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The Douglas Farm

Lisa was humming to herself while washing the dishes from the dinner she ate alone. Eb was still taking a nap and she assumed that Oliver was still busy with the advertisements. She was just about done when she began to smell smoke. She thought she was just imagining things until Mignon came in barking wildly at the direction of the back door.

"Vhat is it, Mignon? Do you smell the smoke, too?" Lisa asked, picking her up. Lisa was beginning to get a little worried. Usually in these situations, she would send Oliver out to make sure everything was all right, but at the moment she was all alone. She decided that it was a probably nothing but decided to go check just in case. Lisa set Mignon down on the ground and went out the back door. As soon as she stepped out the door, her fears were confirmed. Half the barn was on fire and smoke seemed to be billowing out from all sides.

"Oh my goodness!" Lisa exclaimed to herself. For a moment she didn't know what to do. She turned around and began to run towards the telephone to call the fire department, but she remembered it was Friday, which meant Sara was not at the switchboard. There was no time to run to Drucker's for help and her only neighbors, the Watsons, left to Pixley years ago. Think, Lisa, think, she told herself. What do people around here use to varn the fire department about a fire?

Suddenly, Lisa had a brain storm. She remembered the early days when Oliver had just become a volunteer fire fighter. He would look up to the sky and keep an eye out for sky rockets! She also remembered him leaving it in the closet in their bedroom. At that, Lisa ran as fast as she could in her heels to the bedroom closet. She quickly searched for the rocket and found it buried under a pile of old blankets. She grabbed it and a couple of matches from the dresser and ran outside once again.

Once outside, Lisa set the rocket on the ground and positioned it to point to the sky. "Oh, please vork!" Lisa pleaded with the rocket as she lit the wick. The rocket ignited, shot off and bursted in the sky as a bright purple firework. As she was kneeling on the ground, Lisa silently prayed to herself that someone would get the message. Then she suddenly remembered something. Eb had not come out of the barn when he realized it was on fire.

"Oh no, he must still be asleep!" Lisa said to herself. She got up and, without a moment's hesitation, ran into the burning barn. She looked around and, to her relief, realized the fire had not had a chance to spread to the loft where Eb lay. She was just about to climb the ladder when she heard a moo. Lisa turned around to see Eleanor still tied up where she always kept her. She quickly untied Eleanor and sent her out the door. She then proceeded to ascend the ladder to rescue Eb.

Once on the loft, Lisa ran over to the edge of Eb's bed and began to call out his name. When that didn't work, she began shaking him. "Eb! Eb," she cried, "please vake up! Ve have to get out of here!" After a couple of more shakes, Eb finally opened his eyes and looked at Lisa. "Mrs. Douglas, what are you doing up here?" Eb sat up groggily and looked around. It took him a while to clear his head, but Eb finally realized the situation they were in. "Holy smoke! Smoke!" he cried. He tried to spring out of bed, but ended up hitting his head on a beam. He rubbed his head and turned to Lisa. "Mrs. Douglas, what's going on? How did this happen?"

"I don't know, but ve have to get out of here, now!" Lisa exclaimed. She then ran over to the ladder and began to descend with Eb behind her waiting for his turn. Lisa was able to make it about the third step when the rotten wood that made up the ladder gave way from the intense heat. The ladder crumbled under Lisa's feet and was ready to take Lisa with it if she hadn't grabbed for the edge of the loft. Eb ran over to where Lisa was hanging and managed to pull her back onto the loft.

"We could always jump off the loft!" Eb said. Simultaneously, they looked over the edge of the loft to find the ground covered with pieces of flaming wood from the roof.

"Or not." Eb said, changing his mind. "Now what do we do?"

Lisa sat and thought for a second while she tried to catch her breath. She looked around for a solution. "I know!" she exclaimed after a couple of seconds. "The vindow! There is a pile of hay just outside the barn! Ve could climb out the vindow, go down to the edge of the roof, and jump into the pile of hay!"

"Good idea! I'll go first to make sure the roof is safe." Eb said. He then stuck his head out the window and pulled himself onto the roof. "Seems pretty solid. Come on." Eb said, extending his hand out to her.

Just as Lisa was about to grab Eb's hand and climb out the window, the loft collapsed, sending Eb's room and Lisa crashing to the ground. Lisa hit the ground hard and banged her head against the floor. She tried to get up but it was no use. She laid her head back and slipped into unconsciousness.

Drucker's General Store, a little earlier

Oliver and Mr. Drucker were standing by the printer, waiting to see what the final result of the advertisements would look like. After it was finished, Mr. Drucker pulled out the advertisement and held it up for Oliver to see. "Well, what do you think?" he asked.

Oliver studied it for a minute. "I like it," he finally said. "I like it a lot!"

"Good! Now, we can start making the copies."

Oliver looked at his wristwatch. "Wow, I didn't realize how long I've been here. I better call Lisa and tell her I'll be a little longer." Just as he was about to pick up the receiver, Oliver and Mr. Drucker heard what sounded like a gunshot outside. They looked at each other and ran to the door to see what the source of the sound was. They looked up at the sky and saw a bright purple firework illuminate the sky and then dissolve into nothing.

It had been so long since they've seen one of those that, for a moment, they didn't recognize what the sky rocket meant. Then it hit them like a ton of bricks.

"Holy smoke! Someone's house is on fire!" Mr. Drucker exclaimed first.

"What do we do?" Oliver asked.

"Uh, we, uh, figure out whose house is on fire!" Mr. Drucker finally remembered.

"But how?"

"A long time ago, we gave each family a certain color rocket and wrote down which color they had." Mr. Drucker explained as he ran over to behind the counter and began searching for the list. "Doggone it, where did I put that thing. Ah, here it is!" he exclaimed, pulling out a long list. "Now, let's see who has the purple rocket?" He began scanning the page until he found the color. Oliver could see Mr. Drucker freeze in terror.

"Well," Oliver began, "who has the purple one?"

"Mr. Douglas, you do."

Oliver couldn't believe his ears. It can't be, he thought. We never have fires, it can't be. But deep down, Oliver could feel that something was terribly wrong. Without a word to Mr. Drucker, Oliver ran out the door and headed straight to the fire station, which was walking distance from Drucker's store. Mr. Drucker caught up with him, and together they ran into the station and began suiting up.

"How do we get the others here?" Oliver asked.

"Trust me, Mr. Douglas, if they live within fifty miles within that rocket they'll be here."

To Oliver's amazement, Mr. Drucker was right. Within minutes, all of the volunteer fire fighters arrived and suited up. All of the volunteers then piled onto the fire engine and sped toward the fire. As soon as they were on there way, those who weren't with Oliver and Mr. Drucker (which was everybody) began asking questions, none of which Oliver heard. All he could think about was Lisa, and pray that she was all right.

Meanwhile, back at the Douglas Farm

Eb watched in horror as Lisa fell to the ground. He heard the thud when she landed, saw her stir a bit, and then lie motionless on the ground.

I have to go down there, Eb thought. I have to save her like she saved me. He began to slide down the slanted roof to jump into the pile of hay and run to the other side and rescue her. But just as he was about to reach the edge, the tile slid from under his feet. He sailed over the edge of the barn roof and landed in the soft pile of hay below, hitting his head on the way down. Eb rolled of the pile of hay and landed on the ground, safe and unconscious.

The Douglas Farm, several minutes later

Oliver sighed with relief as he arrived at his farm with the rest of the Hooterville Volunteer Fire Department. It wasn't the house that was on fire, it was the barn. But Oliver's relief was short lived. As he looked around he realized something. Lisa was not outside to greet him.

Maybe she's in the house, he thought. But then what is Eleanor doing outside, she couldn't have escaped by herself. Oliver tried to reassure himself by telling himself that Lisa probably set Eleanor free and then ran back in the house out of fear. Still, there was something gnawing at him inside, and he soon found out why.

"Mr. Douglas," Alf yelled as he ran over to Oliver, "we found Eb lying unconscious over on the other side of the barn. You should really come look."

Oliver followed Alf over to where Eb lay. He knelt by Eb, who had just woken up and was still confused, and put his hand on his shoulder. "Eb, my wife. Where's my wife?" Oliver asked.

"Your wife? I don't…holy smoke! She's still in the barn! She came into to save me, but got knocked out! She must still be in there!" Eb cried.

Oliver and the others looked over at the barn, which was engulfed in smoke and fire and was collapsing on all sides. Oliver's worst fears were confirmed. His beloved wife was trapped inside the barn and he might never see her again.

Gasp! What will the hero of our story do? Will he stand by and watch helplessly as his wife is taken from him forever? Of coarse not! But how will he ever save her! Stayed tuned to find out!