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 pray.....
    Ariella knew by her parents' faces that they had closely heard Gavin's words. They looked at her. "What was that funny story you were telling us," her mum asked, steadfastly. Her dad nodded, smiling a little. "My roommate, Gloria has two brothers, Luca and Alfredo. One night her mum got into bed, read for a while, then sleepily reached up to pull the light switch cord - and screamed so loud, the nearby village could have heard, let alone the neighbours!! The boys had tied a soft sticky toy snake to the end of the cord." 
    Ari laughed, remembered how the kids had pretended to be asleep. "Another time, a plate of delicious sandwiches was prepared for lunch. Half-way down, a toy crocodile poked out, staring at poor mama Marie!" They all laughed. Ari's phone pinged. "Dylan is asking us to pray. They are surrounded by fire with other familes."

TO BE CONTINUED

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