The Carpenter’s Miracle Chapter 08
The flames swallowed our last glimmer of hope whole.
The planks twisted and crackled in the flames, popping and snapping as they burned.
Thick black smoke coiled with falling snow, billowing
up into the dark night sky.
The joy that had hummed through the crowd just Minutes before turned to ice in our veins.
Descent settled over Cedarville once more, heavy and suffocating.
A few women broke down into sobs.
Furious Men clenched their fists, roaring curses toward the tree line.
“Tom, you damned monster!”
“I’ll kill that son of a bitch myself!”
Panic and rage took hold, turning the crowd into a stampede of angry bulls ready to charge after Tom into the forest.
“Stop right there!” I shouted over the roar of the fire and wind.
My voice cut through the chaos loud enough for everyone to hear, and they froze, turning back to faceMe.
Their eyes blazed bloodshot with fury.
I continued, “What good would chasing him down do right now? He’s long gone by now. Getting revenge isn’t what we need to focus on right now.”
I pointed at the raging flames. “Putting out this fire is!”
My words jolted everyone back to their senses.
Yeah, the planks for our roof were still in the flames.
Felix was the first to react, barking out orders, “Hurry! Grab snow and smother the flames!”
People Moved as one, yanking off their coats to scoop up armfuls of snow and hurl it at the fire.
They used their bare hands, shovels, anything they could get their hands on, piling cold snow over the scorching heat.
A constant hiss filled the air as steam Mixed with Smoke, stinging our eyes and clogging our throats.
I dove into the effort alongside them, only one thought ringing in my head: Salvage what we could.
Ten Minutes later, the fire was finally out.
All that remained of the lumber pile was a charred, black ruin.
The acrid stench of burnt wood hung thick in the cold air.
Townsfolk stared blankly at the wreckage.
A man stepped forward, prodding a chunk of blackened charcoal with his boot.
The plank underneath was soot–black all over, its edges turned to ash.
“It’s all gone. We’re done for,” he Mumbled.
Hope had just been rekindled, only to be snuffed out without mercy.
Dead silence settled over the crowd, broken only by the howl of the blizzard.
I stepped over to the ruins and squatted down, brushing away the top layer of ash to check the planks buried underneath.
Mark walked up beside me and clapped a hand on my shoulder, his voice rough with exhaustion. “Michael, it’s over. We’ve lost.”
I ignored him, flipping through plank after plank, My hands sliced open by charred edges and caked black with soot.
At last, at the very bottom of the pile, I pulled out a solid board.
It had been crushed under the weight of the rest, only its outer surface blackened by smoke.
I pulled out my folding pocket knife and scraped away the charred layer, revealing clean, pale yellow wood underneath.
Hope surged through me. I stood up and held the plank high over my head for everyone to see. “We haven’t lost yet!”
Everyone stared at me, then at the plank I was holding up.
I yelled, “Most of these planks only got burnt on the surface! Plane off the damaged layer, and the wood inside is still perfectly good!”
A small ripple of excitement stirred through the crowd. like the first flicker of a flame in total darkness.
But that hope was quickly smothered again when the sharp–tongued, lanky man spoke up, “Plane ‘em? That’s easy to say.
“There are over a hundred planks here. How long
would that take, working one by one? The blizzard isn’t
gonna wait around for us, is it?”
His words were a bucket of cold water thrown over the crowd.
He was right. Time was not on our side.
I looked at him, then scanned the faces of the
townsfolk, where doubt had crept back in.
“I’ve got a plan. We can get every plank processed in one night,” I said.
Every eye fixed on me, thick with doubt.
I offered no extra explanation, just turned to Mark and gave my orders. “Dig out every plank that’s still usable and haul them to the town square.
“Round up every man in town who can swing an axe or handle a plane, tell them to bring their tools. And light as many torches as you can find. No one’s sleeping tonight.“