THE FIRE

A Tale of the Hatchback Woman by Dan Jire

The sigh was like an engine backfiring, complete with the muffler induced gagging that followed.

“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Melissa asked.

Her older sister, Tina, rolled her eyes. “You know what it means. Joshua looks up to you and you let him down. You’re his aunt he expects you to be there.”

Melissa’s eyes bulged. People never talked to her the way Tina did. Tina was this dainty little priss, but Melissa had their dad’s shoulders and with six more inches could’ve been a defensive lineman if football allowed women to play.

“Christ, Tina, I miss one stupid soccer game and I get branded a shit aunt? Just because I get three days off a week doesn’t mean I’m not dead tired or busy. I just worked 72 hours straight at the firehouse. I’m not running errands or paying bills. I gotta do all of that in the same time I’ve got allotted to catch the hell back up on sleep.”

“You should’ve been there.”

“Don’t you think I want to be there?”

Tina ended the argument by looking away and pretending Melissa was no longer standing there.

“I came tonight. I didn’t know Joshy would be at a friend’s house.”

“He goes by Joshua.”

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The charred wood cracked beneath Melissa’s feet. She knew she should never admit that she liked the smell of a fire, but she did. She loved it more after it had done its business. It reminded her of late nights after the campfires had been doused, when the real fun would begin—pranking her older sister or running off with the boys to drink beer.

Melissa laughed as she realized she still did all that stuff, but it wasn’t the same. Now she had responsibilities. She kicked what was once a baby’s crib. It didn’t provide her boot with any resistance. It just burst into loose ash.

Then it caught her eye.

It sat on a blackened dresser. Its color had not been dulled, rather the toy shark grinned, vibrant as ever.

Melissa laughed.

Of all the things to survive a fire.

She plucked the toy shark from the dresser. It had no use anymore. The family who had once lived in the house had died in the blaze. It would end up buried in the debris when the bulldozers came and leveled the foundation.

Joshy, I mean Joshua, would get a kick out of it.

That’s what Melissa would do, she’d give the toy shark to Joshua as a gift and then maybe Tina would get off her back. Melissa wanted to be a good aunt. She knew it was unlikely she’d ever find the right man to settle down with. She was just too much like her father. That’s how she ended up as a firefighter. He gave his life to it. He always came home drenched in sweat, with the smoke and ash following him through every room in their home. She loved that smell.

“What you got there?”

Melissa turned to see Adam clutching his axe and still wearing his oxygen mask.

“It didn’t burn,” she said.

“Another trophy in the Museum of Indestructibles! You know I keep hoping one day we’re clearing out a house and there’s like a million unburned dollars or something.”

“Tell me about it.”

Melissa felt odd taking the shark in front of Adam, but they all did it, most of the time anyway. Some fires needed to be remembered, and when no one was going to complain about something missing it made it all the easier, and half the time the insurance covered something if it did have sentimental value. But what value could a toy shark hold?

“You hear the 9-1-1 call?”

Melissa shook her head.

“Yeah, so the dude is screaming because his wife is raving about it being too cold and she set fire to the house trying to warm the place up. It’s August. People, am I right?”

Melissa’s latest shift ended and she returned home. She sat the toy shark on her kitchen counter next to the sink. She was eager to call Joshua and see when she could stop by with the shark, but she was also starving. She flung open the fridge at the same time she dialed Tina’s number.

Tina answered in the singsong she normally does. “Joshua, your Auntie Mel-iss-a is on the line.”

Melissa couldn’t hear Joshua, but tried to match her sister’s tone.

“That’s exactly the young man I want to talk to.”

“Good, he’s been a handful. You know I moved him out of diapers years ago, and I think it was too soon. Oh, here he is. Your Auntie Melissa wants to speak with you.”

“Hey . . .” She almost said Joshy, but managed to stop herself. “. . . guy, how’s it going?”

“Good.”

“That’s good to hear. Hey, I got something special for you next time I see you.”

“Really?”

“You bet, you like sharks?”

“Sharks are the best swimmers.”

“Is that so? Well, I got you one that’s about the length of my arm!”

Joshua gasped. “No way, that could eat all my toys.”

“You bet it could.”

“I want it now!”

Tina’s voice cut in. It had been obvious that the call was being monitored. “Gee, I guess that all depends on how busy your Aunt is, doesn’t it?”

Melissa thought she should wrap the toy shark. She had plenty of time since Joshua and her sister would not be there until after suppertime. It gave Melissa almost the entire day, but still she didn’t waste a second after the phone call ended. She plunged into her closet and regretfully found only Christmas wrapping paper. She cursed herself for not being like other women who stocked a variety of wrapping papers for every season and event. It is a fire hazard, she reminded herself.

She jogged back to her kitchen counter, thinking she would grab her keys and run to the nearby pharmacy. They always had cards and things and perhaps some candy bars would raise her closer to Aunt-of-the-Year status.

Then she noticed the dishes in her sink were frozen.

The air did feel cooler than it should, but she was in a short sleeve shirt and khaki shorts. She saw the liquid soap container had frozen as well and the ice had distorted the plastic bottle.

Melissa was neither forgetful nor clueless. She remembered what Adam had told her at the scene. He had said the emergency call had been in response to a woman who was trying to warm up her freezing home. She stared at the toy shark on the kitchen counter. She readied her touch for something cold but it was warm.

She picked it up and stared at it, knew she had to be crazy for assuming the toy had caused the sink to freeze. She shook it off and grabbed her keys and headed off to the pharmacy.

The pharmacy was four blocks away and with all the time Melissa thought she had she decided to walk down Broad Street. Traffic would’ve easily doubled her normal drive time, and while it was sweltering hot—heat was never an issue for Melissa.

The pharmacy on the other hand was blazing its air conditioning to the point where Melissa wished she had worn a coat. No wonder so many people get sick running in and out of ice-cold stores. The abupt temperature changes would make her walk feel twenty times hotter on the way back. Still, she cycled through each aisle until she found the cards and wrapping paper. She picked out something with a beach theme—she’s wanted a shark, but also didn’t want to scare. She settled on an umbrella and a towel and through to defacing the image with a drawn on shark’s fin in the waves. Then headed to the candy aisle where there was already another customer, a tall older man with a kind face. He looked like he didn’t belong in the city.

“Excuse me,” he said stepping to the side as Melissa arrived.

“I don’t remember this many options.” Melissa said looking at the full aisle of chocolates and colored sugar.

“It seems there’s something for everyone. Hey, I don’t mean to bug you, but you’re with the fire department, aren’t you?”

Melissa nodded. She could tell from this man’s reaction that he was one of the appreciative customers. Although, there was always the threat that he would go off about the misappropriation of his tax dollars and then Melissa would be a popsicle from standing in this air conditioning for too long, patiently hearing him out and not pointing out that people who do far less in the world make far more than her.

“That place that burned up yesterday, you were there, weren’t you?”

“Yes. Finally got an off day today.”

“Anything survive?”

“It went to the ground.”

The man tucked his lip and examined the candy again. He dug into his pocket and pulled out a business card.

“My name’s Alan Tuel. I’m kind of a private investigator.”

Melissa gave another polite nod, hoping to choose a candy for her nephew and get out of there.

“Sometimes in fires like these there are objects that don’t burn at all. You ever come across something like that?”

Melissa shrugged and nodded, feeling Alan’s judging eyes.

“Well, I’d be interested if you ever came across such a thing. All you have to do is call this number and leave a voice mail.”

Melissa took the card and nabbed a bag of Skittles.

“Will do.” Melissa caught herself before she said anything else. She knew asking the man what he was investigating would’ve prolonged their conversation, so she smiled and waved. She thought she heard him thank her for her service, but she had already rounded the aisle and jumped into the checkout line.

She paid and left. As soon as she hit the scorching sidewalk, she couldn’t help but keep looking over her shoulder, wondering more and more about the man. Wondering if he had seen her take the toy shark.

No, it can’t be valuable. It’s a toy.

Melissa returned to her apartment. She had thought the pharmacy’s air condition was chilly. Well, now her apartment was a damned icebox. She rubbed her hands as she ran over to the thermostat. It was set at seventy degrees but it read that it was only twenty-two.

Her mouth dropped. That couldn’t be right.

And then she saw her breath.

She groaned at the thought of calling a repairman. She opened a window and let the hot August air warm her a little. But that wasn’t working fast enough, so she emptied her pockets on the counter and dashed into her room for a pair of sweatpants and a hoodie. Her nose was already wet.

But the man’s words about things that survive the fire were still haunting her, so were Adam’s words about the 9-1-1 call. She grabbed the shark, which was still warm as could be. She filled the bathtub and tossed the shark in.

The faucet froze as soon as it touched it. Melissa thought she heard pipes snapping as the water turned to ice.

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“Hello, Auntie!” Joshua said, hugging Melissa around the thighs as he entered her apartment.

“Josh-u-ah!” Melissa over pronounced. She made sure her sister Tina heard it. Tina did keep wearing a polite smile.

“Tell your Aunty Melissa what we had for lunch today.”

“I had a hot dog on a stick!”

“You had a corn dog?”

“Not corn! Hot dog! It was in a bun that went all around and it was the best, better than pizza!”

Melissa laughed. “Whoa there, little guy, better than pizza?”

Joshua lowered his voice and most of what came out was a nod.

“Well, you’ll have to get me one next time.” Melissa tried to save the happy exchange.

“I’ll get you two!”

Tina cut in, “Joshua’s been very excited to see the toy you got him. Aren’t you?”

Melissa cringed. She thought of the house that burned down.

“It’s freezing in here what do you have your A.C. at?”

And there was that, too. There was just no way Melissa could give him the toy shark, not until she spoke with Alan Tuel or whoever she met at the pharmacy. The shark froze her tub. She could only imagine what might happen to Joshua.

“Well…” Melissa started and saw her sister jump immediately to a defensive pose. “I don’t have it anymore… you see the shark swam away.”

Joshua looked up at her with big eyes like she was wrong.

“You told him you had a toy shark, Melissa. He was expecting a toy shark.”

Melissa faked a laugh. “It was trick! Ha! I tricked you both. I just really wanted to see you and give you a lot of candy!” Melissa grabbed the bag of skittles out of the plastic bag and gave them to Joshua.

“He can’t have those, he’s diabetic!”

Melissa didn’t know that. She would’ve known that had anyone ever told her. But that was definitely not something she was ever told and she was ready to defend that.

“Seriously, Melissa, you are the worst aunt. We drove all this way.”

“I thought, I just…” she couldn’t say much else. She could imagine the call from the emergency room, and for a moment Melissa thought of actually handing over the toy shark just to teach her sister a lesson. It would’ve served her right, but Melissa couldn’t do that. She accepted her title of Worst Aunt-of-the-Year.

It was the right thing to do.

Just like calling Alan Tuel as soon as they left would be the right thing. Right after she turned her heater on.

THE END.