To the Editor:

Tonight at 11:38 the sharp sound of the courthouse siren pierces the cold night air. We wake up, along with every other sleeping child, adult and animal scattered throughout our prairie mountain town. It’s a call from the fire house, sending out a beacon to all volunteer fire fighters. Someone in our community needs help.

I lie there alongside my partner, eyes open in the darkness. We listen as the siren blasts. Here, no one’s sleep is more important than a neighbor in need.

I imagine … someone … rising from a warm bed, crossing a dark room, opening a squeaky closet door and rushing out into the cold bitter night to answer the call. A fireplace gone wrong? A brush pile burn caught up in a gust of wind?

I tingle. After my initial alarm and empathy, I feel surprisingly calm, peaceful and grateful. What if I were that person in need, had lost control of my vehicle on black ice and now needed the jaws of life to free me?

Here they come! I hear vehicles moving down deserted town streets. I imagine a small dedicated group of volunteers in the station, focused and rushing. Now, the fire engine starts its siren.

I’m surprisingly transported to specific memories as a child when I lie in bed feeling safe, secure and overflowing with life.

Noble in their power, racing through the dark night, these individuals of light answer the call to a neighbor in need and bear a gift of service and selflessness.

We are protected here. From the unpredictable external environment and even, from our most fateful adversary, ourselves. We live in a small town. A small town home that cares. And on this night, as on all nights here, life … ascends.

Tracy Suzanne Minnich

Enterprise