Chapter 27
Faith Like Fire
Blaze
“The fire has jumped three miles in the last twelve hours,” Jimmy’s voice filled my ears as he spoke.
“I’ve just slipped into Don’s truck to get some water.
Thought I’d check in with you.” The fear of missing out in this scenario was the most intense feeling I’d ever experienced.
Well, up until now. Now that I had a crush on one of the lookouts, I was faring much better about being in dispatch.
“Aerial support is coming again today,” I said to Jimmy.
“That will be good for down low, but most of the fire is on the ridgeline. That stuff needed to burn, Blaze.” I knew exactly what Jimmy was talking about.
The area was part of the pine beetle’s destruction zone.
The dead timber was going to burn, at some point, and today was the day.
The hotshots couldn’t get to the ridgelines, as it was too dangerous and out of the scope.
While smokejumpers could, efforts had been better spent on preventing further spread to lodges, cabins, and major parks and recreation areas.
“I can’t wait to be back with the crew,” I said, regretfully looking down at my leg.
“You ain’t missing a thing, I promise. This season has been bizarre.
First, that early fire when you got injured.
Then, months of sitting around. Now, instead of taking my wife to the pumpkin patch, I’m out here sweating my tail off at a late season fire that thinks it's mid-July.” I nodded, taking in his words.
He was right. If there was any year to be down, this one had been the least action-packed out of all of them that I’d worked.
“Did you guys enjoy the baked goods?”
Jimmy laughed at my question. “Best treats around. And I told my wife I’ve been enjoying some extra-curriculars on the diet. She wasn’t even that mad. I think I have a pretty good chance of not sleeping on the couch when I get home.”
“I’m happy for you, Jimmy. Hope that everyone gets to come home soon.”
Jimmy let out a low whistle. “Who are you and what did you do to Blaze?”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Blaze wants the fire season to end so everyone can go home? Who is she?” His cackling was so loud that I turned down the radio volume, as Melody lit another candle.
I had two options: Be coy and not tell him the truth or tell him the truth and by the end of the hour, my entire crew would know that I had been flirting with a fire lookout whom I’d never seen and never met. I chose the latter.
“Tower Three,” I said, sheepishly.
“Oh, okay, man. That’s great. Wow, finding a woman on the job, too.” I shrugged.
“If nothing else, it’s been fun chatting. We haven’t met yet.” My words were now in a whisper, as Melody left the room for the break room.
“I want to hear all about this, and do not be alarmed if I come back with a list of questions from the wife. You know I never get the right information myself when I hear of these things. But I better jet. A tree just cracked. Over.”
“Be careful out there, Jimmy. Over.”
A few more days had passed since Autumn left me a dessert, and I found myself unable to finish it.
I’d only been taking a few bites a day wanting to savor her gift.
And each day, we continued to have long conversations.
Yesterday, she shared how her parents had hurt her feelings over her ex-fiancé.
How they treated her like she was a failure when he broke things off to be with another woman.
And how her mother had just reached out to her, apologizing profusely, and asking for her forgiveness in the matter.
Plus, something about a cousin who met her fiancé after choking on a breath mint, and that they broke up.
Melody walked back into the room. “You haven’t asked me a thing about Autumn. I met her, you know.” She crossed her arms and smiled at me. I never actually had been the recipient of a smile from Melody before, and I was so taken aback, that I almost didn’t process the question.
“I know,” I said, meaning that I wouldn’t want to ask Melody because she was sort of scary and mean, but also because I wanted to learn things on my own.
“I’m letting the Lord guide my steps.” The words came out of my mouth and took me by surprise, when I realized that was straight from Him and exactly what I was doing.
That answer satisfied her, and she uncrossed her arms and walked back to her desk.
“She sure is a beauty, that one.” My body felt hot at Melody’s statement. The spoiler to know that Autumn was beautiful? Well, I already knew she was beautiful on the inside. I wished that Melody hadn’t said it, but it didn’t give anything else away, so I let it go.
As I took a few more bites of my trifle, I looked at the note that Autumn left me. It was really cute that she signed her note Tower Three, but I wanted to see her name in writing. I wanted to see it next to mine.
My mind wandered back to the woman I saw at Fairy Falls Grocery store buying a large trifle, five times the size of this one in front of me.
I had thought of her on and off while I lay in the hospital bed.
While I bummed around my mom’s house, learning how to use my crutches.
She was the most beautiful woman I’d ever seen in my life, easy.
But the longer I thought about it, the more I realized I wanted someone beautiful on the inside.
I wanted someone I could be myself around and count on.
I wanted a lasting love, like my parents had, before my dad was taken too soon.
Inner beauty was the most important thing to me.
“Tower One to Dispatch.” Melody was on another call with someone, and I answered the call from our lookout, Jeff.
“Dispatch to Tower One, over.”
“The winds have just shifted, and it looks like the fire is encroaching very quickly toward Tower Three.” My heart stopped.
I pulled up the monitor. I hadn’t spoken to Autumn in about an hour, as she said she was going to read her devotional Bible for a little while, and I had more radio calls coming in.
The camera was revealing smoke plumes that looked awfully close.
I wasn’t the one to make these calls, but it looked to me like it was time for her to evacuate.
I jumped up from my desk, grabbed the landline phone, and punched in Don’s phone number.
“The fire is encroaching on Tower Three,” were the first words out of my mouth when he answered breathlessly.
“Okay, Son. Let’s get her out of there. I’ll call Kerry.” I hung up the phone.
“Melody, where is Kerry today?” Kerry hadn’t been here all day, now that I thought about it.
“She went to Maple Haven to pick up more crew from the volunteer fire department. They are going to be helping the efforts. She should be back by two, or so.” It was eleven in the morning. Kerry wasn’t going to be able to get Autumn out of the tower. I dialed Don again.
“Kerry is in Maple Haven,” I said sternly.
Don sighed. “Oh, that’s right. Let me see what I can do here.
Oh—” Don put the phone down and was hollering orders.
“Blaze, I’m sorry—I can’t leave these guys.
Has Tower Two gone back home? George is an old military operator.
Maybe he could hike up there and make sure she gets out.
” The thought had crossed my mind, but George went home a week ago.
It was now almost the end of September. People had been dismissed, especially since the fire was eliminating lookout jobs left and right.
“I’ll figure it out,” I said to Don, with a tone in my voice that he recognized instantly.
“Blaze…” I shook my head.
“Don, I can do it.”
“Please be careful, Son. I love you like my own, and you are not fully healed yet. Your leg is important…” He trailed off, but he knew that my mind was made up. I was going to go get Autumn from the tower. All I had to do was drive her and maybe walk up a short hill. It would be fine.