The Old Fire Today

Posted on August 30, 2004 in Old Fire

We visited my mother yesterday and went for a ride in Lynn’s new Sentra through the burned over areas. They’ve razed most of the seared houses and begun to rebuild. Here and there, you can see a swimming pool standing by itself or a long stretch of lawn without a manor. In one lot we passed, a family stood in the recently cleared yard, staring at the diving board suspended over the empty, lemon-tiled pool. One person who seems to have lost everything but the garage is now living there. Fresh tawny wood frames rise from the ash-cleansed earth.

Hanging on a wall just beyond my old junior high school, a banner announces an Old Fire Memorial web site.

The hills which were excarnated by the blaze have the look of shattered bones.