Forbidden Guest House novel · Chapter 9 of 32

Chapter 9: The Boathouse

I ran.

I didn't put on shoes.

I hit the hall yelling, "Fire! Boathouse! Everybody up!"

Leif's door flew open before I reached it.

He was still in his jeans, barefoot, shirt half on.

"Call it in," he said, and went down the stairs three at a time.

I called 911 from the landing and banged on every door with my other fist.

Hedy came out of her apartment over the kitchen in a pink robe with her hair in a net.

"Buckets," she said, and that was all.

Gran kept six galvanized buckets in the mudroom for the garden.

Hedy kept four more under the sink for mopping.

I grabbed all ten.

Down on the lawn the boathouse was lit up from inside.

Smoke was pouring out under the eaves.

The fire was in the back corner by the shore, climbing the wall where the old paint cans were stored.

Leif had already dragged the garden hose as far as it went.

It went about halfway.

"Line!" I yelled. "Line from the dock!"

The guests came down the lawn in pajamas.

The retired couple from Iowa. The two schoolteachers. A honeymoon couple from Rochester who'd checked in that afternoon.

Nobody asked what to do.

I stood on the dock ladder and dipped buckets into the lake.

I passed them to the man from Iowa, who passed them to his wife, who passed them to the schoolteachers, who passed them to Hedy.

Hedy threw them through the side window.

The empties came back up the line.

The lake was cold on my arms to the elbow.

My feet were bleeding from something on the dock and I didn't care.

"The canoe!" Hedy yelled. "Kari, your Gran's canoe!"

The cedar canoe hung on the rafters at the front, over the slip.

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