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"You're right," Michael agreed. "He's
a sweetheart."
Lightening flashed nearby and it started to rain. "Oh,
not again! Come on, let's take another peek in the lab
again. We'd better check he's safe." He looked
at the sky. "We probably have 30 seconds before
the heavy stuff start to fall."
"No!" Lea's voice was determined. "I'm
fed up of getting wet. Ring the bell again." She
gave the door a frustrated kick and, to the surprise
of both of them, it swung open with an intimidating
creak.
Cautiously they walked down the hallway towards the
Professor's small kitchen. Like the main room, it was
tidy and organised. There were tomatoes ripening on
the window ledge and an avocado.
"Which way do you think the lab is?" Lea
whispered.
From a doorway off the kitchen they heard a bang. "That
way," Michael whispered back.
The door revealed a corridor with several more doors
off it. The corridor must be the main artery into the
extended part of the house. At the far end they could
see the laboratory, in which a fire burned. The room
was full of smoke and the Professor was struggling with
a red fire extinguisher that he quite clearly did not
know how to use.
Lea rushed past Michael and grabbed the extinguisher.
She read the label on the side, quickly and carefully.
Meanwhile Michael took the Professor by the arm and
pulled him away.
"How do we cut off the power?"
By a stroke of luck this part of the house had a separate
set of circuit breakers located right behind the door
from the kitchen. Michael threw the panel open and saw
that some of the circuits had already tripped out. He
switched the rest to the OFF position, double checked
that everything was safely isolated, and then ran back
down the corridor to help Lea.
It was easy to put out the fire. The actual damage
was not, as it turned out, very extensive. One piece
of equipment was ruined, a stool would need to be replaced,
some paint needed. Otherwise the lab was undamaged.
The Professor appeared in the doorway, rather unsteady
on his feet, and coughing.
"I opened some windows to let the smoke clear,"
he explained.
"Good," said Michael gently. "Are you
OK? Maybe you should go outside and get some fresh air."
"No," he said. "No, I'm fine. Just a
little shaken. The last few days have been hard work.
I caught a chill when I boarded up the windows in the
rain." He seemed to gather his wits a little, pulled
himself out of the stoop he'd held since the struggle
with the extinguisher back up to his full height, and
headed back towards the kitchen, still shaky but with
most of his dignity restored.
"Shall I make a pot of tea?" Lea suggested.
"What?" His thoughts had wandered again.
"Oh, yes. Please. That would be very ..."
He glanced back towards the laboratory and gave a long
ragged sigh. "... very welcome."
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