"Bob's Book": Chapter Two, Page Twenty

 

Rose and I stood happily close to the stove, warming our hands at the rising heat, now and then glancing at each other and smiling, then gazing around the room. The fact that we were so close to one another and doing something together was making us feel unaccountably shy. So much so that we didn’t notice at first that a dark green smoke had started creeping out of the seams of the stove. When I did look down, I was jolted by the alarming sight.

“Oh!” I yelped. “Oh! Oh, what…?”

“Ah!” Rose stepped back with a little cry. “Ah!”

I reached through the rising fumes to check the stove-pipe damper, rattling it, but it nothing happened.

“Well, do something!” Rose exclaimed.

“I’m trying!” I yipped back.

“I told you.” Rank’s voice was calm, even triumphant. “I told you. I told you to leave it alone.”

“Oh, quiet, you!” Rose said crossly. “Bob, what’s wrong with it?”

“I don’t know!” I was getting frantic. I reached out and touched the stove handle but winced away. It was already hotter than I thought. I grabbed it more gingerly with two fingers and opened the door. More green smoke bellowed out. I waved my hand and choked “Good Lord!”

“What do we do? What do we do?”

Rose and I ran around like scared chickens looking for something to help, a bucket of sand or any liquid to dash on the flames, but there was nothing at hand. Rank rose up on his long legs, arms crossed, and from that ironic height watched us scurrying and babbling with quiet detachment, though he seemed ready enough to flee if things got too bad. Suddenly the office door flew open, not with a bang but with a definite air of announcement.