Chapter 5

Thursday we were up and on our way after a quick breakfast. It would be a long day. As we went across Route 40 that day I pointed out sites from my summer vacation. Where the sheriff had stopped me in Urbana, the parade route followed in Springfield, spots I had slept in fields along the way. Denny and Eddie really paid attention to all this. I don’t think my trip seemed real to them until I was able to show where I had been.

Of course, we counted cows along the way. You lost your count when you passed a cemetery. Since Eddie and Mary were in the middle it was decided by Mum that Mary lost her count for any on the left and Eddie on the right.

That would give either Mary and Denny the same count or Eddie and I. That would be decided by each of us having a bonus spot. Mine was a firehouse. Denny’s a high school, Eddie a grade school and Mary a service station. I think Mum stacked the deck for Mary.

We stopped for lunch in Indianapolis at a new hamburger chain by the name of McDonald’s. Their burgers were pretty good with their special sauce. It is a shame they didn’t have any indoor seating. We were really ready to get out of the car by then.

We did stop at a Sinclair gas station where a kid-filled the gas tank, checked the air in the tires, added a quart of oil and cleaned the windows. We all used the restrooms there. Dad paid and gave a quarter as a tip. Mum thought this was too much but didn’t make a big deal of it.

We made it to Vincennes at around three o’clock. It had been a long day and we still had a ways to go. I noticed a war memorial at the courthouse. It was one of the tallest ones I had seen outside of a large city like Columbus or Indianapolis. We were just passed it when Dad had to stop for a pedestrian in a crosswalk.

As we stopped I looked to my right. I was sitting behind Mum on her side of the car. Looking up slightly I saw smoke pouring out of a partially open window.

“Dad, stop the car there is a fire!”

I exited our car as quickly as I could. I checked out what was in front of me. There was a jewelry store that was open and a doorway that appeared to open to stairs that went to the apartments above the store.

Eddie had got out behind me. I gave him the change in my pocket and pointed him towards a payphone on the corner.

“Call the fire department. Tell them you are across from the courthouse.”

He ran off. Denny had followed Eddie out of the car.

“Get the people out of the store.”

I ran over to the door that appeared to open to a staircase. It did and I ran up the stairs two steps at a time. There were two doors that opened to rooms over the jewelry store. I laid my hand on the first door. It was hot. The paint on the outside of the door was starting to bubble.

I ran to the next door and pounded on it. No one answered immediately, so I pounded even harder and shook the doorknob. The door came open and a young lady with an infant in her arms was standing there. I didn’t give her a chance to say anything,

“There is a fire and we have to get out.”

I started to pull her out the door.

She said, “Wait for my daughter.”

I rushed into the apartment; there was a three-year-old watching TV. I grabbed her and ran for the door. The mother had already started down the hall after she saw I had the girl. I could see smoke coming from the other door. It was about to burn through.

I took running strides and passed the door. As we were about halfway down the stairs there was a loud roar as the fire came through the door and had new oxygen available. We came out of the building and ran across the street. Dad had pulled the car around parked on the other side. He was just getting out. The whole incident would take longer to tell than it took me to go up and down those stairs.

We came to a stop in the car. The young woman looked like she didn’t understand what was happening. It must have been a shock. A stranger almost drags you out of your home and it explodes in flame.

The three-year-old I was still holding wanted her Mommy and wanted her now! Mum took the infant and the young lady picked up her daughter. We could hear the sirens as the fire trucks approached.

Denny came up and reported, “I cleared the store. There was an old man in the back who didn’t believe me so I carried him out.”

That made me do a double-take as I realized my middle brother was not so little anymore.

Eddie told me, “I called the fireman as you wanted. Can I keep the rest of the change?”

A police car came screaming up to the fire. Lights, sirens, and tires squealing, when the cop hit the brakes I didn’t know if he could stop or not. He stopped jumped out of his cruiser and looked around. He saw us and ran towards us. The young lady ran to him. From the way, they hugged I figured out they were married.