Chapter 26 - POPPY HOUSE BURNSThe fire started at 3:17 a.m.
Not arson.
That was the twist nobody expected.
Electrical fault.
Old wiring inside a renovated wall.
The sprinkler system contained it before firefighters arrived.
Nobody died.
Nobody was injured.
But three therapy rooms were destroyed.
The yellow chair survived.
Poppy’s glass case did not.
When Lily arrived, she ran through the wet hallway.
Poppy lay beneath shattered glass.
Blackened along one side.
One ear gone.
Lily stopped.
She was twenty-seven.
For one second, she looked three.
I picked up the rabbit carefully.
“Dad.”
“I know.”
“She’s ruined.”
“No.”
The restoration specialist disagreed with my assessment.
Professionally.
“She cannot be restored to original condition.”
“I didn’t ask for original.”
He looked at me.
“I want her stabilized.”
Scars remained.
Missing fur.
Burn mark.
Different fabric where the ear had been reconstructed.
When we returned Poppy to Lily, she cried.
“She looks different.”
“Yes.”
Lily touched the repaired ear.
Clara smiled.
“So do all of us.”
Poppy returned to the lobby.
No longer behind glass.
Lily placed her on a high shelf beside the yellow chair.
May you like
The new plaque read:
SOME THINGS SURVIVE BY CHANGING.
Related Stories
