Home Fires

by Susan Cameron

On a more sober note, he said he was concerned about their mother. She was late in her rent payments and her eyesight was getting worse. George had paid her rent in advance for several months before he left, but he asked Annie to write their brothers to let them know they needed to help out. George also said he was afraid their mother was going a little daft because she kept stroking her neck in what he called a strange way. Annie smiled – he still didn’t know about the pearl necklace.

  Jim sat down across from her and she reread the letter aloud to him.

  “I wish there were some way we could bring Mother here to live with us.”

  “Aye, that would be grand, but we will have to wait until the end of the war. It’s dangerous to cross the Atlantic now. And even if the war were to end soon, we don’t have the money to bring her here.”

  Annie was quiet for a few minutes. She thought about writing her brothers to ask that they pool their money to pay for Mother’s passage. She started to sniffle and, though she tried to hold back the tide, broke into tears.

  “I’m so sorry, love,” said Jim, stroking her back. “I know you two are close.” But it was something more immediate that had Annie in tears. It was time to tell him.

  “I’m sorry to add to our burdens. I suspect that I’m with child again.”

  Jim was ashen-faced and silent for a moment, but then he smiled. He got up to hug her and said it was wonderful news.

  “You can’t fool me,” said Annie. “You aren’t happy about another child, are you?”

  “Of course I’m pleased that you’ll make me a father again.”

  “Well, I’m not looking forward to another pregnancy, and I can barely cope with the four boys we have. Besides, money is so tight.”

  “We always seem to manage, but you’re right. I thought at this stage of our lives we would be settled financially. I’ve been thinking that maybe we would be better off if I joined the army. You’d get a regular separation allowance from the government while I was away.”

  Annie was silent for a second, shaking her head in disbelief, then she shouted, “No! How could you even contemplate such a thing!” Her face grew warm and her vision blurred as her eyes flooded with tears. “You’re thirty-six years old and will be the father of five children. I can’t believe that you’d even think of leaving me here on my own!”

  Jim held her close to his chest, “Dinna fash. I was just thinking aloud and didn’t mean to upset you. The promise of a steady income is quite an incentive, that’s all, and I hear the Canadian army pays well. I suppose I could go to the bank and mortgage some of our land.”

  Annie cried out in alarm. “But this is your dream! You own land and it’s paid for in full! And you know I would never agree to mortgage the house! Surely we’ll manage somehow.” She dried her cheeks with her apron and wondered if they really could manage.

  That winter would have been very difficult without the supply of vegetables and preserves in the root cellar. Jim went hunting with Pierre and they shot a small moose whose meat they divided between the two families. There were plenty of wild rabbits around and they often had rabbit stew. One day, though, Jim told Annie that a baby had died at one of the farms deeper in the bush because the mother was so severely undernourished, she could not make enough milk for her infant. Annie felt a heavy sadness. It was little comfort to know that there were many families worse off than they were.

  “Annie, I’ve made a decision. I feel that I have little choice. I must join the war effort. It’s a solution to our money worries - and it’s my duty.”

  “Your duty is with me and our boys!” Annie snapped. “You can’t leave me and the children here on our own! I’m nine months pregnant with your child, for God’s sake!”

  “Ah, Annie, this is tearing me up.” Despite Annie’s reluctance, they finally had to mortgage much of the land, all except the house and five acres around it, which Jim had now arranged to put under Annie’s name. Insurance, she guessed with a shudder, should he not return from the war. He knew how important it was to her that the house was free and clear. “You’ll get a regular separation allowance from the government. You’ll have all the security you need until I get back.”

  “But you won’t be here. You’re putting your life in danger and for what, your duty? Or is it the promise of adventure and excitement? I need you here with me and our children!”

  “Annie, be reasonable. We’re living hand to mouth. It’s the only way. After the baby’s born, I will sign my papers.”

  She looked at Jim, tears blurring her vision, and shook her head. Then she walked out the door.

  It was an hour before she returned, still fuming and determined to convince him not to join the army and leave her. She knew all too well how many men came back with missing limbs, or who never came back at all. This is madness, she thought. He’ll come to his senses.

  Chapter Thirty

  Annie knew from her discomfort that the baby was ready to be born. When Jim came home from the station that warm May evening, she told him to go get the doctor.

  “I’ve had this nagging feeling all day today that something was amiss,” he said. “You should have sent one of the boys to fetch me. I’ll be back as fast as I can!”

  He rushed out the door, shouting to Bobby to look after his brothers and see if his mother needed anything. He returned an hour later out of breath.

  “The bloody doctor’s in Gold Creek. We’ll have to go to the hospital in Bear Falls. I borrowed a gas-powered handcar from the station. It’s just out at the tracks. I phoned the hospital from the station to let them know we’re coming. Bobby, you’re in charge. I might not be back until morning.”

  Jim carried Annie the short distance to the railway spur that passed the fence line of their property. Annie normally would have balked at getting on the small wooden platform sitting on four flanged railway wheels but at this stage of her labour she was oblivious. Jim gently lifted her up to the narrow bench and climbed up beside her. He started the gas-powered engine and it came to life with a deafening roar. After a jerky start, they were soon racing down the tracks. Seeing the trees whipping by them, Annie squeezed her eyes shut and clung tightly to Jim. The trip took less than ten minutes, they were travelling so quickly.

  Although Jim had said he’d notified the hospital when he borrowed the handcar, Annie was still surprised to see the doctor’s Model-T Ford waiting by the track to take them the rest of the way.

  At the hospital, Annie was whisked away to another room, leaving Jim pacing at the entrance. As her labour pains came closer together and grew more intense, the doctor placed a mask over her face and put her into a deep slumber.

  Annie and Jim’s fifth baby boy was born while Annie was unconscious and pain-free. When she woke up, she found Jim in the room with her, cradling the infant. She held her arms out. As he passed the baby to her, Jim assured her that he had all his fingers and toes and was a healthy child.

  Annie gazed down into his sweet face and began to cry.

  “Are you feeling any pain?” Jim asked her, his tone concerned as he kissed her cheek.

  “No, I’m fine. That was the easiest birth I have ever experienced.” She looked into Jim’s eyes. “I just realized that now that this baby has finally arrived, you’re signing up with the army, aren’t you?”

  Jim’s eyes grew moist. “Ah Annie,” he whispered, “it’s the only option for us. I will wait until the end of the month before I enlist but don’t worry. I won’t be away long. They say this war will be over soon.”

  Annie swallowed an angry retort, hopefully masking her anxiety, and changed the subject. “What should we name this new baby? I have only girls’ names picked out again.”

  “I’ve been thinking that if we had another boy we should name him Henry, after your father.”

  “Henry. I like that. Mother would be thrilled.”

  As she held her newborn, Annie was already worrying about how she would manage on her own. Surely she could still convince him not to sign up.
Logically she understood why Jim wanted to join the war effort, but in her heart she couldn’t accept it. Bloody stubborn man! I can’t believe he would actually leave me on my own, with our five children.

  Chapter Thirty-One

  Annie felt lethargic in the intense July heat. The temperature had been in the nineties for days. Her hair was plastered to her scalp and her clothes held the heat against her sticky, sweaty skin. How can one godforsaken place be so bloody cold in the winter and hot as hell in the summer? When she last checked the thermometer on the side of the house, it had read ninety-six degrees.

  Annie and the children were outside, for it was even hotter inside the house. Every surface was sticky in the heat. Hal and the baby were both fussy from a lack of sleep. She wondered if they would nap in the root cellar, if she laid an old blanket on the cooler floor there. Jack and Georgie had already discovered that the root cellar provided an escape and made regular excuses to go down.

  She looked at the garden in frustration. It was bone dry due to the lack of rain for the last three weeks, and the strong, hot wind blew dust everywhere. There was a biting odour of burning wood coming from the north, and she assumed by the smoke plumes in the distance that there was a fire several miles away. Perspiration trickled from her forehead and stung her eyes. Sliding a forearm across her face, she sighed.

  Jim had been stationed at Camp Borden for the past two months. She was still angry that he had chosen to go, but it was comforting to know he was not too far from them yet. As Annie headed to the house to look for an old blanket, she heard three short blasts of a train engine whistle in the distance, repeated twice – the warning signal for a bushfire. Her heart quickened with fear.

  She looked down the path to the road and saw fourteen-year-old Bobby returning home from his paper route; he was pedalling his bike as fast as his legs could go. He let his bike clatter to the ground as he ran towards her, shouting.

  “Ma! The bushfire is headed our way! We’ve got to get to the freight rail. They’re picking up people and bringing them to the mill.” One of Bobby’s newspaper customers at the hotel in Bear Falls had told him about the train rescue, he told her as they ran to gather the other children. On the way home he had detoured by the high granite rise on the edge of town where he could see for miles, and he’d seen a huge ash cloud hovering over the bush. He described whirls of fire in the sky igniting more and more trees and brush. “Then I heard an explosion like a dynamite blast!”

  By the time Annie had gathered the children and tossed blankets and a few valuables into the wheel barrow, she could see the wall of fire approaching. The wind was hot and howling. Cinders began to fall around them; heavy smoke settled over the house and made it difficult for her to breathe. She called to Jack and Georgie.

  “Run with the wheelbarrow as fast as you can to the tracks!”

  She picked up Hal and thrust him at Bobby. “Here son, carry Hal and run!”

  Unhindered by Hal’s weight, Bobby quickly outpaced his brothers. Annie lifted baby Henry into her arms and followed her boys. She tripped once, but tucked the bottom of her skirt into her waistband so she could run faster. She was relieved to see the boys had reached the train tracks. Hot cinders landed on her sleeves and skirt and she felt the sting of burns on her arms.

  Beside the tracks, Annie saw a young girl, maybe eight-years-old, shielding a toddler from the flying embers. She seemed unaware that her own legs were burned black, and that her hair was singed to her scalp. Annie recognized the girl, though she didn’t know her name. Her home was several miles away. That poor girl must have run all that distance to escape the fire, Annie thought. She heaved a dry retch, and then shouted to her children and the young girl.

  “Jump into the ditch! Get as wet as you can!”

  She grabbed the blankets from the wheelbarrow, soaked them and put them around the children. Then she took her good linen tablecloth, wet it as well, and used it to cover their heads. The smoke was dense and stung her eyes and throat, and she gagged at the stench of the girl’s charred flesh. She covered Henry’s face with her wet apron, and covered her own nose.

  Annie turned and looked back into the distance as cinders rained on their house. The roof instantly caught fire and she cried as flames engulfed their home. Her vision blurred with tears.

  “It’s gone! Our house is gone!”

  Red hot coniferous cones were tossed into the air as the updraft mushroomed and the fire advanced quickly towards them. Two Chinese men, probably from one of the lumberjack crews, jumped into the ditch beside them. One of the men cried out, “Me gonna die! Me gonna die!” His companion responded, “Me gonna die too, but me not crying!” Bobby, Jack, and Georgie started to giggle. Annie was amazed that her children were able to find a light moment in the horror around them. They quickly sobered, though, when they heard the terrified scream of a trapped workhorse, somewhere in the bush. Panic-stricken, Georgie and Jack howled and huddled closer to Annie. Hal clung to Bobby and bawled hysterically. The young girl was still holding her tiny sobbing sibling but she clung to Annie’s sleeve with her other hand. Annie stared down the tracks and prayed that they would be rescued.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  With his sharp hearing, Jack picked up the sound of the train whistle before Annie did. Through the heavy smoke she saw the freight train slowly chugging towards them. It seemed to take forever, but finally it squealed to a stop and everyone scrambled out of the ditch to board.

  Bobby climbed into the freight car with Hal and then reached down to take Henry from Annie’s arms. Jack and Georgie quickly scampered up and Annie followed after helping up the young girl with her baby sister.

  Finding a small area for them in the freight car, Annie collapsed on the floor. Her heart was pounding and her arms stinging. She inspected her children, checking for injuries. Bobby had a nasty burn on one hand but the other boys seemed to have escaped without injury, other than singed hair and eyebrows. She had many small burns on her arms, but Hal and Henry were unmarked.

  She looked around at the other occupants, recognizing most of them. Some people were badly burned and in pain, some temporarily blinded by the smoke and a few had injuries too horrific to look at.

  Suddenly Jack shouted. “We forgot Mike!” His face turned pale and he began to sob.

  “Mike’s a smart dog, son,” said Annie, though privately she was horrified. “He’ll find a way to safety. I don’t think they would have let us bring him on the train anyway.”

  The air in the crowded car was thick with smoke and the walls unbearably hot to the touch. Someone had tucked a shirt into a wide gap in one corner to keep the smoke out. Annie was becoming accustomed to the odour of burnt flesh around her, but she felt weak and dizzy. Her tongue was swollen and her mouth parched. Little Henry was too lethargic even to cry, and Georgie was breathing in gasps. “I’m thirsty, Mummy,” he cried weakly.

  “I know, poppet. I’ll find some water when we get to the mill.”

  There was a boy Bobby’s age near them, alone, gasping for air and sobbing. Annie moved towards him and touched his shoulder.

  “We’ll be fine now, son. We’ve been rescued.”

  The boy shook his head and cried, “My sister and grandmother are still in our house!”

  Before she could stop the boy, he jumped out of the slow moving freight car. He landed on his feet and ran off frantically as if he were being chased. Annie felt helpless.

  She sat back down on the floor of the freight car and tried to calm her terrified children, as the train made slow progress back to the mill, stopping often to rescue more people. On the other side of the car, one woman was cradling her young child and crying. The little boy appeared untouched by fire but Annie could see that he was dead. The woman’s arms were charred and blackened. When Annie saw Pierre beside the woman, she realized with a start that it was Marie and little Louis.

  “Sweet Jesus, Marie has lost her little boy,” she whispered.

  Annie felt suddenly ligh
t headed and her peripheral vision blackened. When she opened her eyes and saw her children gathered around her, crying, she realized she must have fainted. She sat up and reassured them.

  “Don’t cry. I’m fine, boys. Really, I’m fine.”

  She gingerly touched the back of her head and felt a goose egg developing, but was thankful that Bobby had been holding little Henry when she lost consciousness. She felt foolish for fainting and made a vow to be stronger for her boys.

  She heard tormented screams from outside and looked towards the sound. To her horror she saw several wretched victims writhing on the ground, burning like pulpwood. She turned back to her children. “Close your eyes and try not look at anything until we get to the mill.”

  The train picked up speed and a young man in his teens leaned out of the car, panicked. “God have mercy on us,” he shouted. “The railroad ties are burning now and the last freight car is on fire underneath!”

  Several men told him to shut up, as the children were already frightened out of their minds. The seven-mile ride seemed to be taking a lifetime, but finally they were approaching the mill. The freight train snaked around one side of the concrete building and wheezed to a stop. It was mayhem, initially, as the crowd of people pushed their way to the exit, desperate to get off the train and find safety. Then one older man, with an authoritative voice, ordered the men to stand back and allow the women and children to get out of the stifling, smoky car first.

  Annie looked back towards the fire and gasped. The three other railway tracks to the mill were blocked. One track was smothered under an inferno of collapsed cords of burning pulpwood, and there was an open container on another that she could see was filled with dynamite. That could blow up any moment! she thought frantically. At least thirty men were operating pumps, hoses and buckets, saturating the freight cars and explosives with river water, desperately trying to douse the flaming pulpwood.

  Annie and her children were now safe from the fire, but where did that leave them? Their home and possessions were nothing but ashes. They had abandoned their wheelbarrow back in the ditch. All they had in the world were the clothes that they were wearing.