass top would finish the job. One of the other carpenters came to watch.     "Looks good," he smiled. Dylan was pleased also. The two men had bought into part-ownership of the carpentry shop. Up to now, the work they finished enabled them to continue with the business, but slowly they were making a steady profit.      Mike sighed, straightening his back. The men both loved the work, the smell and feel of wood.     Dylan's phone rang loudly. "Aghh!" he sighed. "Fire duty! Sandra won't be happy. Will you close up, Mike?"     Sandra saw Dylan's text and was furious. She knew he had to work. They both did. But this volunteer fire stuff was ridicu...

THE CHASM  By Tessa Harvey     The squall swept in from the south-east, thunder cracking, lightning flashes lighting the earth as Emery Henderson clumped across the paddock in his thick gumboots.     The cold rain soaked him in seconds. He felt the fierceness of the storm as he examined the old stump, where those dratted campers had lit their fire. Emery had asked them to make a ring of stones for their fire, so any fire could be easily checked.     Picking up an old stick he stirred the sodden ashes. Nothing - just an acrid smell which rose over the fresh tang of eucalyptus. He checked carefully, watching. Nothing. The squall eased. Dead brown grass dripped, faded summer flowers bent bedraggled to the earth. Emery turned for home and breakfast. Betty would have it ready - eggs, bacon, toast, lovely fragrances.     He would lift and store the potatoes today. But far down in the old stump, a dragon tail twitched, a fierce red eye opened.... ...

THE CHASM  By Tessa Harvey     Ariella had driven Dylan's car down carefully from the mountain in the misty dank darkness. Now she was pulling up outside the hospital, clutching some chocolates. Her mother drew in beside her, both happy to have found parking. Alone, Ariella found Dylan's ward. He was pleased to see her and looking much better. They exchanged greetings. Dylan was delighted with the chocolates and thanked her warmly. Then he looked down, playing with the sheet.     "Thanks for everything, Ari, and for bringing my car here. I go home later. It was just hypothermia, but I am not ready to be a God-person. Sorry, there is just too big a gap between us. Still friends, okay?" He looked up, sadly.     His uncle's words from last night echoed in his ears. "Don't be stupid,  Dylan. Cut ties with that woman. We come from good Aryian stock. There is a great gulf between us and Jews. Are you listening, boy? Otherwise there will be no support fo...

THE CHASM  By Tessa Harvey     Dylan was sinking very slowly in a nightmare of thick sludge. He remembered reading accounts of the terrible mud in WW1 and how it sucked everything down. France or Belgium? Maybe he had fallen through a break in a fence. Surely a swamp like this would be securely sighnposted. But it had rained almost incessantly for at least a week.....     The mud was slowly creeping up his legs. Someone once told him if you get stuck in quicksand, try and swim slowly to spread your weight. No-one can swim in smelly mud like loose cement. Panic was building. It was really dark. Was Sandra getting help? The cold was gripping him as tightly as the swamp. He didn't want to die. "God, help," he cried, screaming in his heart. The life was being sucked from him. He thought he heard Ariella's voice, then she appeared , flashing a tiny torch. The light dazzled him. He felt a squishy lump under one foot and tried to slow his descent.     "Ari,"...

THE CHASM   By Tessa Harvey     Sandra felt road beneath her feet. It felt so good. She closed her eyes in relief. Then light swept towards her. She waved frantically. The car slowed. The people inside opened a window.     Sandra was sobbing, but managed to explain. "I can't get a phone signal," she cried. "Please, can you try?" A  woman got out of the car and tried to phone, but there was no signal. The man said "I'll go down the road a bit." Breathless, Sandra begged to be in the car and climbed in. The other lady got a torch from the boot. "I will look while you get help." It felt surreal. Darkness was deepening the mist. The woman flashed the torch. It illuminated her feet and a little bit of the path. It was enough. "Lord, you are a lamp to my feet," she prayed. As she went, she called out. There was a faint answering cry. The woman knew that voice. "Hold on Dylan. I'm coming. It's time to pray, friend."  ...

THE CHASM   By Tessa Harvey     Photography had been Dylan's first love and more and more he focused literally on this subject. Without consulting his uncle, he quit legal studies and studied photography.     He remembered how he had never raised the alarm when Ariella fell over the edge of that terrible chasm. Shame filled him. Immersed in his new studies, he forgot God. God did not forget him, but that was immaterial to the young man. Freedom beckoned with greedy fingers. He sent an email to Uncle Gavin informing him of his career change and of the awards and renown coming his way.     His uncle was not best pleased, but Dylan felt little anxiety. One day he drove up to the moors beyond the city with a young woman. They left the carpark just as another car pulled into the small scenic lookout carpark. Seeking to be alone with the woman, Dylan went for a short walk. Mist suddenly came.     The sudden mist swirled round them, damp and clammy....

THE CHASM   By Tessa Harvey     That night, young Ariella thought about Dylan. They had grown close, but she sensed a gap opening between them. She hoped it would not become a chasm. People drift apart, she mused, sleepily, a little at a time or abruptly. She would have liked to have known her birth father, but realised that the man who had taken his place loved her as though she were really his daughter....     .....Dylan was being treated to another lecture. "Those people are Jews," Gavin Dufaye said, angrily. "They cause trouble. They are inferior. They even killed Christ!!"     Dylan was really upset. "I thought we all did that," he raged. "Each of us in our own bigoted ways, crucifying God and each other!"     His uncle smacked him hard on the head. "You are not my uncle anymore," the boy said, shocked. "I disown you." ------------------------------     The last years of High School skittered by like leaves before a blust...

THE CHASM   By Tessa Harvey     It was a few minutes before Dylan could disentangle himself from the crush of students at the classroom door after the school bell had rang. Mr. Jones, the teacher, had sent a girl to check on Ariella, but she came back shrugging her shoulders, palms out in a negative gesture, dark hair swirling round her face.      Dylan made for the school buses, and found Ariella's. She wasn't in her usual place at the front, diagonally opposite the driver. Without pausing, the boy swung up on the bus. The driver glanced at him, then back to his work checking for messages and the time.     Ben Strand knew who travelled on his bus, but once the kids were in High School he did not feel he should monitor them unless they were in Child Safety programs.     Other students came and the bus lurched away. Ariella was curled up small in the far back corner, desolate and alone. There were tear tracks down her face. She tried a sm...