readjusted the napkin over her face and crawled forward.
Children!” she shouted. “Linda, Chris, Martin-it’s Lisa! Are you here, children?”
She paused and listened intently for an answer. There wasn’t any And for a moment she felt silly and foolish for having endangered her own life on a wild-goose chase.
The smoke was getting unbearable. She shouted once more but there was no reply. Thank God, they had left already.
She was just going out the door when she thought she heard a faint cry. She turned back, almost hoping that she was wrong. “Children?”
she shouted again. This time there was no mistaking it, there was a faint cry from the children’s bedroom.
She ran across the living room and pushed open the bedroom door.
The smoke was less dense than in the living room, and she could see a little, once she had located the light switch.
The beds. were empty.
“Children! Chris!” She turned to leave, suddenly fearful of what she might find in the rear of the apartment. Behind her, she heard a noise, a small child sobbing. Suddenly she realized it was coming from the bed clothing that lay in a heap on the floor. She crawled over and pulled the blankets apart. Little Chris.crouched beneath them, his eyes wet with tears and smoke irritation.
“Chris! Chris, now listen to me! Where are the other children?”
Chris pawed at his eyes and sobbed. “Chris, tell Lisa-please tell Lisa!”
“They’re -hiding,” he said between sobs.
“Where, Chris? Tell Lisa where!”
He pointed to the closet. Lisolette ran to it and opened the door.
The closet was dark and filled with hanging zipper bags for clothing.
They stirred slightly and she parted them with a sweep of her hand.
Linda and Martin, the baby, were crouched on the floor in the rear of the closet, holding on to each other. Linda was not crying, though her eyes were filled with tears from the smoke.
She ran over to Lisolette and hugged her around the legs.
“Oh, Lisa, I’m so scared!. I called downstairs but nobody answered.
It rang and rang, but there wasn’t anybody there! And I couldn’t waken Mommy and Daddy, they had locked their door.”
As parents with small children might do if they wanted to be alone for a while, Lisolette thought. And they had probably drifted off to sleep without remembering to unlock it. She ran her hands gently through Linda’s hair.
“There, there, don’t be frightened. We’re all safe. Just stay here and I’ll be right back.” She returned to the bedroom and stripped the cases from the pillows, then ran into the bathroom and quickly soaked them under the shower.
Returning, she handed two to Linda. “Put one over your mouth and help Martin with the other. I’ll help Chris with his. It will cut down on some of the smoke so you can breathe.”
She helped knot the cases behind their heads and started to lead them out when she suddenly remembered.
“Mein lieber Gott!” She had been so worried about the safety of the children, she had forgotten Tom and Evelyn.
She would have to wake them up, signal to them what had happened.
“You children wait right here!” Lisolette gripped the knob of the bedroom door but it was locked. She looked about, then seized a heavy pedestal lamp from the table near the door. Three times she hit the lock before it shattered. She threw the ruined door open. Inside, it was like a blast furnace, the heat rolling out in waves. She crouched and fumbled for the light switch. The smoke was almost solid in the room and she had difficulty making out the two figures by the bed. She quickly crawled in. Both of them were unconscious, though still breathing slowly and heavily and occasionally gagging. She shook Tom but he only groaned. She would be wasting time trying to rouse them, she thought. Tom had fallen partially across the body of his wife.
Lisolette rolled him off, then grasped Evelyn under the arms and dragged her across the floor. The thick carpeting made it difficult work and the few steps to the door took every bit of strength she could summon; she was also finding breathing more difficult.
“Linda, wipe your mother’s forehead with your pillowcase. The rest of you children, lie down on the floor. You, too, Linda; you can do that while you’re lying down. I’ll go back and get your father.”
It could have been her imagination but it seemed as if the air was even hotter and the smoke thicker back in the bedroom. She crawled over and grabbed Tom by the arms, pulling him toward the door. He must weigh around a hundred and eighty pounds, she thought; it would be so much easier if he were a little man like Harlee. He groaned and fell into a heavy spasm of coughing. For a brief moment Lisolette didn’t know if she could make it.” to the door with him; the fumes from the ventilator grill were biting deep into her lungs.
She gripped his arms tighter and gave a final tug; then they were out into the living room. She pushed the bedroom door partly shut behind her. The damaged lock prevented her from closing it completely.
“They’re dead, aren’t they?” Linda asked, - dry-eyed.
“Mommy’s not moving.”
“No, they’re not dead,” Lisolette said, feeling her own tears just beneath the surface. “But we’ve got to get them to some fresh air.”
She tried mouth-to-mouth resuscitation on Tom; he suddenly groaned and. coughed, then turned on his side. A thick mucus began to dribble from his mouth and he abruptly vomited on the rug. What was she to do?
Lisolette thought frantically. She didn’t have the strength to get both of them out of the building, unconscious as they were. She couldn’t even manage Evelyn, who was considerably lighter than her husband. She would have to abandon the parents to the smoke and fire, she thought slowly. The children she could save.
“Come along with me, children; take each other’s hands so we don’t get separated.”
Linda hung back. “What about Mommy and Daddy?”
Her voice was beginning to tremble now, her tears just a moment away.
Little Chris took his cue from the tone of her voice and started to cry.
“We’ll send somebody back for them.”
“I want to stay with them,” Linda pleaded.
“No, no, kinder, you must come with me,” Lisolette pleaded, almost in tears herself. Dear God, she thought, why me? Then directly to Linda: “Linda, would your mother and father want you to stay behind?”
Linda understood then and the tears rushed to her eyes. She nodded and held out her hands for Chris and Martin, then followed Lisolette toward the door, crying silently to herself.
The smoke was heavier now and Lisolette found the door as much by feel as by sight. Her eyes had started to tear badly and she was keeping them half closed to protect then from the stinging smoke.
“Miss Mueller, what the hell are you doing here?”
She thought she had heard footsteps in the outer hall but hadn’t dared to hope. Her eyes flew open. Harry Jernigan loomed in the doorway. Behind him were two firemen in slickers and helmets.
“Gott sei’ dank’!” She openly sobbed then, pushing the children toward the firemen. “You men help with these poor creatures!” One of the firemen brushed past her and knelt by the figures on the floor behind them. He was very young, not more than twenty-five, Lisolette thought. But it was difficult to tell, his face was so red and smeared with soot-streaked sweat. He held Evelyn by the wrist for a moment, counting her pulse, then leaned close to Albrecht’s chest.
“How are they, Johnny?” the older fireman asked.
“They’re both in pretty bad shape-smoke inhalation.
We’ll have to get them out of here right away.”
“Will they be all right?” Lisolette asked, fearing the answer.
“I’m not a doctor, lady. We’ll have to get them down to the lobby where they have oxygen equipment and Pulmotors. Can you two handle the kids?”
Jernigan nodded. “Sure.”
