THE JOURNEY 

By Tessa Harvey

    Gratefully Josie gulped down a glass of lemonade, then explained to the elderly man she had to find her family. He looked so sad at losing her company in what had become a terror-filled situation.
    "I will come back and visit with my family soon," she offered. He looked delighted, shuffling off, happily with her empty glass, then closing the door firmly behind Josie.
    Outside was terrible. As fast as the fire-fighters doused one blaze, another flared. Men and women, some with sniffer dogs were scrabbling at rubble with bare hands, calling desperately for loved ones.
    A disheveled lady, grey-haired with dust, clutched a small bundle. "Seen a cat, dearie?" she asked, forlornly. "My children will be sad if she ain't here. No home, even now." She was crying, tears tracking down her dirty face.
    Josie paused. "I will look," she promised. "What's her name?" "Kitty," her friend answered, "and I seen your kids over near them dustbins. But they won't come to me. Too scared!"

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