Fire on the Mountain Read online

  “Yeah, we cleaned up the schoolyard,” Cricket said. “What are you doing? Did my dad call you? He’s the park warden.”

  The firefighter nodded. “We got the call this morning and gathered up all the hose and pumps the department could spare. We’re going to lay hose all along the slope behind Evergreen Avenue, from Cameron Bay to Emerald Bay.”

  “That’s a long way!” Tyler said. “It’s got to be about a mile.”

  “Yup. And we’ll lay smaller hose off that main line so we can soak the forest and the houses along this edge of town.” She turned to Cricket. “I’m Firefighter Whitney. Are you Warden McKay’s daughter?”

  Cricket nodded and introduced Tyler and their friends. She stopped when two helicopters roared overhead.

  “Is the fire close? Do we need to evacuate?” Shilo asked.

  “It hasn’t moved much,” Whitney said. “It’s good that the wind has died down and the air teams can work on it.”

  Cricket nodded. Light winds never lasted long in Waterton. Their town was in the windiest corner of Alberta, where high winds caused trees to grow crooked and waves to crash on the shore of the lake, just like at the ocean. And she knew the wind could change quickly, blasting down the valley, picking up tents that weren’t tied down properly and sending unmoored boats to the end of the lake. The wind would come—but they didn’t know when or which way it would blow.

  “Can we help?” Tyler looked more excited and less worried than Cricket felt.

  Whitney shook her head. “No, not out here.” She paused. “But there is something we need. We left Lethbridge without packing a lot of food. We’ve got enough for today, but we’ll be looking for lunch tomorrow.”

  Cricket looked at Shilo and nodded. “We can do that! We’ll bring you lunch tomorrow.”

  “That would be awesome! We’ll be here.” She put on her helmet and gloves.

  As the kids turned to head back home, Shilo leaned close to Cricket. “Where are you going to find enough food to feed all of them?”

  Cricket shrugged. “There are only eight. I’m sure we can find what we need.” They couldn’t do much to help the wildlife, but they could definitely help the people.

  Now the kids were in a hurry to get home, but when they turned the corner, a steady stream of campers and trailers blocked their way.

  “It looks like a parade—without the marching bands and horses,” Shilo said. “And your dad’s the marshal.”

  Warden McKay was directing traffic as it exited the campground. He waved the kids over.

  “We’re just about done here,” he said. “Is everything good at home?”

  Tyler described their preparations, and Warden McKay nodded. He stopped the traffic to let them cross, and they saw Shilo’s neighbor, Mrs. Steeves, joining the long line of cars. She rolled down her window.

  “Shilo?” Her voice quivered. “I have to go now. I’ve packed everything up, but”—she paused and sniffled—“but I can’t find Socks. He’s been missing for two days.”

  The girls looked at each other in dismay. Was Mrs. Steeves’s cat just exploring, or had he sensed the fire like the other animals had? Was he hiding somewhere, or would he come home?

  “We’ll find him, Mrs. Steeves,” Shilo promised.

  Cricket nodded. “We’ll keep looking for him. Don’t worry.”

  Mrs. Steeves’s smile wobbled as she thanked the girls. They stood back on the sidewalk to watch the long line of cars creep down the road and out of town.

  Chapter Five

  “We spent an hour searching for him,” Cricket said as she ate a french fry. Everyone was home for an early dinner, even her dad, and they all had shared their news of the day. “Socks must be hiding somewhere.”

  “I hope so. I know Mrs. Steeves loves that cat,” her mom said. “But can someone please tell me why half the pantry was emptied onto the table?”

  Cricket froze. “Uh, well, I needed to make some lunch.”

  Mrs. McKay raised her eyebrows, and Cricket sighed.

  “I promised the firefighters at Cameron Falls that we would bring them lunch tomorrow.” She looked at her dad. “They didn’t pack enough food.”

  Warden McKay frowned. “The crews have moved into the motel, but the support teams haven’t arrived yet.” He took a bite of his hamburger and chewed while he thought.

  Cricket held her breath.

  Finally he nodded. “That’s very helpful, but where will you get the food?”

  “Yes,” her mom said with a bit of a frown. “We still need to eat too, so please don’t raid our fridge.”

  Tyler stopped chewing for a minute. “All the stores and restaurants are closing up. They might have food they would give you.”

  Cricket nodded. Every so often her brother had a brilliant idea. “Giving it to the firefighters is better than throwing it away.”

  “Mr. Watson might have some stuff you can use.” Tyler squeezed another glop of ketchup onto his plate. Mr. Watson was Will’s dad, and he owned Pat’s Garage, the only gas station in town. “I’m going down to help them pack up the garage tonight.”

  Cricket stared at her brother. They had to gather supplies tonight, or it would be too late!

  She pushed her plate away. “Can I be excused? I have to call Shilo.”

  The girls pulled Shilo’s wagon through town to gather supplies. Mr. Watson emptied an entire shelf of beef jerky into a bag and gave it to them, along with a flat of juice boxes. The grocery store was already closed, but Mrs. Chen was packing up Pearl’s Café when the girls knocked on the window.

  “Do you have any food you don’t need?” Cricket asked.

  “Anything we could feed to the firefighters?” Shilo added.

  Mrs. Chen clapped her hands. “Perfect! I didn’t know what I was going to do with all this.”

  She reached behind the counter for a big box. “Here is everything you need for sandwiches—bread, meat, even pickles. You can give it all to them.”

  Cricket and Shilo smiled. “That’s great! Thanks very much, Mrs. Chen. We’ll make the lunches tonight,” Cricket said.

  As the girls started down the street with their heavy load, they heard the deep drone of an airplane. They stared up at the sky with their mouths open as two planes flew directly overhead, so low that the windows of Pearl’s Café vibrated.

  “Those are water bombers,” Cricket said as they watched the planes disappear around Bertha Peak. “Dad said they fill up at the Waterton Dam. They must be almost done for the day.” She sighed. It was too dangerous for the air teams to work in the dark, which gave the fire all night to grow.

  A fire crew was working in the middle of the street, down near the marina. One of the firefighters waved as they got closer.

  “Hello again, girls,” Whitney said. “I see you’re still working hard.”

  The girls nodded. They watched the crew set up an inflated yellow pool that looked deep enough for the girls to swim laps in.

  “What’s that?” Cricket asked. “Is it a pool for the animals to hide in?”

  “No, though that has happened before. It’s a relay pond. We need to pump water from the lake into the pond so trucks can refill quickly and return to work.”

  “But we have fire hydrants all over town,” Shilo said. “Why don’t you use those?”

  “We are, but it’s not enough for all the trucks and crews.”

  Cricket looked past Whitney to Pat’s Garage, where another crew was setting up an identical relay pond. The noise from all the pumps and rumbling fire trucks forced people to shout to one another. Back-up alarms and whining chain saws added to the noise.

  It was difficult to understand why they were working so hard. The sky was brilliant blue, and Cricket could smell only a hint of smoke. The wind still hadn’t picked up. They hadn’t seen any more wildlife racing through the town. Maybe everything would be fine. Maybe they’d be lucky, and the firefighters wouldn’t have much work to do. But whether they had to work the next day or not, the cr
ews would be hungry—and now there was a lot more than eight firefighters in town!

  Chapter Six

  When the girls arrived at Cricket’s house, they found Tyler busy cleaning off the counters and table. Boxes of sandwich bags were stacked on the stove.

  “I planned an assembly line with Will,” he said, “and he brought all these sandwich bags and disposable gloves from the garage.” Tyler frowned and shrugged. “He can’t help us though. He’s still loading the mopeds and bikes into their trailer.”

  Shilo nodded. “Yeah, I’m going to have to go soon too.”

  Cricket’s stomach dropped into a pit of worry again. “What?”

  “Not now—hopefully not tonight,” Shilo said quickly. “We’ve got a bunch of sandwiches to make!” She opened the big box Mrs. Chen had given them and tossed a bag of bread to Tyler. “Let’s get your assembly line rolling!”

  Following Tyler’s plan, they set up one station with sandwich meats such as turkey and roast beef, another with peanut butter, and another with extras like lettuce, pickles, mustard, cheese and jam.

  The kids washed and dried their hands carefully and put on the gloves. Tyler held his hands up in front of himself.

  “Nurse, where’s the patient? I’m ready for surgery.”

  Cricket rolled her eyes, and Shilo giggled.

  Shilo took a loaf of bread from the box and arranged slices on the counter. She added roast beef, then passed the half-finished sandwiches to Cricket at the table.

  “Lettuce and cheese?” Cricket asked.

  “And no mustard,” Tyler said.

  Shilo spun around. “No mustard?” She glared at Tyler.

  He threw his hands up in surrender, and a glob of peanut butter flew off his knife, landing on Cricket’s shirt.

  “Ah!” Cricket scraped the peanut butter off her shirt. “Gee, what’s the big deal about mustard? These sandwiches are for other people, remember?”

  Tyler apologized. “Some people feel strongly about mustard,” he mumbled.

  Cricket rolled her eyes. When Tyler turned back to spreading peanut butter, she added lettuce and a squirt of mustard to every roast beef sandwich.

  Shilo sped up, slapping meat onto sandwiches and spinning around to pass them to Cricket like she was practicing a basketball pivot.

  The competition heated up. Tyler worked faster. He swiped peanut butter left and then right with a flick of his wrist, as if he had a hockey puck on the end of the knife. He slapped two more sandwiches down in front of Cricket.

  “Score!” Tyler shot his arms in the air and strutted in a circle just as Shilo spun around. Roast beef and bread flipped out of her hands. A slice of meat landed on his shirt, stuck for a second, then tumbled onto his bare foot.

  “Ugh! That’s gross!”

  Shilo laughed. “Oops, sorry!”

  Cricket giggled, but then she got mad. “This assembly line isn’t working. You guys are working too fast!” A long line of half-finished sandwiches stretched across the table in front of her, waiting for jam or lettuce or cheese.

  “I’ll help,” Shilo said. They worked steadily, handing the sandwiches to Tyler for bagging.

  Eventually they started to run out of supplies. Tyler had three peanut butter sandwiches left when the jam ran out. He shrugged and fished pickle slices out of the jar, arranging them carefully in the peanut butter before adding the top slice of bread.

  Cricket stared at him.

  Shilo’s mouth dropped open in surprise and disgust.

  “What are you doing? Did you actually put pickles in that peanut butter sandwich?” Cricket demanded.

  Tyler smiled. “Pretty good, eh? Not everybody likes sweet. Some people like salty, right?”

  “That can’t be good,” Shilo said, shaking her head.

  They had to get even more creative as supplies ran out, and Cricket wondered if anyone would actually want to eat the last few sandwiches they put together. When they finished, the sun had set and stacks of sandwiches covered the kitchen table. It had been a long day, and everyone was ready for bed.

  Chapter Seven

  In her dreams Cricket couldn’t escape the sandwiches. She tossed and turned until morning, dreaming about a mountain of bread that filled the kitchen. She struggled to find the mustard. She searched under loaves and lettuce, slipped on pickles and squished jam between her toes. Slices of bread tumbled toward her, like the mountain was crumbling. She was trapped. She couldn’t move her legs. She heard Tyler’s voice calling her from the other side of the mountain of bread.

  “Cricket! Are you up?”

  Up? Why would the mustard be up? She was still stuck, unable to move. She felt a hand grip her shoulder. Cricket froze.

  “Cricket, wake up. It’s morning. Shilo’s here.”

  Her eyes flew open. “Did she find the mustard?”

  Tyler laughed and shook his head.

  Cricket struggled to sit up. She frowned. Her legs were tangled in her blankets, and she could hardly move. That was a crazy dream. Why would Tyler hide the mustard?

  When she heard her mom talking to Shilo, Cricket untangled her blankets and jumped out of bed. She ran down the stairs.

  “Hey,” Shilo said. “I just came to say goodbye. My dad says we have to go now.”

  Cricket’s eyes widened. “Already? We have to deliver all those sandwiches.”

  “You can do it, you and Tyler.” Shilo bit her lip and handed Cricket a cat carrier. “This is for Socks. If you find him, you can put him in here for Mrs. Steeves.”

  Cricket nodded.

  “There’s a couple of cans of food too. He’ll be hungry.” Shilo gave a little hiccup. Outside a car horn beeped. Before Shilo could turn to the door, Cricket put her arms around her in a big hug.

  “We’ll see you really soon, Shilo,” Mrs. McKay said.

  Cricket stepped back. “At the pool, right?”

  Shilo gave her a small smile. “Sure. At the pool.” Then she turned and ran down the steps to the car.

  Cricket stood on the steps in her pajamas and waved, watching Shilo’s car until it disappeared around the corner. For the first time, she smelled thick smoke in the air.

  Later Tyler stood in the kitchen with his arms crossed. He leaned against the counter, watching Cricket eat breakfast.

  “If you eat any slower, you’ll have to call that lunch,” he said.

  She rolled her eyes and slurped another spoonful of cereal. She would much rather crawl back into bed and hide under the covers, but they had sixty-seven sandwiches to deliver. They would have had sixty-eight, but Tyler had eaten one of the weird ones just to prove they were good. Like peanut butter and pickles could be good.

  While she finished her cereal, Tyler packed all the lunches into their backpacks and the baskets on their bikes.

  “Dad said we should start at the Prince of Wales Hotel, then make some stops in town,” he said.

  Cricket nodded glumly. Their dad had been out of the house and up in a helicopter before she’d even gotten out of bed, and their mom was at the warden’s office, coordinating radio communication. The plan was very clear—make their deliveries, then get home to grab their go bags. Grandpa would pick them up in a couple of hours and take them to the farm, which was just outside Pincher Creek. They would be safe there, out of the path of the fire.

  She pedaled behind Tyler, who seemed excited by everything that was happening. Two days ago evacuation had sounded like fun to Cricket—but not now. Now Shilo and Will were gone, Socks was lost, and Mom and Dad were busy trying to save the town. She put her head down to pedal hard, and a big fat tear slid down her nose.

  The road to the Prince of Wales Hotel went up a short, steep hill. Cricket was grateful for the gentle breeze giving her a little push as she pedaled. They rode into the parking lot and stopped. Two big fire trucks were parked close to the hotel. Painted on the trucks’ doors was the fire-department crest CFD. This crew was from Calgary, more than three hours away! As she walked closer, Cricket felt her
chest vibrate with the rumble from the engines.

  “Wow.” Tyler watched the ladder extend from one of the trucks. Three firefighters rode it higher and higher, shooting foam from a huge hose. Big chunks of foam broke away in the wind, but most of it landed on the wooden balconies of the hotel.

  A firefighter on the ground noticed the kids and left the crew to meet them.

  “We have lunch,” Cricket explained, opening her backpack. In no time the kids were surrounded by firefighters.

  “Hey, this sandwich has peanut butter and pickles!”

  “This one has tuna and chips. I love tuna and potato chips!”

  Tyler looked over at her with a big grin, and Cricket rolled her eyes. Firefighters from Calgary were probably the only people on earth who liked the same weird sandwiches as Tyler.

  While the crew members chose their sandwiches and got beef jerky from Tyler, Cricket watched a line of water bombers returning to fill their bellies at Waterton Dam. Movement in the grassland area near the road caught her attention. It was a huge herd of elk—there had to be hundreds of them! They walked in quick circles and stayed tightly together. Their heads were high and their necks were stiff.

  Then they ran.

  Before Cricket could call to Tyler, the elk were gone. They ran away from the fire and out of Waterton Lakes National Park.

  Cricket walked behind the hotel. From the hill she could see the entire town. Not a single car or tourist roamed the streets. No campers or motorhomes, and no smoke from the cookshacks. The streets were dotted with fire trucks, though, and lines of yellow hose lay like a giant spiderweb over the town.

  The tangle of worry in Cricket’s stomach grew to fill her chest.

  The only people left in the town were firefighters.

  Chapter Eight

  “Cricket!” Tyler was waving his arms, trying to get her attention. One of the firefighters stood beside him, talking on his radio.

  “What’s wrong?” Cricket asked, coughing.

  “That was your dad,” the firefighter said, clipping the radio back onto his shirt. “It’s time to evacuate. Make your last delivery and then get home to meet your grandpa.” He paused as water bombers roared past. “The wind has picked up, and the fire is moving fast. If they can’t stop it, your dad thinks the fire could be at the townsite in four or five hours.”