Sisterhood

May 19, 2025 Webmaster

by Jane Sutton

It was early afternoon when Carol first thought she could smell smoke. She walked to the doorway and looked out to the trees at the back of the property. Sure enough, a cloud of smoke was rising through the treetops, and to her horror she saw bright flames travelling along the narrow gully. A jab of fear clutched her stomach.

“Surely not”, she thought, “Surely not. Who would light a fire in this dry weather?”

Then she remembered the frightening crash of thunder that had startled her earlier in the day. Had lightening hit a tree and set it ablaze?

“What to do” she panicked, “what to do?” The fire could easily spread in the blustery conditions. Should she call 111 and get the fire station, or even the police? Oh, it was all very well for Dave living out his lifestyle dream in the country when he spent five days a week in town. She turned to the phone in the kitchen, then stopped. She remembered her neighbour, Margie on the property across the way. The older woman had shown her friendship when she and Dave had moved in. With shaking hands, she stabbed at the phone buttons to call Margie, only to hear the ‘beep, beep, beep’ signal of a wrong number. Thoroughly rattled she started to fumble with the address book when the phone rang.

“Yes, yes,” she said, “Carol here.”

“Carol, it’s Margie.”

The neighbour’s calm voice reassured her.

“Oh Margie, have you seen the fire?”

“Yes, I’ve just let the station know. Listen, there’s the siren calling up the volunteers.”

As it sounded, Carol gave a sigh of relief. “Thank goodness,” she said, “I was really worried.”

“Why don’t you walk up to meet me at your gate and we’ll watch what happens together,” soothed Margie.

Carol didn’t need any persuading. At the top of the stoney drive she was in time to see a car speeding past. Jim the butcher gave her a ‘thumbs up’ and a grin. The fire callout had livened up his day. And there was Margie hurrying across to her.

When Dave arrived home from work in the late afternoon he found the two women sitting on the back steps having a cup of tea.

“So this is what you ladies get up to while your men are at work,” he joked.

“Well, someone has to keep the home fires burning,” said Margie, and she winked at Carol.