A_Close_Call

A Close Call A CLOSE CALL It was Christmas Eve, supposedly a joyous occasion. The snowflakes fell to the ground continuously like the last seeds of a dandelion blowing in the wind leaving the dead flower. It had been snowing for three days and I’ve been at the fire department for 20 hours waiting for the next call. The temperatures were continuing to drop and, the wind seemed to be blowing harder every day. The days were gray and the nights were black. In just four more hours, I would be able to go home. Then maybe I would begin to feel the holiday cheer. In my neighborhood there were Christmas lights decorating every house, Christmas carolers singing every weekend, and fires burning in every chimney. This was a sign of Christmas. But not far away there was another neighborhood where there weren’t any Christmas lights, there weren’t any Christmas carolers, and there weren’t any fires in the chimneys. Unfortunately, however, because people were trying to stay warm, there were fires elsewhere in the houses. Most of the families in this neighborhood were single parent families with several children in the out, christmas, fire, every, truck, neighborhood, home, fires, heat, go, families, two, tried, trailer, took, through, smoke, screaming, put, partner, line, lights, knew, involved, hoseline, fully, four, find, family, decided, children, carolers, burned, been, because, became, within, wind, way, wall, very, unable, trying, trapped, time, three, third-degree, sure, station