Fire in the Hood

The Hood is kind of a funny place. There are a lot of rentals here and quite a few foster families. Kids come and go. A kid who spent a lot of time here last summer was a little boy named Tyree. I met Tyree when I put Izzy and Rosie in our little swimming pool in the back to play. I went in to use the bathroom and when I came out, Tyree was in the pool too with his bathing suit! Tyree is a scrappy little kid. He’s about 7 years old and might weigh 50 pounds soaking wet. Last summer he was in my backyard all the time and when he wasn’t there he was riding his bike all over the place, even the very busy four-lane street. With traffic, against it, on the side walk or weaving back and forth between the sidewalk and the street, Tyree was very active. I never met his mom. She never once came down to check on him, although various siblings and cousins would usually come by to fetch him home after dark. Sometimes he would still be in my backyard, sometimes I hadn’t seen him all day. I have no idea where he was on those days and apparently neither did his family.

But Tyree is a friendly little guy. He got along with all of the kids well, was polite and even laughed at my corny jokes (it doesn’t take much to win me over). I hadn’t seen much of him since school started.

Yesterday, when we were coming home from the medieval feast, fire trucks and police cards blocked our way. We had to drive around and come to our street from the opposite side. Mr. Pete walked down to see who was in trouble. It was Tyree’s house.

Apparently a light with a bulb had been left on and on top of a couch with the bulb touching the fabric. That was all that it took for couch to ignite and then quickly the entire front end the of the first story including the porch.

Izzy’s friend James lives across the street. James’s dad saw Tyree crying in the second story front window and he dashed across the street, went through the back door of the home, up the stairs and rescued Tyree. By the time Mr. Pete got there Tyree was on his way to the hospital to get checked out and for smoke inhalation therapy. His mom was in the police car watching her home burn up. One of the officers said that she and her family would be taken to a shelter for the evening and given some help as they recover from this disaster.

Interestingly, one of the other neighbors saw Mr. Pete and ran up to him.

“Hey man, you’re some kind of hero.”

Before Mr. Pete could respond another neighbor replied, “No not him. It was the other white guy!”

To which Mr. Pete smiled and said, “We look alike.”

That made everybody laugh and kind of raised the mood a bit as the firefighters finished their job.

I hope Tyree is alright. Perhaps his mom will find another rental house near here. Or it could be that we never see him again. I hope to find out later today.

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