The Second Heart (2 page)

Sensing she was a topic of conversation, Vi
looked at both of them and made a face. “She says it’ll be at least
an hour before any fire trucks can get here.”

Meredith left them there and went back around
to the front of the building. She could see flames in the windows
of Josh’s apartment. Their downstairs neighbors stood outside,
looking up at the fire. One set of neighbors was an older couple,
clutching a small, fluffy dog. The others were a mom and her two
teenaged children, who stood there bleary-eyed in their
pajamas.

“Is everyone out of both apartments?”
Meredith asked.

They nodded sleepily.

“Good. We’ve been on the phone with 911 and
they said that the firefighters are swamped right now and can’t get
here for a while. We need to find some hoses and try to get
everything wet to keep this fire from spreading. But we need to be
safe first, so don’t go back inside for any reason.”

After a bit more verbal prodding from
Meredith, her neighbors swung into action. The older gentleman
found some hoses in the landscaper’s shed while the teenagers went
to the other buildings in the complex to alert the neighbors to the
situation. The woman with the dog went to the apartment management
office. Soon, their building looked like a beehive of activity as
neighbors hosed down the walls and worked to contain the fire.

Against Meredith’s warnings, a couple of hot
shot bodybuilders who lived in another building kicked down the
door of Josh’s apartment and got a blast of flames to the face.
After the initial surge however, the fire eased back and they were
able to point hoses through the door and onto the flames.

By the time the firefighters arrived on the
scene, the fire was out, but it was several hours before they were
allowed to go back into their apartment. Meredith and Vi helped
Josh hobble around the building to relax on the grass under a tree
while they waited.

Because he didn’t have health insurance, Josh
refused to be seen by the paramedics that had arrived with the
firemen. “I’ll drive myself to the E.R. later,” he explained.
“Ambulances are only worth it when you’re bleeding to death. I’m
fine.”

As they sat on the grass, Meredith noticed
that Vi looked antsy. She obviously wanted to talk about something,
but didn’t feel comfortable doing so in front of Josh. Meredith
wondered if it had something to do with Vi’s rough night the
previous evening. Vi’s reticence in front of their neighbor didn’t
deter her from flirting with him, however. They were obviously very
interested in each other. The drummer was yesterday’s news,
Meredith supposed.

At last, one of the firefighters walked over
to the trio and said to Josh, “We’ve pinpointed the origin of the
fire in your home, sir. It appears to have started with a lava lamp
next to the TV.”

Vi raised her eyebrows and snickered. “A lava
lamp?”

Josh blushed.

Meredith laughed and said with mock
sincerity, “Go easy on him, Vi. Lava lamps have graced many a
bachelor pad since the seventies. They are the height of male
decor.” She felt almost giddy after the stress of the morning.

The firefighter shifted his weight
impatiently and continued, “The fire was localized to the area just
inside the front door, and the damage is pretty superficial. It’s
gonna smell pretty bad, but it’s safe to go back in.”

Meredith stood up. “I’ll go get my keys so we
can take Josh to the hospital.”

“I can take myself,” Josh insisted.

Vi rolled her eyes. “Yeah, right.” Rising to
her feet, she added, “I can take him. I know you have tons of stuff
to do today.” She gave Meredith a pointed look and glanced
meaningfully down at Josh, who was still resting with his back
against the tree.

Meredith shrugged. “Suit yourself. Hope your
leg feels better, Josh.”

Even though they had only been out of their
apartment for a few hours, Meredith felt like she was re-entering
it after being away for months. The acrid smell of damp smoke
filled her nostrils as she quickly began opening every window she
could. Aside from the smell, however, the apartment appeared
undamaged.

Vi followed Meredith down the hall to her
bedroom as Meredith went to open the windows. “Mere, I have to talk
to you about something that happened last night. This is too weird
not to tell you.”

Meredith stopped what she was doing and faced
Vi expectantly.

Vi chose her words carefully as she
continued, “Last night I met up with these Wicca chicks that I
know, and we decided to mess around.”

Meredith suppressed an eye roll. As much as
she adored Vi, this was one side of her that Meredith felt Vi could
do without. “Oh, did you contact Elvis for a serenade?” she
teased.

Vi reached out and grasped both of Meredith’s
arms gently, her eyes penetrating. “Something happened. I mean,
I’ll admit it, most of the time we just light a bunch of candles
and drink a bunch of wine and nothing really happens… but last
night, something
happened
.”

Something in Vi’s voice made the hair on
Meredith’s neck rise. She stared hard into Vi’s deep brown eyes.
“Okay, so what happened?”

Vi released Meredith’s arms and continued,
“Everything was going normally, when all of a sudden, all of the
candles flared up at the same time. Some of the curtains caught on
fire, and we had to get the hell out of there. We called 911, but
we had no idea how to explain how the fire started. Without the
flare up, none of the candles would have been close enough to the
curtains to set them on fire.”

“Are you sure?” A born skeptic, Meredith felt
that Vi might have been exaggerating. Meredith scrutinized Vi’s
face trying to judge her sincerity.

Vi rolled her eyes. “I know that look,
non-believer. I’m telling you, it happened. Dana’s apartment is
trashed.”

Meredith was silent for a moment, thinking
about Vi’s confession. She knew that these gatherings tended to
involve a lot of alcohol, but Vi usually held her liquor well.
Plus, Vi had never made any other similar assertion about the Wicca
stuff, so why would she start now?

“That is really weird,” Meredith conceded.
Then she continued, “There was a fire at the university this
morning, too. The paper said there have been fires across the U.S.,
and the feds suspect terrorism.”

“Whoa, really?”

“But it’s hard to believe that Josh would be
a target of terrorism.” Meredith said.

“Yeah, and that doesn’t explain what I saw
with the candles. I’m not making it up, Mere, I swear. It was like
the fire took on a mind of its own.” Vi glanced back down the
hallway. “I gotta go take Josh to the hospital. Let’s talk more
later, okay?”

Meredith nodded and impulsively reached out
and gave Vi a tight hug.

Vi chuckled and hugged back. “I love you,
too, kid.” Then she stepped away and disappeared down the hall.

Meredith
turned back into her room and retrieved the cell phone that had
been charging next to the bed. She had two missed calls, one from
her parents and one from Miguel. She suddenly felt very tired, as
the prospect of recounting the morning’s events to either her
parents or Miguel was overwhelming.

Instead, she quickly stripped off her pajamas
and walked into the bathroom to take a shower. She turned on the
light, grateful that the fire next door hadn’t deprived them of
power. Then she felt a flash of guilt as she realized that Josh had
lost so much, and all she was worrying about was whether the power
was still on.

She examined the hand that she had used to
pound on Josh’s door. The heel of her fist was a little red, and it
stung. She ran it under the cold tap, enjoying the feel of the
water running over her skin. Inspired, she turned the shower on and
stood under the cool stream. A Phoenix native, Meredith had always
enjoyed taking cold showers in the summer, feeling that taking a
hot shower in August was something akin to bathing in one’s own
sweat. Though it was October, and a little late in the year for
cold showers, the idea of a hot shower after being so close to a
fire was unappealing.

The water was refreshing and invigorating,
and Meredith felt her muscles relax as she allowed the water to
pour over her upturned face. She leisurely washed and conditioned
her long hair, relishing the feel of the cool water running through
the silky strands. After a while, she started to feel a chill and
turned off the water. She toweled off, looking at herself again in
the mirror. She still looked like roadkill, but at least she was
clean roadkill.

“Boys, please form an orderly queue to the
left,” she teased herself. Shrugging, she wrapped the towel around
herself and walked into her closet to get dressed. The smell of
smoke was stronger in here, and Meredith supposed it was probably
closer to the fire than her bedroom had been.

Methodically she began yanking clothing off
of the hangers to throw into the washing machine. She imagined that
every scrap of linen in the house would likely need to be washed.
Meredith snickered as she pictured Vi’s closet, which was bulging
with masses of halter tops, bustiers, mini skirts, and fashionably
distressed denim.

Still in her towel, Meredith carried an
armload of jeans and tee shirts down the hall to the laundry
closet. Just as she started the load, her stomach rumbled loudly.
Realizing the last thing she had eaten was the cereal hours before,
she soon found herself standing in front of the pantry looking in.
Both Meredith and Vi were sporadic shoppers at best, leaving
Meredith staring at a can of tomato paste, some uncooked rice, a
few cans of tuna, and the box of cereal. The pickings in the fridge
weren’t much better: milk, ketchup, pickles, and Vi’s three-day-old
Chinese takeout.

Closing the fridge, Meredith trotted back to
her room, and threw on a pair of jeans and a long sleeved shirt.
She grabbed her cell phone and dialed as she pulled on socks and
tennis shoes. Listening the ringing on the other end, Meredith
grabbed her purse from the hook on the back of her bedroom door and
rummaged around inside for her keys.

“Hello?”

When Meredith heard her mother’s voice, she
smiled. “Hey, Mom!”

“Oh! Hi, honey. I read about the fire at the
university in the paper and I wanted to check on you.” Amelia
Carpenter’s voice sounded concerned as she asked, “You weren’t on
campus, were you?”

“No. Believe it or not, I don’t actually
sleep there.” As Meredith talked, she left her apartment and locked
the door, heading for her car.

“Well, good.”

After a brief pause, Meredith said, “Are you
home? I was thinking about coming over for lunch since my classes
are cancelled.”

“I have a life, you know,” Amelia protested
jokingly. Meredith’s parents were retired, and they lived about ten
minutes from Meredith. Though they traveled frequently, they were
often available during the day when Meredith decided to drop by
between classes for some free food.

“So...? Are you home?” Meredith
persisted.

Amelia sighed audibly, though Meredith knew
she was smiling. “Yes.”

Meredith laughed. “Great! I’ll see you in a
few!”

Amelia chuckled and said, “Drive safely.”

As Meredith drove she had to pull over twice
to allow emergency vehicles to pass. It reminded her that things
were definitely not normal in the world. “What the hell is going
on?” she asked herself out loud as she pulled over for the second
fire truck. She waited for it to pass and then pulled back out into
the street. Traffic was lighter than usual; it seemed as if the
entire city, aside from rescue workers, had been shut down.

The sky had taken on an unusual brownish hue
that Meredith assumed was a result of all the fires that were
plaguing the city. That, combined with the emptier streets, gave
the atmosphere an eerie feel that made Meredith feel anxious to get
to her parents’ house. Fortunately, her trip passed without further
incident, and she was soon pulling into the Carpenters’
driveway.

The Carpenters lived in a ranch style four
bedroom on the side of one of the few hills in Phoenix. It had a
stucco exterior and a red tile roof, just like all the other houses
on the block. Unlike their neighbors, however, the Carpenters had a
lush garden, full of orange, purple, and yellow flowers, a mesquite
tree, and a few cacti and succulents. The garden was Amelia’s pride
and joy. The bright colors cheered Meredith as she locked her car
and walked around the garage to the front door.

Amelia immediately gave her daughter a big
hug. Then, “Oh my God! Sweetie! You smell like smoke.”

Meredith quickly explained what had happened
that morning.

“Thank God no one was seriously hurt,” Amelia
said, drawing Meredith into the house. “Why don’t you sleep here
tonight, baby? I’ll wash your clothes and we can watch a movie.
What do you say?”

It sounded absolutely wonderful. “Can Vi
come, too?”

Amelia smiled. “Of course! Now go find some
clothes to wear so I can wash what you’ve got on. You reek!”

Meredith walked through the living room
toward the bedrooms. The first bedroom on the left was set up as an
office, and Meredith poked her head in. “Hey, Dad.”

Robert Carpenter turned from the computer
screen while pulling off his reading glasses. He was in his early
sixties, with thinning strawberry blonde hair and blue eyes. He
wore an unbuttoned plaid flannel shirt over a white tee and jeans,
which was a uniform that he’d been wearing every day since he
retired. In the summer the plaid was short sleeved and light
cotton, but it was still there. “Hey there, brat,” he greeted her.
“Whatcha up to?”

Meredith smiled at her father. “Oh you know,
this and that. Saving men from burning buildings--the usual.”

Before Rob had a chance to respond, Meredith
continued down the hallway to the master bedroom. She headed
straight for her father’s chest of drawers; at 5’8”, Meredith had
several inches and several pounds on her mother’s petite frame. She
found some navy blue basketball shorts and one of Rob’s trusty
white tee shirts and put them on. She inhaled deeply, enjoying the
smell of her father’s cologne on the shirt. Then, she wadded her
clothes into a ball and carried them and her shoes back down the
hallway.