“Why did you come to get me?” I was angry.
“You would have died along with your mother, Wendy!” Charlie said, “Then we could not make more fires together, and what’s the fun in that?” he smiled reassuringly.
“Coming through. Leave her son, let me see her!” said a paramedic, “Got a death-wish, honey?” he asked me.
“She was trying to save her mother,” Charlie answered for me.
“No I wasn’t,” i admitted.
“She’s in shock, the poor child,” Mr. Cooper said, “such a tragic loss,”
I started coughing; my chest felt as if some of that fire had come back with me.
“Will she be ok?” charlie seemed genuinely concerned.
“She’ll be fine – aside from minor burns and singed hair, she’s perfectly ok,”
“Excuse me,” came another voice; baritone and booming.
“Yes?” Mrs. Cooper answered.
“I’m Officer Ralph Carlson. I’m afraid it looks as tho’ the fire had been purposefully set,”
“Can’t it wait?” she asked, “The girl just lost her mother,”
I offered as good a pout as I could muster considering my euphoria towards the situation.