The Day Her Fire Nearly Died

 

            Some bird kept chirping just like it had something to say. It wouldn’t quit. Now, Ralph doesn’t do getting mad at noisy birds, so he was just wondering what the big fuss was about. He wasn’t quite napping, but he was in the general neighborhood of napping.
            Then someone even louder and more insistent appeared. It was Uncle Bob.
            “Oh! Ralphie! Suzy can’t get up and I don’t know what’s wrong with her!” Uncle Bob said through his tears. “She’s just lying outside by the fireplace with her eyes closed!”
            Ralph sat up. He swung his legs off of the log and looked at Bob.
            “Is she asleep?” said Ralph.
            “No,” cried Uncle Bob. “She won’t wake up!”
Ralph thought, “I should have known something was up. That bird.”
            “I better come up to the Stump House, Bob,” said Ralph. “That’s very odd behavior for a sensible Firekeeper.” He could see that Uncle Bob really didn’t know what to do.
            Ralph whistled for Maeve, and when she flew down to him, he asked her to tell Ramona that he was going up to Uncle Bob’s place for a little while.
            “After that will you come up there too, just in case, Maeve,” said Ralph as he and Bob started walking.
            “Sure, Boss,” said Maeve.
            When Ralph and Uncle Bob got up to the Stump House, Ralph could see that yes, Suzy was lying near the fireplace with her eyes closed but breathing fine. The fire was nearly dead, however.
            As you know, a Firekeeper and her fire are closely aligned.
            “Hm,” thought Ralph.
            “Bob,” he said, “The first thing to do is to get this fire going. Will you go get a little firewood? We don’t need a lot, just an armful.”
            “I’ll do it!” said Uncle Bob, happy to be doing anything at all that might help.
            Uncle Bob and Suzy didn’t have logs around their fireplace yet, so Ralph sat down on the ground near enough to Auntie Suzy to talk to  her.
            There was a little bit of firewood nearby, so Ralph picked up a piece of dry deadfall and began stirring around in the coals, which of course brightened them up. The light from the small flames flickered.
            Suzy’s brown eyes opened. She watched the small flames silently. She took a deep breath.
            “Hi, Suzy. Bob went off to get some more firewood,” said Ralph.
            “Bob,” she said.
            “Yeah, my old friend, Bob,” Ralph chuckled. The fire brightened a bit more.
            “Hey Suzy, when was everything the best?” said Ralph. “The best you can remember?”
            “Mama,” Suzy whispered. Then she smiled.
            Uncle Bob returned, all out of breath, with an armful of broken dry branches.
            Maeve appeared about then to join the group around the awakening fire. At first, she sat on Ralph’s shoulder as always before.
            “Say, Bob,” said Ralph, “why don’t you go ahead and feed the fire?” So Uncle Bob sat down on the ground next to Ralph and started feeding pieces of wood into the fire. The yellow flames flickered and rose into the air a foot or so. The smell of burning fir resin filled the air. There was some nice smelling smoke too. A breeze shooed it away though, so the air was clear again.
            Auntie Suzy rose up on her elbow, watching the flames. They reflected in her bright brown eyes as she looked long into the fire.
            “It’s always love that we remember best, isn’t it?” said Ralph.
            “Yes,” sighed Suzy. “My mama, my sisters, my father. And he, my children’s father.”
            Maeve sat down beside Suzy, making some nice comforting raven gurgles.
            “Hi, Maeve,” said Suzy.
            Suzy sat up then, looking around at the group and especially Uncle Bob, who was kind of poking pieces of wood into her fire in an awkward way.
            “Was I asleep?” she said. “I don’t usually take naps. That must be why the fire nearly died! Oh dear! Bob, let me help you!”
            So, Auntie Suzy got up and went to Uncle Bob, gently taking over the job of building up the fire. She showed no sign of anything being amiss at all.
            “Oh, soon it will be time to make dinner. Ralph would you and Maeve like to stay and eat with us?” Suzy stood with her hands on her hips with a smile on her face.
            “Not today, Suzy. Ramona will be expecting us at home. But one day soon, and you two are always welcome at our fire too,” said Ralph.
            “Alright, Ralph. Thanks for stopping by. I’m sorry I was asleep,” she said. “I’ll just be busy and make dinner for Bob then!” 
            “I’m glad you came down and talked to me, Bob. It was very good to see you,” said Ralph to his old friend, who was gazing at Suzy.
            “OK, Ralphie!” said Bob. “See you soon!” But he was still looking at Auntie Suzy.
            “Come on, Maevie. Let’s go see what’s going on at home,” said Ralph. “I’m beginning to feel like dinner time is just about now!”

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