It was a hot humid day. The summer was at its worst in the little village of Green Meadow. There was a strange stillness in the air and the whole atmosphere was charged with electricity. There was that uncomfortable silence before the mighty storm breaks in all its fury. A young girl of fifteen years was walking through the lane bordered with apple trees. She walked with her form erect, her eyes flashing and her head thrown back. She had a look of hurt pride mixed with a fierce determination.
The young girl, the only daughter of a millionaire mother had come to this small village as her parent’s health had broken down. Roselyn had been greatly excited about the trip. She had read about the splendid open nature of the country people. She had hoped to have a wonderful time with the boys and girls in the little village. But her air castles had fallen to the ground with a crash. The country people did not care to make friends with her and her mother because they were rich. One farmer’s wife had said, “We don’t want to mix with the quality folks. We’ll just go our sweet way”. Roselyn had hoped for better treatment from these people and now she was greatly disappointed. But what hurt her the most was the attitude of the children. One girl had pointed at her and had said, “There goes the stuck up girl”! And another boy had said, “Oh! All these city girls are cowards and I don’t want anything to do with that faddy cat”.
“I am not a coward”. Roselyn cried, with her eyes flashing. “I will prove it, you see if I don’t”! The young girl was a splendid specimen of youth and vitality. She loved the outdoors and her face and skin was tanned a beautiful bronze shade. Her well-developed muscles, her long confident stride and the broad shoulders told of intensive gym work and athletic training. As she walked along the road, she had nothing about her to suggest a cowardly nature.
Roselyn, too busy with her thoughts had not noticed that the sun had been completely enveloped by dark and menacing clouds. She came to herself with a start as she heard the ominous rumble of thunder. Soon the rain was pelting down and the lightening was flashing fiercely in the sky.
Roselyn began to run. She knew she had to get home before her mother started worrying. Soon she saw the welcome sight of her house and had quickly opened the gates. She turned to look out at the mighty storm and suddenly she gave an exclamation of horror. “Our neighbour’s house is on fire”! She cried hoarsely. The house had been struck by lightning. Soon a large dog joined her. “What will we do, Rino”? cried, the girl. But Roselyn soon had her wits about her. She knew she had to get help. “Come on! Rino” she cried and rushed out into the storm. She ran like she had never run before. The rain pelted her face and they felt like stones being thrown at her. The crash and rumble of thunder and the flashes of lightning that lit up the sky for some few awful seconds were terrifying indeed. But the brave girl ran on and soon she was frantically ringing and knocking away at her neighbour’s door. She did not stop to think that this same neighbour had insulted her and her mother calling them proud and haughty.
“What is it,” asked the boy who opened the door.
“The Merryville house is on fire”! gasped the girl. The boy looked at the young girl who was soaked to the skin and exclaimed “Why! Aren’t you the stuck up girl”. “Well I’ll say you’re quite plucky after all”!
“Come on! There is no time to waste” Roselyn cried and rushed away to seek for more help. Due to the efforts of the young girl, a large crowd had gathered near the burning house and was doing all they could to put out the flame.
Suddenly Rino, who had followed his master faithfully began a loud and insistent barking. She ran towards the house and back again. “What is it, Rino”? Roselyn asked. The dog kept repeating his curious antics. Roselyn happened to look up to the upper storey of the house and suddenly she drew in her breath with a gasp. Framed against the window was a little six year old girl clutching a little doll in her hands.
Roselyn shouted and gesticulated wildly for help, but none heard her. Roselyn was fighting a battle in her soul. She knew it was up to her to save the girl’s life.
Ever since Roselyn was a little child, she had had a great fear for fire. Her father had been killed in a fire and the sight of the charred body of her beloved father had been too much for the little girl. From that time she had nursed a deep terror and fear for that red hot monster that swallowed up human lives. Today that same fear gripped her in its iron clutches. But the innocent face of the child haunted her. She fought and fought against her greatest enemy, fear. Finally she won. With a determined cry, she rushed towards a nearby barn. Roselyn’s brain was working and she had devised a plan to save the child. She frantically glanced about in the barn and suddenly she pounced on a coil of thick rope. Soon she was standing right below the window where the child stood. Making a sign for the child, Roselyn threw the coil of rope towards the window. Those hectic hours she had practiced shooting the ball into the basket helped her. The child soon hauled the rope up. Roselyn was soon carrying out the next part of the plan. Not looking to her right or left, she ran lightly towards the wall and was soon clinging to an iron pipe with screws that went all the way up to the first storey. Roselyn was an expert climber and slowly she was ascending the pipe. Her arms moved rhythmically and her body worked with clockwork precision. A woman in the crowd shouted out as she caught sight of the climbing girl. The men soon brought ladders but even the longest ladder was not long enough.
Roselyn, after a steady climb, reached upwards and pulled herself into the window of the first storey. The room was filled with thick black smoke and it was stiflingly hot. Roselyn remembered a room filled with smoke exactly in the same way this room was. She remembered running here and there wildly crying for her daddy, and somebody had picked her up and had carried her from the building. The next thing she saw was her father’s charred body. That dreadful fear caught hold of her again and a voice whispered, “Escape”! But the face of the little child came before Roselyn and her courage came to the front. “I am going to save her”! She cried almost fiercely.
She tied the rope to a piece of furniture in the room and tied the other end around the waist of the frightened child. She picked her up in her strong young muscular arms and gently lowered her out of the window. Nobody guessed the agony the girl was facing. Roselyn prayed like she had never prayed before. Soon there was a shout. The child had been delivered safely. Suddenly Roselyn felt week and dicey. She had done her duty, now she was too tired to move. As she wearily leaned against the wall with the intense smoke in her nostrils and her eyes smarting with the heat, a picture of her beautiful mother in her wheel chair came before her eyes. “I have to get out of here for mother’s sake” she said to herself.
Summoning all her reserve strength she prepared to take the perilous descent. Little by little she climbed, the crowd watching in breathless suspense. “Oh God, let me reach safely at the bottom” she whispered. She shut her eyes tight and concentrated her strength into that one important task of descending. When she thought her strength was exhausted, her feet touched bottom. The crowd cheered and roared. For a second Roselyn stood there, her shoulders heaving, her eyes flashing and her head thrown back. She looked like a true soldier who has won a hard-fought battle. Suddenly things began whirling round the girl and Roselyn sunk in a heap on the ground. “The child has fainted with exhaustion”, a neighbour said.
When Roselyn opened her eyes, the sun was streaming in through the window and she was lying on a soft bed with her mother holding her hand tightly. Her mother smiled at her in that charming way of hers. This wonderful lady was not the one to cry or fall on the neck of her daughter. She looked into her daughter’s clear eyes and said gently: “little daughter, your mother is proud of you”. The neighbours came in to offer their congratulations. All who had scorned her and called her stuck up and a coward were praising her bravery. The boys and girls smiled at her in comradery. Roselyn was pleased at the thought that now she would have lots of playmates.
“Mother, I am so glad” she said, nestling her head on her mother’s lap. “I am going to have a lot of friends and we will have a lot of nice times”. But mother, there is one great thing, that makes me so happy that I want to cry.
“What’s that, dear”? asked her mother. Roselyn sat up and looked straight into her mother’s eyes. “Mother” she said in a grave tone, but with a ring of pride in it, I have fought against my enemy, the fear of fire”. “It was very hard, I thought it was all up with me”. “But I prayed and that gave me strength”. “Finally I have defeated fear”. The lady put her arms about her daughter and said, “God bless you, my brave little girl”.