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 alone. A woman and baby were in the passenger seat. He has another family, Ella thought. He is coming to say goodbye.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

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. ...
Read more
DAWN WILL RISE  Part 2: HEROES      Ella drove over the dusty playing field so she could quickly access the concrete playground with its basketball nets to one side.     Her car pulled up well away from any children, but most had been hustled to their classrooms. It seemed to the young mother that her four children stood alone - except for the small one who was clinging to the gutter of the girls' changing shed for sport.     The boys' shed was on the other side of a wall and Simon ran around to climb up to help.     Dawn was snagged by her pants on a roof projection and was clearly going into shock, which meant she would soon lose her tenuous grip of the fragile guttering.     Ella hurried over, but was suddenly almost knocked off her feet by a man barrelling fast across the concrete towards the child. Meanwhile Simon was reaching for Charlie.     The man was Mark and he jumped higher than he had done in his life bef...
Read more
DAWN WILL RISE  By Tessa Harvey     Straight beneath the almost three-year-old was concrete, at least twelve feet down.     "Hello David," she had managed to say calmly. A person had said you do your praying before an emergency. There is little time during an emergency. Well, she had never prayed really since childhood.     "Now David, hold the railing very tight while I come and see. Hold very tight David, and watch me come. Okay?" "Okay," he echoed cheerfully.     "Now David, are you looking at mummy and holding tight? Here I am. Don't let go now!"     She reached down as fast as she dared, not looking down either, totally, totally concentrating. Her arms reached round his little body. Steady.     "Let go now." She lifted him up and over the railing and hugged him. The week before he had stroked a bee to be friends, and been stung. So she explained he must always climb the steps properly. If he didn't and fell, it would ...
Read more