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always tell us, so that those who understand and feel it, they will be
able to predict what the future will bring.’
The chime of the clock in the hall awoke me from my reverie. I
dashed over to the wireless sitting above the empty fireplace and
switched it on to listen to the morning news. My feelings of dread
had been correct, for the news reader crackled, ‘A strong North wind
has brought several small fires together and has created a strong
front heading south.’ Grasping my hat off the hook, I ran outside
towards the horse paddock whereNormanwas filling the water troughs
for the animals. The air was thick with shimmering heat. When I
reached my husband I told him breathlessly the menacing news, our
clothes flapping in protest against the increasingly savage wind.
Norm ran to the stables to collect hessian bags and wet them in
the troughs to put them around the house and stables and to fight
the fire if necessary. Val, being the eldest of the two girls and the best
with horses, was asked to bring the horses in from the paddock and
into the stables. I asked Bev to run a cold bath, not too full, so that
we could then put all our precious things in there. I hurried outside
to round up the chickens and put them in their coop. It took longer
than it normally would with them clucking noisily in their confusion.
As I sawNormwheeling a barrow full of wet hessian bags toward the
back of the house I called out to him, ‘Don’t forget to put some on
the chicken coop!’
I quickly went inside to check on Bev. She was in her room
collecting her dolls.
‘Have you run the bath, Bev?’ I asked.
‘Yes,’ she replied calmly.
‘What are you doing now?’ I asked slightly confused.
‘I am collecting all my precious things to put in the bath to protect
them,’she replied emphatically.
I smiled, ‘Okay, but don’t put them in the bath just yet, just lay
them out for now.’ I thought it was best that I keep her busy with
something, even though I was not sure how I was going to explain
that we were not going to be putting her dolls in the bath.
Scrunching my hat on and opening the back door again, with all
hope of keeping the house cool gone, Val came running up the
veranda stairs towards me exclaiming breathlessly, ‘I have put all the
horses in the stables and as I was running back I started smelling the
smoke on the wind.’ As we moved down across the garden together
Bushfire
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