Read Online Ash Road by Ivan Southall - Free Book Online Page A

fellas’ll put it out.’
    â€˜Putting out fires isn’t easy on a day like this.’
    â€˜You ever seen a fire?’ said Stevie, with a faint touch of superiority.
    â€˜No.’
    â€˜Well, I have. They put them out real easy. It’s fun.’
    â€˜That’s not what Gran says,’ said Peter. ‘I’ve got to go home, back to town.’
    â€˜We’re going to the beach,’ said Stevie.
    â€˜Are you
still
going?’
    Stevie looked surprised. ‘Course we are. Why not?’
    â€˜Well, the fire and everything. Isn’t your dad afraid something’ll happen?’
    Stevie was disgusted. ‘Only scaredy-cats are afraid of fire.’
    â€˜I’m not afraid,’ said Peter.
    â€˜Then what are you going home for?’
    â€˜Gran says I’ve got to.’
    â€˜Go home ’cos of a
fire?
Gee whiz. Do they think you’re a girl or somethin’?’
    The enormity of the thought suddenly appalled Stevie, and it struck at Peter like a slap in the face. In a moment Stevie realized that he was peering over the top of the gate at an empty veranda. The slamming door left Peter’s departure in no doubt. ‘How do you like that?’ said Stevie. He thought it over, but couldn’t make sense of it; so he skipped on homewards until he broke into a run.
    â€˜Do you know what?’ he said, bursting in on his parents, ‘Peter’s got to go home ’cos of the fire. That old Gran of his says he’s got to go home.’
    â€˜Now wait a minute, wait a minute...’ said his father. He was squatting on his haunches, mopping up water with a towel and wringing it out into a bucket. Stevie’s mother was still in her dressing-gown, still strained-looking. Though Stevie didn’t realize it, his mother and father had been having
words.
    â€˜What’s all this about?’ Mr Buckingham said. ‘The fire’s so far away that no one can see it...Isn’t it?’ he asked, looking sharply at Stevie.
    â€˜Miles,’ said Stevie. ‘Miles and miles. Way on the other side of the mountains. Fancy makin’ him go home!’
    â€˜Obviously,’ said Mrs Buckingham, ‘the Fairhalls know more about the fire than we do.’
    â€˜How could they?’ barked her husband. ‘We’ve got the phone on; they haven’t. You’ve heard what the boy said. And you know what Bill Robertson said.’
    â€˜I still want to know why the sirens went. If there’s no danger, why sound the warning?’
    â€˜For heaven’s sake, woman, I’ve told you. If there’s a fire you put every available man on to it to get it out. If there’s a brigade doing nothing in an area where there’s no danger, you pull that brigade in, too. It’s common sense. Our boys have gone to give them a hand, because they’re not needed here.’
    â€˜That’s what you say, but I haven’t heard it from anyone else. It comes too easy for my liking. With this wind blowing, it would be reckless to consider going away until we know that the fire is well and truly out. Now, the Fairhalls—’
    â€˜Since when have we set a course by the Fairhalls? You know what they’re like with that boy. They’ll ruin him...Look, if it’ll make you feel any better, we’ll both get in the car and drive up to the top of the hill and see for ourselves. That’s what we should have done in the first place.’
    Her shoulders drooped. She didn’t like arguing in front of Stevie, and she didn’t want him to see that she was frightened.
    It was Pippa who turned their thoughts in another direction. Her face, flushed and panting, appeared suddenly pressed against the screen door to the kitchen. ‘Dad,’ she cried. ‘I can’t find Julie.’
    â€˜Oh, for heaven’s sake!’ Mr Buckingham threw the towel to the floor and straightened up with a hand pressed to