Safe as houses, p.12
Safe As Houses, page 12
Herb has since passed on. Jim is now a retired homicide detective with the Toronto Police Department. He is bowed with age, but he remains a bear of a man, large and powerful, and in his eyes you can still see the determination that marked his efforts that day. Rarely in life do you encounter a true hero. Jim is one, and it was an honour to meet him and have him share his story.
A FAMILY’S NARROW ESCAPE
—A NOTE FROM PENNY (DOUCETTE) PHILLIPS
On October 15, 1954, I was only eight years old. I remember the day—lots of rain and a man walking me home under his umbrella to keep me dry. The ditches were overflowing with the amount of rain that had already come down.
Our home was right beside the Humber River—a house that my dad had built for his family. This was on Fairglen Crescent in Weston, Ontario. As a child, I loved living beside the river, as it was a real community in itself. All my fondest memories were swept away that terrifying night that Hazel came.
I remember listening that evening to my father talking to someone about how high the river was rising. Nothing to worry about though, as it had come up this much before. I fell asleep, only to be woken up in the middle of the night by my parents. We were unable to get out of our house; water was everywhere and now entering our house. My dad tried to reason as best he could, thinking he could maybe get to the maple tree outside, but upon attempting to do so he almost went under, as the step wasn’t there anymore or maybe the house had lifted…who knows. That was a scary moment for me, seeing my dad in that situation and my mom trying to help get him back inside. I remember my father putting my two-year-old brother and myself on the kitchen table and telling me to pray.
An elderly neighbour was also with us at the time—she didn’t want to be alone in the storm.
To get away from the rising water, all of us moved to the top of the stairs, near the attic. The front living room window crashed in with the force of the water. My mom was screaming for help—we had nowhere else to go. Then my dad found a hatchet and started to chop a hole in the roof to get us out.
He got us unto the roof through the hole he made. I remember water all along the eaves; there was just a roof in the middle of the water. My mom’s screams brought some men in a boat and us children and my mom got in. Our elderly neighbour was still inside, and my dad resolved to stay and get her out through the hole in the roof. Later he had to hold onto a tree, persuading our elderly neighbour to persevere and hang on, too. Our house was swept down the Humber River just after my father got into that tree.
My father and my neighbour were rescued by those same two brave men in the boat who had rescued us—Herb Jones and James Crawford.
I will never in my life forget that night. We were all lucky to survive.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ERIC WALTERS, a former elementary-school teacher, began writing as a way to encourage his students to become more enthusiastic about literature. His many works include Camp X, Royal Ransom, and Run. His novels have won numerous awards including the Silver Birch, Blue Heron, Red Maple, Snow Willow, and Ruth Schwartz, and have received honours from the Canadian Library Association Book of the Year, and UNESCO’s international award for Literature in Service of Tolerance. He lives in Mississauga, Ontario.
ALSO BY ERIC WALTERS
ALEXANDRIA OF AFRICA
For Alexandria Hyatt having a fabulous life is easy: she knows what she wants and she knows how to get it. Being glamorous and rich is simply what she was born to be. When Alexandria is arrested for shoplifting, having to drag herself into court to face a judge just seems like a major inconvenience. Alexandria has been in trouble before—but this time she can’t find a way to scheme out of the consequences. Before she knows it, she is on a plane headed to Kenya where she has been ordered to work for an international charity.
Over 7,000 miles away from home with no hot water, no cell phone reception, no friends or family, Alexandria must face a land as unfamiliar as it is unsettling. Over the course of her month in Africa, Alexandria will deal with a reality she could never have imagined, and will have to look inside herself to see if she has what it takes to confront it.
Doubleday Canada / ISBN 978-0-385-66639-8
Eric Walters, Safe As Houses
