Page 9 of Hot Zone

I’d never wanted to be a firefighter, but I’d always been in awe of the men and women who did it. I just wished my first time seeing them in action hadn’t been here at my house. Hold on, why was my house on fire? I hurried over to Samuel.

“What happened?”

“We don’t know, Mars. It could be any number of things. Once they get the fire out, and it’s safe to go in, we’ll try to figure that out.”

A loud crack came from somewhere towards the back of the house, and Samuel sprang into action. “You go wait over there.” He pointed towards an ambulance sitting off to the side as he ran forward, speaking into the mic pinned to his jacket and yelling out commands to the firefighters scrambling to change their locations.

Steven and I moved to the area Samuel had pointed where two women were waiting. They both had on fire department t-shirts that saidEmergency Medical Serviceon them.

“I know you just arrived, so you don’t need our help, but you’re welcome to take a seat,” one of them said, motioning to the back of the ambulance.

“Thanks, I appreciate it.”

We took her up on the offer and sat down to watch as they did their best to get the fire out as quickly as possible.

“I just can’t believe this,” I mumbled. “I know I didn’t leave the stove on because I didn’t use it this morning, and I didn’t burn any candles or anything. I just took a shower, got dressed, and left for the shop.”

“Like my dad said, it could be any number of things, but what matters is you and Kismet got out.”

“She knew something was wrong, you know.”

“Who? Kismet?”

I nodded my head and then turned to look at him. “Yeah. Animals sense things we humans can’t, but she knew. She was acting really weird this morning, pacing around and nervous like.”

I knew he thought I was nuts, but he didn’t argue with me. He just shrugged the way he did when he didn’t know what to say.

It didn’t take them long to get the fire under control, and once they had, Samuel walked over to where we were sitting.

“Sorry about this, Mars. We tried to put it out as fast as possible.”

I nodded. “When do you think I’ll be able to go in?”

“I’m not sure. Is there anything in particular you want us to look for?”

“I have a firebox in my closet. It has all my important papers in it, but other than a few sentimental things, that’s about it. Most of what matters to me is up at the shop, not here. I was planning to go shopping for new clothes anyway.” I tried to smile, but I don’t think I quite got there.

“Do you have renter’s insurance?” Samuel asked, and I nodded. “Good deal. And how about a place to stay?”

“You can stay with me and Roxy,” Steven said because, of course, he did. He was the best friend ever, but I shook my head.

“No, Kismet doesn’t do well with dogs, and Thor could swallow her in one bite. I’ll just stay up at the shop.”

Samuel shook his head. “You can’t stay at the shop, Mars. It’s a business.”

“Sure I can. My mom stays there all the time when she comes to town.”

“That isn’t legal, Mars.” He gave me a stern look. “It’s zoned commercial, not residential. You can’t live up there.”

“Sure I can. It’s an old house. It has a shower, a kitchen, and everything. And I have retreats up there all the time wherepeople camp out on the property. If they can spend the night, why can’t I?”

I could tell by his expression that I was testing his patience, but seriously, it was my property. I should be able to use it however I wanted.

“Having people there for a retreat and living there is not the same thing. The retreats are a part of your business.”

“That makes no sense,” I insisted. “People live above businesses all the time.”

“Those businesses aren’t zoned strictly commercial, but I’m pretty sure yours is.”