Tracie Peterson (39 page)

In the distance she could hear the clang of the fire bells.
How sad,
she thought,
that someone would suffer through the cold of the night while fire consumed their home or shop.
She instantly asked God to put out the blaze and keep the unknown folks from harm. New York seemed always to suffer with fires and Darlene couldn’t help but wonder if Pierce’s Chicago would be any different.

Pierce!
The very thought of Pierce Blackwell caused her to tremble. Always before she’d been hesitant to dream of the words he’d told her. “I love you,” he’d said and Darlene had pushed them aside knowing that a Jew could never marry a Christian.
But now we share faith in Christ,
she thought, and a smile broke across her painfully cold face. Just as quickly as it had come, however, it faded.
I’m still poor and unworthy of his social standing. Nothing can change that.

She knocked on the door of Esther’s tiny house and waited for some reply. After several minutes of stomping her boots to keep her feet from freezing, Darlene was happy to see the old woman peek from behind her curtained window.

“Hava!”
Esther exclaimed, opening the door, “You should not have come out. The pot could wait until tomorrow.”

“I know,” Darlene said, coming into the house. She waited for Esther to close the door and take the pot before continuing. “I wanted to talk to you for a moment. I wanted to apologize for my attitude earlier.”

Esther had just returned from her kitchen and the look upon her face was one of surprise. “You have changed your mind? You will live with me now?”

Darlene shook her head. “No, I didn’t change my mind about that. Look,” she hesitated, knowing that her words would not be well received. “I know you’ve worried about Tateh ever since he accepted the Christian Jesus as Messiah, but Esther, there are things you do not know. Things that I myself do not know, but am trying hard to understand. Tateh told me that Jesus didn’t come to cancel out the laws of Moses, but to fulfill them. He said if we do the things Jesus commanded, we will still be keeping the laws.”

“Feh!” Esther said indignantly. “Jesus commanded! What right does He have to command anything?”

“Because He’s Messiah. He’s God’s Son and God sent Him into the world to save us from our sins!”

“Oy vey!”
Esther said and pulled at her hair. “You haven’t allowed such talk to fill your head, have you?”

Darlene smiled. “No, it’s filled my heart. Oh, Esther, you must listen to me.” She reached out and held the old woman’s hand. “I know how hard this is for you. It was hard for me as well. I listened to the things Tateh said, I worried about his standing in the community and whether or not his friends would desert him, but God’s peace is upon him. You don’t understand and I’m not very good at explaining it. Tateh is very sick, but he’s not afraid. God has given him great peace through Jesus. And He’s given me the same peace.”

Esther’s face registered understanding. “Get out of my house. You and your father are dead to me from this moment on.” She jerked her hand away and opened the door.

Darlene moved to the door, but turned back. “Please, Esther. We’ve been good friends all these years.”

Her pleading fell on deaf ears. It was just as it might have been months ago had someone tried to talk to her about Jesus. No, that wasn’t true. Because the words Pierce and her father had shared caused Darlene to think and ponder them over and over. She had been angry about them and rejected them as truth, but she always listened and later reflected. All she could do was hope that Esther would do likewise.

“I’ll go, but I’ll also pray for you.”

The clang of fire bells suddenly grew louder and from somewhere in the darkness came shouts and screaming. Darlene looked up and even Esther came outside to see what might be the problem. Gazing up one way, Darlene saw nothing but the occasional glow of lamplight shining through the windows and a street lamp here and there. Turning, however, to look down the street from where she’d only come moments before, Darlene cried out, putting her hand to her mouth at the sight of bright orange and yellow flames. The wharves were on fire!

“Tateh!” Darlene rushed down the street, mindless of Esther’s cries that she not go. Her father would be in danger and far too weak to move even if he was aware of the fire. She ran as fast as her legs would carry her, but the cold had made her stiff and with each step her feet felt like a million pins and needles were pricking them.

She was appalled to see the flames grow brighter. The fire was less than a half block from her shop. The heat was already warming her and thick black smoke was choking out her breath. A crowd had started to gather on the street and Darlene was startled when a policeman grabbed her.

“There, there. You can’t be going in!” he declared.

“I have to. My father is in there.” She pointed to the building, now only a block away.

“You can’t go in. Leave the rescues to the fire department. Besides, I’m sure your papa will have seen the fire by now and made his way out.”

“No, you don’t understand. He’s very sick.” She wrenched away from him, but saw he wasn’t about to let her pass. Just then a group of rowdies could be seen down the block breaking out the glass window of a shop and stealing what they could take.

The policeman called out for them to halt, and the distraction was enough to allow Darlene time to slip down the alley and make her way to the back door of the shop. Thick smoke poured down the alleyway as though it were being sucked through the narrow channels by some unseen force. Darlene buried her face in the fur of her collar and felt her way along the buildings. Stumbling over trash and other abandoned articles, Darlene finally reached the shop and turned the handle. The door didn’t budge. It was locked!

“Of course it’s locked,” she muttered. She pushed up against it, but it refused to give. She ran at it, thrusting her shoulder against the door, but while it bowed ever-so-slightly, it wouldn’t give in and only managed to cause Darlene a great deal of pain. She would have to gain entrance by going through the front, but how?

The smoke was most caustic now and she began to cough. Her eyes were burning fiercely and she knew there was no time to waste. She would go back to the front and if anyone tried to stop her, she would fight them any way she could.

Retracing her steps, Darlene found that the crowd had grown larger and that the policeman was now moving them even further up the street. He had been joined by three other members of his profession and no one seemed to notice Darlene as she slipped through the shadows and into the shop.

Panting, she slammed the door shut behind her. Inside, the smoke was not as bad, and with the light of the flames growing ever brighter, Darlene didn’t even need a lamp to make her way up the stairs.

Still coughing, she choked out her father’s name and hurried up the steps. She thought to grab some of their most precious articles and instantly reached up to take the
mezuzah
from the kitchen door. She tucked this into her coat pocket and for some reason thought of Pierce’s valentine. She ran to her room, but just then a tremendous boom rattled the very floorboards beneath her feet. It sounded like a building collapsing, and instantly Darlene forgot about gathering up anything else and went to get her father. She had already formed a plan in her mind. She would help him from the bed and once they were downstairs and outside she would call those ever-efficient policemen and get them to help her carry her father to safety.

“Tateh!” she exclaimed, hurrying into the room. “Tateh, there’s a fire. It’s got the entire Old Slip in flames. Come, we must hurry!” She pulled back the covers and went to get her father’s coat.

Abraham remained silent and still. Darlene shook him hard. “Tateh, wake up.”

And then, without waiting for any sign that he had heard her, Darlene suddenly knew that he was gone. “No!” she screamed into the smoky night air. “No!” She threw herself across his body and cradled him against her. “Don’t die. Please don’t die.”

But it was too late. Abraham Lewy was dead.

The sound of bells and firemen mingled with breaking glass and the shouts of desperate people. There was no time for mourning, and though Darlene felt as though a part of her heart died with her father, self-preservation took over and she suddenly knew that she must hurry or perish in the fire.

Unable to consider leaving her father to be consumed by the flames, Darlene pulled his cover to the floor, then rolled his body off the bed and onto the cover. It wasn’t an easy process, for even though her father had lost a great deal of weight, Darlene wasn’t very big.

“Oh God,” she prayed aloud, choking against the thickening smoke. “God, help me please. I believe You have watched over me this far. I believe you have taken Tateh to Your care, but I don’t want to leave him here. Please help me!”

She struggled against the weight of her father and placed him in such a way that she could pull him along on the cover. How she would ever make it down the stairs without losing control of the body, she had no idea. But she was determined to try.

Pausing at the landing to draw her breath, Darlene screamed when hands reached out to close around her arm.

“It’s me, Darlene.”

“Pierce?”

“Yes, come on. I’ve got to get you to safety. Where’s your father?”

“He’s dead,” she said, so matter-of-factly that it sounded unreal in her ears.

“Dead?”

“Yes, he’s here on the floor. I have him on his cover and I was taking him out of the building.” Her mind seemed unable to accept that Pierce had come. “Are you really here?” she asked suddenly.

Pierce laughed, but it was a very short, nervous laugh. “Yes, I’m really here. Now come on.” He reached down and hoisted Abraham to his shoulder. “The building next door is already in flames. We’ll have to hurry or we’ll never get out in time.” He coughed and gasped for air and this seemed to open Darlene’s senses to the gravity of their situation.

“Hurry,” she called over her shoulder, making her way down the stairs. She had just reached the bottom when the east wall of the shop burst into flames. It lit up the smoky room and instantly ate up the dry wood of the shelves.

“We’ll have to go out the back way!” she yelled above the roar of the fire. Pierce nodded, and pushed her forward.

“Hurry up,” he said. “Hurry or we’ll die!”

Darlene pushed through the putrid smoke as if trying to cut a way through to the back room. There was no way to see in the smoke now, and suddenly she grew frightened wondering if Pierce was still behind her. There was no breath to be wasted on words, however, and all she could do was pray that God would allow them both to find their way.

Flailing her arms before her, Darlene finally hit the wall of the back room and then the door. She fumbled with the latch and slid back the lock. Pulling the door open only brought in more smoke and by now her head was growing light from the lack of oxygen. She felt dizzy and wondered if she could possibly make it another step. Slumping against the door frame, she was startled when Pierce pushed her through. He seemed to have the strength of ten men as he pulled her along the alleyway.

Hazy images filtered through Darlene’s confusion. She knew they were in danger, but now, gasping for each breath, she couldn’t imagine that anything mattered as much as fresh air. She wondered where they were going. Her mind played tricks on her and she became convinced that if she could just rest for a few moments, all would be well.

They had reached the front of the building and now the entire shop was in flames. Darlene still felt Pierce’s iron-clad grip on her wrist, but her legs were growing leaden. She turned to see the walls of her home collapse and knew that the end of her world had come.

“My valentine!” she cried, suddenly trying to jerk away from Pierce.

“What?”

The air was only marginally better here, but Darlene felt her senses revitalized. “My valentine, the one you gave me!”

“I’ll buy you a hundred others. You can’t go back now; the place is completely destroyed.” He pulled her along and made his way down the block to where he had hidden his buggy.
Thank you, God,
he offered in silent prayer. His one consuming worry had been that someone would find the landau and steal it for their own transportation.

Putting Abraham in the back, Pierce grabbed up several blankets and pulled Darlene to the driver’s seat with him. He tucked blankets around them and then urged the nervous horses forward.

They made their way down the alley and side streets until they’d reached Wall Street. From here they could see the bright flames and eerie glow in the night sky, but the air was clean and only marginally scented with smoke.

“I don’t even know if Esther made it out,” Darlene suddenly murmured.

“But you’re safe.” Pierce put his arm around her shoulder and pulled her close. “I was so afraid I’d lose you.”

Darlene looked up at him. The landau lantern swung lightly in the breeze, making a play of sending out shadowy light to fall back and forth across their faces. “My father is dead.” She said it as though Pierce could possibly have forgotten.

“I know,” he answered. “I’m so very sorry, Darlene.” He pulled her closer and wrapped his arms around her very tightly.

Crowds of people were lining the streets and as some went running to help with the fire, others were struggling to carry possessions to safety.

“The fire’s comin’ this-a-way!” a man yelled out and encouraged people to flee.

“Nothing will be left,” Darlene said softly. She lay her face against the coarse wool of Pierce’s coat. “I have nothing now.”

“You have me,” he whispered. “You’ve always had me.”

Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light.
E
PHESIANS
5:14

D
arlene’s first waking moment was filled with panic. She had no idea where she was and the thought filled her with a consuming urgency. Sitting up abruptly, she looked around the room and found nothing that she could recognize. Early dawn light filtered through the gossamer-like curtains and gave the room only a hint of the day to come.