Page 67 of Dreams and Reptiles

“There’s a fire. The trucks are on their way. I’m going over to Kendall’s to check on his creatures.”

“You’re what? Francis, what are you going to do?”

“I don’t know, but I have to go. Maybe I can help his assistant.” I promised I’d text her when I was back to my house, but she said she’d come over in case the guests were worried.

I went out the back slider and took off at a run toward our still-broken fence. The giant tortoises were all huddled together around their water hole, thank goodness. I heard a door slam, and I called out.

“Hello? It’s Francis from next door.”

A young guy with long black hair came around the side of the house. “Oh God, I’m glad you’re here! I’m Alberto. I can’t get ahold of Kendall.”

“I called 9-1-1, and they said trucks were on the way. He probably can’t answer.”

“It’s not close, but I’m thinking I’ll at least start grabbing the guys in the barn and putting them in bins. I can load them into the back of my truck in case we need to evacuate. Kendall and I discussed what to do in case of emergency. I just never thought we’d have to worry.”

“Put me to work.”

Alberto appeared concerned but focused as I followed him to the barn, and his relative calm helped me keep it together. He already had bins lined up outside the enclosures for the iguanas and chameleons.

“Here, can you start putting the tortoises in those bins over there? Some of them are kinda heavy, but you should be able to get at least four in a bin.”

“Sure. Sure, I can do that.”

I knew Kendall had eight radiated tortoises, and I grabbed them one by one, carrying them as carefully as I could.

“I’m so sorry, buddy. I know you like being on the ground, but we gotta get you to safety. You’re doing so good.” I kept talking to them as I went, though I knew my reassurances were mostly for myself. Alberto hollered that he was going to load the bins on that side of the barn into the truck, and he’d be back to help me. I was just grabbing the last tortoise when he pulled the truck up to the open barn doors and came running back.

“I got all of them, I think.”

He counted them all and assured me I did.

I couldn’t lift the bins myself, so I had to drag them toward the truck and wait for him to help me load them into the bed. Once we’d filled his truck bed, we put two more in the back seat.

“What do we do about the giant tortoises?”

He pulled his hair tie out and wound his hair around his hand to redo the bun. He gave me a worried look. “I don’t know.”

“Maybe we can take these bins over and store them in my garage? Then maybe we can get them one at a time into the truck?”

“I don’t think we can lift them, just the two of us.”

Headlights on the road caught our attention, and we both waved at the vehicle headed our way.

It turned out to be a pickup truck from the fire department, and an older man hopped out and ran toward us. “I’m Chief Lalo Ortiz. You’re Alberto?”

Alberto shook hands with him. “Is everything okay?”

“Yes, I told Kendall I’d come let you know. We have the fire contained, and it should be out in a short time. There’s no threat to the property. He didn’t want you to worry.”

Alberto stepped backward and rested his hands on his knees, coughing a bit.

“I’m Francis Liang⁠—”

“Mr. Liang. So good to meet you. I was headed to your place next. Kendall’s okay, and there’s no threat to your property, either. Thank goodness there’s no wind out here, or this could have been a disaster. Some dumbass kids were drag racing on the highway and sparks from one of the car’s brakes set off the fire. Burned the car to a crisp, too. They’re lucky no one was hurt.”

“Thank you for letting us know,” I said, a hand pressed to my chest.

He looked at the bin next to me and smiled. “You guys had everyone ready to go, huh? That’s really great. Kendall loves these guys.”