Fire Stater | Previous Challenge Entry

how it works

TITLE: Fire Stater | Previous Challenge Entry
By Brenda Rice
07/21/16
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The northeast wind felt like needles pricking my face. Inside my rawhide gloves, my hands were all but frozen to the reins. As the sun descended, I was eager to stop my wagon and set the campfire for the wagon train.

There were three wagons ahead of me and four behind me. When the lead wagon pulled off to the left, all the others followed making as tight a circle as possible.

I jumped to the ground, and headed to my side box where I kept the moss bundle with an ember from last night’s fire. Also stored in the side box was dry kindling, I had rounded up near our camp yesterday. Moving carefully with the live ember and kindling, I made my way to the center of the circle where the fire would be.

After positioning the kindling, I blew gently into the moss bundle until the ember flared to life, and smoke rose from it. I knelt and placed the smoldering ember on the kindling fanning it until it blazed up catching all the wood on fire. Gradually, I added larger pieces of wood that caught quickly and at last, a roaring fire gave its warmth and light to the camp.

“Good job Fire Starter. You’ve mastered the ember and wood gathering.” The gruff voice of the trail master broke my concentration.

He only calls me Fire Starter, even though he knows my name is Will Tarver. I kinda like being called that. Since I’m only eighteen and traveling alone, it makes me feel good to help those traveling with me.

As soon as the fire was burning well, I hurried to free my horses from the heavy harnesses. Our camp was near a stream so the grass was growing well providing good grazing. After allowing my horses to graze and water, I brought them into the circle, and hobbled them near my wagon. The smell of coffee and horses mingled with the wood smoke.

It was time for me to replenish the dry moss bundle and the kindling. I also needed to collect larger pieces of wood to keep the fire going through the night. Although I was still cold and hungry, I kept moving until my chores were done.

Finally, I ate some jerky and drank a cup of hot coffee which wasn’t something I enjoyed, but it was warm and my insides needed something warm. Now it was time to fix my bed inside my wagon.

The wind had settled down some, but it was still very cold. I had been hoping to see snow since I was from Alabama, and had never seen it before. But tonight, all I wanted was to get in my bed which was an old cotton mattress with a bear skin on top. I warmed stones I collected from the stream, and put them in my bed to warm my feet. They would hold the heat for several hours.

There was just one thing more I had to do before going to bed. I collected an ember from the campfire and placed it in the moss bundle in my side box for tomorrow night’s fire.

Once I was snug inside my bed, I recited a few of my favorite scriptures. I particularly like the one where Jesus said to follow Him and He would make you fishers of men. I imagined myself gathering a net filled with fish and suddenly, they turned into people.

I wondered if I was just daydreaming like a foolish boy, or was I on a mission for the Lord. My mind slowed as sleep came calling, but something about the gathering of people stirred me deep inside.

Could it be that the Fire Starter would one day gather embers of a different kind?

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