DAWN WILL RISE Part 2: HEROES Ella had slept some of the night. Having four children, two of whom were infant twins, ensured exhaustion was a close reality. However, the trucking company boss had not been very helpful though. He had tried. He explained Australia was a very large country and out in "the outback," sometimes the phone coverage was often patchy at best. Ben Samuels put his phone down with a heavy heart. What he had not said was that in a country with so much changing weather, fire could fall, literally from the sky. Growing storm clouds meant torrential rain and floods quite possibly. Dry storms meant lightning arched down like a trident of white fire, beginning blazes that burned out of control. "Ring me if he comes home." He ended the call, then regretted using "if." As dawn approached, Ella went to look out, hearing heavy traffic. Hopefully Mark. It was her errant husband. But not alo...
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DAWN WILL RISE Part 2: HEROES It was like a scene from hell, flames rising behind him, drawing closer, roaring, rearing like so many dragons - unstoppable. Mark felt a terror of fear engulf him. Then two things happened - the woman collapsed with her baby and a tiny wombat (he thought it was) staggered to the small boy. He grabbed it, wrapping it in his torn filthy shirt. As the huge truck paused, the boy ran to the man high in his cab and yelled: "Stop, stop or I will kill you, you mean bastard!" With little fists clutching the singed animal, he beat hard on the truck door, and then turned and held his baby as well. "Help my mum, you drongo!! Move!!" It was a nightmare but the man's fear backed off. Keeping his engine running, fearing it would not start again, he left his haughty high seat, grabbed the woman, hefted her somewhere in the back sleeping area, threw in the pernicious pest of a kid together with the baby and the animal. ...
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DAWN WILL RISE Part 2: HEROES Mark felt frozen, even though the cab of his truck was getting warmer and warmer. He had been brought up in town. You watched bushfires from the safety of an armchair. Naturally you felt sorry for the poor victims, but he never thought smoke would change to flames literally in moments. He tried to text for help. No signal - None! Maybe he could reverse or drive through. Suddenly he desperately wanted to be home. It seemed now the most desirable place in the entire universe. The angry-red flames flared high. Mark jolted back to reality and reversed as fast as he could. A flaming torch of a blazing tree fell on the road behind him, blocking the way, embers flew everywhere. He groaned and drove forward, grateful he was hauling heavy machinery, not petroleum or hay for desperate drought-stricken farmers. Why hadn't he cared more for other people, even the family. He vowed to change. ...
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DAWN WILL RISE Part 2: HEROES Ella had pulled herself together long before the children were due home. She had texted Jan, her sister to let her know she was able to collect her own children. The house was reasonably tidy, the dishes done, the washing finished. Mark was delivering hay to some farmers affected by drought or fire - she wasn't sure which. As she drove to the primary school, Ella felt suddenly she had so much to be thankful for - the house they almost owned, the enclosed back yard with a few shady gum trees, the tiny garden bed where the kids sprinkled flower and vegie seeds every year....And Dawn's foot was almost better! Lately, she had seen awful pictures on the news of starving people in a war-torn South Sudan. There were two students from that country in school. They both needed help with lessons and Jan, with her older kids, had volunteered some time. The Sudanese children running ...
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DAWN WILL RISE Part 2: HEROES The smoke curled across the road. The truck driver peered ahead. He could still see the road! But then the young man smelled smoke. Smoke? Quiet alarm bells began to softly sigh into his mind. "Don't panic," he thought, remembering past episodes of "Dads' Army" he used to watch with his grandad long ago - or not so long ago....but the smoke was thickening imperceptibly . Trees surrounded the young truckie. Then he saw a curl of flame crowning one of the straggly gum trees. Hot Eucalyptus oil added to the burning, smoke. Mark remembered shouting at his family before he had left for the truck depot to collect his load for his trip to the Pilbara. He felt bad seeing in his mind his children's faces looking up at him - Ella crying, her pretty face creased and sad, her last look as he left, of hopelessness. Now the tall flames were coming in fury, red and gold....
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DAWN WILL RISE Part 2: HEROES Mark was simmering. He had stopped working for Garry, Ella's father some time ago. Garry had tried hard to give Mark a fair go, and Mark had tried, but he longed to be more his own boss and not tied down to a desk. To his credit, he had talked to Ella and her parents to try to explain and show some gratitude. Now he was a truckie and loved the work, the variety - the streets and then the long, open roads of outback Australia. His mates thought he was a real hero, saving his daughter. He was not pleased his son was trying to steal the limelight, as he thought, and frowned. Simon noticed. "Dad, the kids call me hero when I do good at soccer and when I tried to help Charlie, but Jesus is the real hero!" "Fine then," his dad said, "you pray for your sisters." That'll fix him, Mark thought. "I'll help," David offered. "Would you mind if I pray as well?" Dr. June asked the boys ...
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DAWN WIL RISE Part 2: HEROES Such shocking words took both Ella and Mark by surprise. They just stared at the surgeon. Could such a specialised medical professional be wrong? After all, she was of an age to be well-experienced. They looked at each other . The twins, reacting to the silence sat down next to each other. Dawn always stretched her "bad" leg out to protect it. Rose did the same with the opposite leg. Doctor June spoke again, each word like a small explosion. "If you do not help Dawn to realise her leg is better, you will have two crippled children!" "Have either of you adults faith to pray? To believe this?" Ella had been reading the Bible and praying a little, but she said nothing. Faced with reality, yet unwilling to be wrong, Mark also said nothing. Then a child's voice came. "I will pray for Dawn....." "And I will pray for Rose...." The two brothers, unheard, had arrived home from school. T...