Songs from the Firefront

True and tender stories from a master.

The pressure inside the house changes. The shutters give off long stuttering bursts like submachine-gun fire. You tell yourself that this is it. Every few minutes now, you think the place will explode. And you wonder where you’ll go if it does. You have no idea that your neighbours’ window has blown in, that a metre of seawater is rushing through their yard. But you do know you won’t survive in the open.

For nearly half a…