Just In Case

Every now and then, the little bulb that she plugged into the hallway, to serve as a night light, would flicker. Silvie wondered if there was a short in the socket, or something wrong in the wiring of the light, and it made her nervous.  She had always had fears of an electrical fire, ever since her neighbors’ house burned down one night when she was younger.  They said it was from the faulty wiring of a bedside lamp upstairs in their old farmstead.  They had used the lamp for many years, but the cord loosened and warped over time, so that it finally wore thin and cast a spark, igniting the curtains within an instant. Everyone was asleep in the house when this happened, their smoke detector having alerted them with very little time to gather everyone sufficiently.  The neighbors all came out in their robes and stared in horror, trying to help by turning their hoses in vain on the engulfing flames.  Sadly, only four of the five family members inside made it out.  The eldest daughter didn’t survive, her father beside himself, trying to fight off those who held him back as the house became a tinderbox, and everyone but him knew that he could not go in to save her.  By the time the fire trucks arrived, all had been reduced to a charred pile of bits and ash.  As an adolescent, witnessing such a horrible tragedy definitely left a scar which turned itself into a deep phobia that Silvie was unable to ignore.  It also made her overly interested in stories of human death and tragedy, which she managed to turn into a fairly decent career.

However, Silvie always lived in a tense fear of fire after that incident.  So much so, that when her night light flickered, she would unplug it for a while, just in case.  She rarely burned any candles and replaced her appliances often.  She refused to use gas stoves.  She never lit a fireplace, and stayed well away from camping, due to the camp fires.  She even tried to rent out brick homes, or steel & glass apartments whenever possible, since she reasoned that these were less likely to burn up with the extreme vigor of worn out wooden ones.  She had never fact-checked this particular belief, out of a stubborn pride and laziness, but she held fast to it, making it the practical code she maintained.  

Sometimes, it’s odd the way we can be attracted to things we are repulsed by. Such was the case when Silvie first met Robert.  

On a winding sort of walk around the park, listening to a book on her Iphone, she had glanced up thoughtfully at the swaying branches overhead, whilst taking a step which landed wrong and made her lose her footing. As she stumbled she became aware that she was falling, but as she did so someone miraculously ran up and reached out an arm to brace her.  Slightly embarrassed, she righted herself with the help of this stranger.  

“My hero,” she said sheepishly, trying to laugh it off.  “No worries”, he said kindly. “Just watch your step, this trail is a bit of a mess. I’m here to help fix that, all goes well.”  That’s when she noticed his shirt, it was a dark blue tee with the small emblazoned crest of her local fire department on the left breast.  Looking around she saw several other people wearing the same tees in their vicinity.  They appeared to be clearing the pathways and underbrush, cutting away dead tree parts, and even doing some digging near the trails. 

“I didn’t know the fire department did yard work too,” she said, not knowing what else to say.  He shook his head, “Not usually, no, but there was some talk about this park looking really unkempt.  With it being fire season, and with the city budget furloughing the park maintenance guys.. Well, we put it up to a vote at the station to come out and deal with it ourselves, before it becomes a problem. Anyway, gonna get back to it.  Good luck.” He gave a slight wave and turned around.

“Wait, what’s your name?” Silvie called out.  “Robert, and you?”, he said over his shoulder. “Silvie. Thanks again!” 

“You’re welcome Silvie,” and gave her another wave as he joined his crew.  

All the way home, to her little brick duplex on the west side, she thought about him. He had warm hazel eyes and honeyed skin, and short dark hair with a slight curl. He was about her height, but broad-shouldered and strong. She could tell, the way he gripped her arm and held tight to break her fall, this man was sturdy.  Maybe it was this that enticed her, or maybe it was the thrill of meeting an actual fire fighter in the flesh, someone who dealt with such, to her mind, an unstoppable and terrifying force as fire on a daily basis.  Either way, she was intrigued and decided to go back out for another walk tomorrow, in hopes of crossing his path.

To her delight, there was a fire unit parked alongside the park the next day, so it appeared that they were still out on their cleanup crusade.  As she came nearer to their team, she could see him tossing chunks of a felled tree into a wheelbarrow in swift fluid movements.  There was an instant flutter in her stomach, and Silvie admitted to herself that she found him very appealing.  

“Out here saving the world again Robert?” she quipped, as unpracticed as she could sound, though she had rehearsed her greeting a few times on the walk over.  He smiled at her and waved, sweat dripping from his damp hair.  “Being more careful today Silvie?” he retorted.  “Yep, I am..” she said, suddenly at a loss for how to continue the conversation. She had only practiced the one line. 

“Do you guys need any help?” she tried, thinking that if he said yes, it might ensure her getting to know him a little more, and she wasn’t afraid of getting her hands dirty.   “Nah.. can’t really have you help us any, you’re not insured. But thanks for offering.” he chuckled and nodded jovially.  

“Alright then, I will leave you to it.. “ and she slowly started to walk further down the path. Perhaps he would pick up on her subtle interest cues.  Alas, all he did was say “Good to see you upright” and continue lobbing the wood into it’s chariot.  Damn. That interaction fell flat, but she hoped she could get his attention the next time they crossed paths.  

She didn’t have to wait long to find out, because as she went out for coffee the next morning, he was there, waiting in line for a “large black”. She had just come from home, in her comfiest attire, and may as well have had curlers in her hair, for how disheveled she felt.  So when she saw him, her heart leapt, but she tried to stay out of his sight line anyway. Plus, she hadn’t thought of anything worthy to say yet. But it wasn’t long before he did see her and then waved in greeting. Her face felt flushed, but she persuaded herself to just forget about her fears, and at least say hello. 

“Hey, fancy meeting you here,” she said, annoyed that this was the best she could come up with.

“You too. I was just grabbing a quick coffee before work. Do you live around here?” he asked, politely.

“Yea, just around the corner on 10th. Been here about a year now.  Do you live in the neighborhood too?” she inquired, hoping he’d say yes.

“No, but one of the pipe guys in my company does, we sometimes meet up and head in together.  Today, I’m giving him a ride. His car’s in the shop.” He paused, to pick up his coffee as they called out “Robert”, but then he came back over to her. 

“So, what do you do?” he said earnestly.

Suddenly, she felt there was some interest hinted that might still be worth pursuing. 

“I write about dead people,” she said, giving him a wry smile.  He cocked his head to one side and raised an eyebrow.  “I mean, I write professional obituaries for publishing.  I’ve written a few pieces in autobiographies.  Sometimes, I write for the local papers about someone’s legacy, things like that..” she trailed off, not sure if what she said had weirded him out.

But he just grinned widely, and declared, “That sounds pretty interesting.  Maybe you could tell me more about it later, over drinks or something?  I wanted to ask you yesterday, but thought it may come off creepy.”

“Um.. no, I mean, sure.. Yeah. I would be down for that.” she said, playing it cool.

They met up at a nearby sushi bar, a fancy one with sake cocktails and otherworldly looking creations like the “Mermaid Roll”, a glistening ahi and mackerel concoction with tail protrusions.  Silvie wore a shimmery top and lipgloss, and took extra time to primp, hoping to wash away his memory of her in sweats with an uncombed ponytail.  Then again, it didn’t seem as though he was overly interested in her looks, and she felt like maybe there was something more to it, and that none of that actually mattered.  They hit it off immediately.  He shared his reasons for becoming a firefighter, mainly because he really wanted to help people physically, but could never see himself as a doctor… too much blood.  She shared her perpetual fear of fire, and the childhood trauma she witnessed, then told stories of some of the wonderful people, and most tragic deaths, she’d written about in the past.  They talked over dinner until the place flipped their sign to “closed” and they made apologies after paying, making their way out into the fresh clear night.  Having planned to meet up again a few nights later, they went their separate ways.  That night, she felt optimistic and even dreamt about him laughing while chopping down a tree and then diving in the ocean. 

Things were just as good on the second and third date, and eventually he followed her home. Soon after that, Robert became a regular fixture at her place in the evenings.  After spending the first few evenings there, he showed up at her door one afternoon unannounced, with his hands hidden. He kissed her hello and mentioned that he had noticed something disturbing about her place.  “Oh no, what is it?” she asked, hoping that he hadn’t noticed how dirty her closet was, or that she didn’t ever sort all the garbage and recycling well, or that her fridge may possibly be hiding some science experiments inside it; all things that she herself had vowed to be better about, yet had not gotten around to taking care of. 

“You don’t have a proper fire extinguisher in here!” He looked at her, made a tsk-ing sound, shook his head, and brought a shiny red tank, with a long tube and a bow on it, out from behind his back. “I thought you could use one, you know, just in case.”

“Wow! That is really some gift. Thanks Robert, you are the best,” she said, relieved.

So it was that they were falling in love, and on their first Thanksgiving as a couple, she proposed to make him the most magnificent turkey he ever laid eyes on.  The thing was, she wasn’t the greatest cook ever, mostly choosing take-out and “snack dinners”, as she called them. But she had high hopes of being good at it someday.  Practice makes perfect, she told herself, as she set about making the stuffing and preheating the oven in the morning.  He would be there by one and she wanted to make sure that the majority of the feast was nearly ready, so she got up very early to get it together.  Unfortunately for her, she misjudged the time it took to cook the somewhat smaller turkey she bought for the two of them. So the bird was in the oven some five hours already when, as she came out of the shower and started putting on her thanksgiving look, she heard an unfamiliar and ghastly sound, her smoke alarm going off. 

“No,” she thought, “not today!  This can’t be happening!”  She ran out with her hair tied up in the towel, saw the smoke billowing out from the kitchen, and saw it sitting right where she had left it by the front door that day... Robert’s gift.  She snatched up the extinguisher and ran to the oven, flinging it open as the flames licked out at her.  She was petrified, yet managed to shakily hold the tank upright, pulled the pin out, pointed the tube outward, and fumbled to squeeze the trigger. In a whoosh the white flame retardant came rushing out and coated the entire contents of the stove, spraying all over parts of her cabinets and the surrounding floor. She managed to remember to turn the oven off within seconds, and the whole commotion ended with a fizzle, and an acrid smell of smoke and chemicals, within a minute.  The towel had fallen to the floor, and her tangled tresses hung damply over her stricken face.  She breathed heavily from the panic and excitement, as Robert just then used his key to let himself in, dropping the flowers he brought and his jacket to the floor, running over in concern.

“What in the hell,” he started, and then, “Oh my god, are you ok?”

“Ye.. yeah, I’m just.. Oh geeeeeeez, it worked Robert!  I used the thing and I put out the fire!” She pointed incredulously at the extinguisher, which she had simply abandoned out of shock. “That’s the second time you saved me.  Giving me that thing just probably saved my life.” She looked at him, tears brimming in her eyes.

“No Silvie, I’m pretty sure You just saved yourself. That’s kinda why I wanted you to have it, so you wouldn’t be afraid of the fire anymore.  I mean, I hoped you’d never have to resort to using it, but figured it might come in handy.”

She looked at him, and knew that he was right.  She felt totally empowered after using it, and in fact, she was almost certain that she wouldn’t be as frightened from now on.  Unfortunately for them, dinner at her house was out of the question, and this thanksgiving would be a bust. But just maybe, they could have a bonfire on the beach, or go camping together soon, because she had just conquered the fire all by herself, and come out unscathed.  Of course… it still couldn't hurt having a real life firefighter by her side, you know, just in case.