Once packed, I took my gear and my bag and set them by the front door before I went to join my dad in the living room. He was watching a baseball game with a bottle of beer in his hand. I wished I could have had a beer with him before I left, but that wouldn’t have been smart with the anti-anxiety medicine I was taking.
Sitting down in the recliner next to his, I reclined and tried to watch the game, but my mind was racing with everything I’d learned in the last few months. It helped I’d had training while overseas. I wasn’t a newbie, but it would still be my first time being in front of a fire of this magnitude.
“You know I’m proud of you, right?” My dad continued to stare at the TV as he spoke. “Even if I don’t fully understand why you do it, it’s honorable. Something I never had the courage to do.”
It meant much more than he’d ever know to hear those words from my dad. Growing up, we’d always been close. That is until I vanished out of his life, but now we were closer than ever.
My eyes teared up. I wasn’t as courageous as he thought. It was hard to leave him again. Life was uncertain, but I’d do everything in my power not to hurt him again. “I know, Dad,” I choked out.
My phone pinged with an incoming text.
Jason: Picked up Eric and should be there in twenty.
Remy: See you then.
Dad glanced at me as I slid my phone back into my pocket. “Is that your buddy?”
“Yeah, he’ll be here soon. He was leaving from picking up the other guy.”
He eyed my bags by the door. “Are you sure you got everything you need?”
“I think so. I know I’ll have to do laundry while I’m there, but if I need anything else, I can buy it. Don’t worry about me. I’ll call you once I get settled into where they’re housing us, and I’ll either call or text you every day.”
“It’s hard not to worry about you. There was a boy no older than you, who died two days ago.”
He hadn’t been a firefighter. He had tried to fend off the fire headed straight toward his house with only a hose hooked to the spigot at the front of his house. I understood he didn’t want to lose his house or worldly possessions, but it shouldn’t have been at the cost of his life. There were too many people who hadn’t evacuated from the area from what I’d last heard. They needed more manpower to try to get the residents to see the best thing for them was to evacuate until the fire wasn’t endangering their lives.
“I probably won’t even be put in the front lines, but I’ve got to go. It’s hard to be here when so many are in need in Southern California.”
My dad stood, holding out his hand for me to take. The moment I stood, he wrapped me up in a bear hug. I hugged him back just as hard when I heard his deep inhalation of breath.
“I love you, dad.”
“I know. I love you too,” he said gruffly.
My phone buzzed in my pocket, letting me know Jason was here and it was time to go.
Squeezing me one last time, Dad patted me on the back before he pulled away, his eyes glassy. “Call me when you get there to let me know you landed safely.”
“I will,” I promised. I was never going to leave my dad in doubt again.
Striding over to the door, I picked up my things before I headed out on my next mission.
Eight hours later, Eric and I were stuffed into the back of a van to be taken to the firehouse that would be housing us while we were in California.
“Alright, boys, we’re not going to throw you out into the thick of it first thing,” Donnie, our stocky liaison, said as he drove. “More than anything right now, we need men to go door to door seeing who's home and who isn’t. If they’re home, it’s your job to try and convince them to leave.”
From beside me, Eric's entire face furrowed. “But when can we fight the beast?”
Donnie shook his head and let out an annoyed sigh. “I can’t say. You’ll have to take it up with the chief, but don’t hold your breath. While we need help, we don’t need some guy we don’t know putting himself and others in danger.”
Crossing his arms over his chest, Eric sat back and fumed. Not knowing his background, I couldn’t say if he was justified in being irritated by the possibility of not being up close and personal with the fire. All I knew was I was here to help in any way possible, and it looked as if they needed it. The closer we got to our destination, the brighter orange the sky became. I couldn’t imagine what it would be like closer since it looked like this, and we were fifty miles away. How people thought it was safe to stay in their homes was beyond me when nature was giving them a big warning in the sky.
The other guys who were in the van talked quietly to each other, but I kept my eyes on the sky. Eric wasn’t up for talking anyway as he tapped his fingers on his knee, huffed every few minutes, and glared up at the front. After being stuck in traffic for almost two hours, Donnie swung the van into a spot at the firehouse.
As we all piled out, Donnie stood off to the side, his gaze directed at
