Afternoon Smoke

 Holding the sleeping infant on her shoulder, she

gazed peacefully at her surroundings. Tourists
wandered in and out of stores, an old man was
setting up his easel by the lakeshore, and a
child's balloon escaped into the breeze. A
moment later, she looked up as shouts startled
her and the baby. Everybody was running in
her direction..

"Fire! Fire! Fire!", called a man as he ran past her.

More people ran past, and they were mumbling about a fire

as well. Hairs stood up on the back of Amanda's neck....the hotel 

was in that direction, but surely it wasn't on fire, surely not!

She craned her neck in that direction, trying to see some sign

of smoke or fire. 

She grabbed her cell phone and started dialing David's number, but before she pushed send she stopped. Suppose the hotel wasn't on fire and she'd just interrupted his nap for nothing..... better safe than sorry, she decided, and pushed the dial button. It rang but there was no answer, and the call went to voice mail. 

"Dave, it's Mandy.....the baby and I are in town and there's rumors of a fire in the area of the hotel. Just making sure everything was alright. Call me when you get this.....Love you....", she said, elbowing her way through the crowd with the baby.

As she went down the street the hotel was on,  it became smoky, the smoke burned her eyes. She covered the baby's face with his blanket and wondered about the advisability of taking him into the smoke, but she had to make sure Dave was alright. 

Panic began to rise in her as the smoke grew thicker, and she neared the hotel. Each person that passed she checked to make sure it wasn't Dave, as though she expected him to suddenly materialize in front of her.

The hotel!  It WAS the hotel that was on fire! Mandy could see the flames now, and the baby began to cry as she began to run towards the building, unmindful of the hands trying to stop her, to hold her back.... her only thought now was of Dave....had he gotten out??

Mandy was so distraught she didn't hear her name being called in the crowd. She stood there watching the flames, her arms wrapped around the baby......

"Mandy! M-a-n-d-y!!!!!! Hey, Mandy, I thought I'd never get to you in the crowd.", Dave said as he trotted towards  her, patting her hand lightly.

"Are you ok honey? You seem.....distracted.I got all of our things out of the room in time."

"Dave.....oh, Dave! You're safe! That's all that matters....", she told him.

"Let's get the baby out of this smoke. Come on.", Dave said, as they began to walk away from the hotel, and towards where their car was parked. "Our things are loaded into the car and ready to go, since we'll be in the market for a new hotel......but first, I think a nice dinner is in order.....something Italian, with wine....."