Read Online Black Helicopters by Blythe Woolston - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Blythe Woolston
Ads: Link
bandage Bo is holding near his chest. I should change the gauze. It’s been a while since he had pills, and it must have hurt while he was driving.
“Sit you down here,” Captain Nichols says, and he pulls out the chair with wheels so I can sit down at the computer. The keys are dirty with the filth of the Captain’s fingers. When I touch it, the keyboard feels different than the laptop. It’s bigger, and I don’t know how to move the cursor. I don’t know how to click.
“Here,” says Captain Nichols. And he puts my hand on a lump beside the keyboard. “Use the mouse.” His hand swallows mine up. He pushes down and clicks, double-clicks. He moves the cursor. He moves my hand. His fingers are blunt. His thumb is wide and thick as a hammer handle.
“Like that,” says Captain Nichols. “You got it?”
I make the cursor arrow move across the page and turn into a pointing finger hand sitting right in the middle of the picture of the flames at the Willow Gulch cabin fire. The picture fills the screen and the video starts to play:
“Thanks for watching this evening. Leading our news, explosions complicated fighting a fire at a residence on Willow Gulch Road. Anna Frank files this report.”
“They knew the cabin was a complete loss immediately. . . .”
There are pictures of smoke from a distance, the way we saw it. Pictures of our home, still full of fire. Pictures of the back door resting sideways against a tree. Some guy in a white shirt is talking. “It was a complete loss. When the first unit arrived on the scene, the house was fully involved with fire and it partially collapsed while we were walking up there.”
The girl is talking again, she says:
“According to Chief Borglund, there were several loud explosions shortly after they arrived. The blasts blew this debris around the cabin.” The pictures of the back door against the tree are there while the girl says, “The explosions may have been caused by propane tanks inside the structure. There were no serious injuries to civilians or firefighters responding at the scene. Water from a nearby creek was pumped and used to extinguish the fire. Chief Borglund says the fire marshal is conducting an investigation, but at this time it’s being deemed accidental. He says that the cabin may have been occupied, but declined to give further details at this time. Back to you, Sonia.”
And the film freezes again, on the picture of the flames.
“Look here,” said Captain Nichols. “Click on this.” He points at another link on the page.
Fire officials said the blaze at a Willow Gulch cabin was “suspicious” but did not identify a cause. Human remains believed to be those of the owner-occupant were recovered. Authorities did not release his name because they had not been able to contact his relatives. Pending investigation, the area is cordoned, but a neighbor reported the structure was “leveled to the ground.” Another resident who had been on the scene said, “Black as that smoke was, you could tell some bad stuff was burning. It smelled bad,
chemical
bad, there’s no question about that. Maybe that place was built of railroad ties or something. Never been in there. He lived there alone. He never bothered us, and we never bothered him.”
Authorities have tentatively identified the body recovered at a fire in the Willow Gulch as cabin owner Dalton J. White, 42. Darryl Barbrady, chief forensic investigator at the medical examiner’s office speculated White died of smoke inhalation. The body remains at the state crime lab in Missoula. Barbrady said that the structure’s complete destruction might make it difficult to pinpoint a cause of death. Barbrady added that whatever sparked the blast might never be determined either, but fire officials are investigating.
“Da’s dead.” I say.
“That’s what Those People say,” says Captain Nichols. “But yeah, that’s what you got to go on. If he ain’t dead, he might as well be. They got
“Sit you down here,” Captain Nichols says, and he pulls out the chair with wheels so I can sit down at the computer. The keys are dirty with the filth of the Captain’s fingers. When I touch it, the keyboard feels different than the laptop. It’s bigger, and I don’t know how to move the cursor. I don’t know how to click.
“Here,” says Captain Nichols. And he puts my hand on a lump beside the keyboard. “Use the mouse.” His hand swallows mine up. He pushes down and clicks, double-clicks. He moves the cursor. He moves my hand. His fingers are blunt. His thumb is wide and thick as a hammer handle.
“Like that,” says Captain Nichols. “You got it?”
I make the cursor arrow move across the page and turn into a pointing finger hand sitting right in the middle of the picture of the flames at the Willow Gulch cabin fire. The picture fills the screen and the video starts to play:
“Thanks for watching this evening. Leading our news, explosions complicated fighting a fire at a residence on Willow Gulch Road. Anna Frank files this report.”
“They knew the cabin was a complete loss immediately. . . .”
There are pictures of smoke from a distance, the way we saw it. Pictures of our home, still full of fire. Pictures of the back door resting sideways against a tree. Some guy in a white shirt is talking. “It was a complete loss. When the first unit arrived on the scene, the house was fully involved with fire and it partially collapsed while we were walking up there.”
The girl is talking again, she says:
“According to Chief Borglund, there were several loud explosions shortly after they arrived. The blasts blew this debris around the cabin.” The pictures of the back door against the tree are there while the girl says, “The explosions may have been caused by propane tanks inside the structure. There were no serious injuries to civilians or firefighters responding at the scene. Water from a nearby creek was pumped and used to extinguish the fire. Chief Borglund says the fire marshal is conducting an investigation, but at this time it’s being deemed accidental. He says that the cabin may have been occupied, but declined to give further details at this time. Back to you, Sonia.”
And the film freezes again, on the picture of the flames.
“Look here,” said Captain Nichols. “Click on this.” He points at another link on the page.
Fire officials said the blaze at a Willow Gulch cabin was “suspicious” but did not identify a cause. Human remains believed to be those of the owner-occupant were recovered. Authorities did not release his name because they had not been able to contact his relatives. Pending investigation, the area is cordoned, but a neighbor reported the structure was “leveled to the ground.” Another resident who had been on the scene said, “Black as that smoke was, you could tell some bad stuff was burning. It smelled bad,
chemical
bad, there’s no question about that. Maybe that place was built of railroad ties or something. Never been in there. He lived there alone. He never bothered us, and we never bothered him.”
Authorities have tentatively identified the body recovered at a fire in the Willow Gulch as cabin owner Dalton J. White, 42. Darryl Barbrady, chief forensic investigator at the medical examiner’s office speculated White died of smoke inhalation. The body remains at the state crime lab in Missoula. Barbrady said that the structure’s complete destruction might make it difficult to pinpoint a cause of death. Barbrady added that whatever sparked the blast might never be determined either, but fire officials are investigating.
“Da’s dead.” I say.
“That’s what Those People say,” says Captain Nichols. “But yeah, that’s what you got to go on. If he ain’t dead, he might as well be. They got
Similar Books
