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Diane, Matt and Charlie

Charlie Hopkins
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Dutcher Dock around midnight.
The Big Picture

I know, it seems all we do is vacation.

Both photographs taken by Diane.

“What’s that?” Diane asked. We awoke to two pulsing, piercing sounds. At first I thought, construction equipment. Then it dawned.

“It’s the fire alarm.” Naked, I stumbled to our bedroom door, not yet conscious enough to dread what might be on the other side. I opened it to see the hallway filled with smoke. Matt’s bedroom, normally sealed like a bank vault behind a closed door, was nothing but smoke. I felt like a threatened reptile. “Fire, Get Out,” I screamed.

From downstairs, Matt’s voice, “Dad, I’ve got it covered.” Immediately, my lizard brain switched from call 911, grab the G5 and run, to, it’s all gonna be okay. Matt is safe and alive, and he’s in control, as he had been when he dodged the panel truck in his BMW. That single answer, in spite of what appeared to be our house burning down, soothed me.

Diane followed me out of the bedroom, ran downstairs and outside to see Drew, transfixed by the mattress bonfire. I felt my way into Matt’s bedroom and climbed up his ladder to the loft. The carpet glowed like pine needles caught just outside a campfire ring, and his down comforter, in flames, beckoned for marshmallows. I grabbed the burning blanket and as Matt entered the room, I threw it down at him and screamed, “I thought you had it covered!”

Matt flew down the stairs with the feathers on fire, and out the front door. Later that morning, I’ll follow those feathers thinking a coyote must have caught a goose and dragged it to our backyard. Later that night, we’ll have dinner with Matt and Joe and I’ll ask Matt, “What did you mean by ëI have it covered?’ To me, that meant everything’s okay, don’t call the fire department, I’ve got it under control. “

“No, dad. I think I meant that we’re down here with the mattress, and the house is on fire.”

Addendum:

I’ve fantasized about saving lives all of my life. I never have. In fact, I may have helped some along to the other side. Matthew, who appears all too grounded in reality, may have saved Drew’s, his, and ours in that order.

I made this little movie using Rakkity’s x-rays. If you need a slower, closer look, have a gander at this.

After the fire burned through the mattress.

Name that bird.

At 3:10 this morning, Diane and I awoke to the sound of two screeching fire alarms, an entire house full of smoke, and Matt’s room so thick with it you couldn’t see his bed. As I screamed, “Fire, Get Out, “ Matt hollered from downstairs, “We’ve got it covered.”

What happened?

The in-house fire reconstruction team determined that Matt’s friend, sleeping in Matt’s loft, knocked over an incandescent light which caused the mattress fire, which woke up Matt, who along with his friend, raced downstairs with the mattress, which by the time they hit the yard, was fully engulfed.

Little did they know that the down comforter was also on fire, still in the loft.

Had it not been three in the morning, I am certain we would have called the fire department immediately, not after we’d put out the fires and tidied up.

Even the men from our local fire department were impressed with this sight. One muscular guy with a Fu Manchu suggested sending the back pack back to LL Bean. “Lifetime unconditional warranty,” he said.
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School Photo

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Yesterday, the weather in Acton: “feels like” 102. Evansville : 100.

“Someone Tell the President the War Is Over”