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The Fire at Henpecker Farm
Fred Lonsdale was a nice old man, he was generally known as ‘Old Fred’ which was perfectly understandable because he was getting on a bit. However, despite his age, he did not behave like your average old person. He was a very useful sort of man, he was extremely clever and was nearly always able to help people who needed things doing.
Fred called his wife ‘Old Thing’; her proper name was Elizabeth, or Liz, but she didn’t mind being called Old Thing because she too was getting older, though she was not as old as he was; they were really very fond of each other.
Fred and Liz had two grandchildren, Alexander and Abigail, who were quite young, lived not far away and spent a lot of time with them. Their houses were on opposite sides of a village and there was not a lot for the children to do there.
Fred had an old van, it had been in his family for many years and was very old indeed, old enough to be in a motor museum but it wasn’t. Fred drove his old van nearly every day, when he was out fixing things for people. He kept his van in good condition, it was always very clean, he washed and polished it  every week and looked after it very carefully.
Some years ago, when computers were becoming popular, Fred bought one and learned how to use it. His real job was a designer and an engineer and he taught himself how to do his design work and calculations on the computer. When he was confident with his computer he decided to advertise his work on the Internet, he registered his web-site ‘OldFred.com’.
After a while, Fred became very good indeed with the computer and began to use it more and more, in fact he used it nearly all the time; he often wished that he could take it with him when he was working away. The answer to this problem, he decided, was to buy a lap-top. Fred bough an expensive one and put a plug in the van so that he could use is while he was away without having to plug it into a wall socket to keep the battery charged.
At night the van was kept in the garage, which was also Fred’s workshop, at the side of his house. The garage was always locked at night and when he was away to keep things safe and Fred nearly always left his lap-top in the van. He even had a telephone line in the garage and plugged the lap-top in to it so that he could get e-mails from his customers when he wasn’t there.
The computer, plugged into the telephone line and connected to the van’s battery, was the only possible explanation for some strange things that started to happen.
The first strange thing that happened, was on a Saturday morning, quite early; Alexander and Abigail arrived at the house while Fred was finishing his breakfast; they said that they wanted to help him clean the van, they quite often did this on Saturday mornings when they had nothing better to do. Fred finished his cup of tea, put on his shoes, said “See you shortly. Old Thing”, to his wife, picked up the garage keys and went out with the children.
“We’ll give it a quick wash first and then a good polishing,” he said, as he opened the garage doors. They were all amazed at what they saw, the old van wasn’t the van anymore; it had become a really ancient fire engine, complete with long wooden ladders, hose pipes and a big brass bell.
“What the ….” Exclaimed Old Fred.
“Wicked, what have you done, Granddad?” said Alex, excitedly, “It’s an old fire engine, when did you do this?”
“I didn’t, he replied.”
Abbie was confused, “What’s happened to your van, Granddad; why is it a funny old fire engine now?”
“I don’t know love, I really don’t. I can’t understand it. It still looks like my van at the front, it’s only the body, the back part, that has changed; just look at that brass bell and that enormous ladder. What on earth is going on?”
Alexander interrupted, he was looking inside, “The computer has a map, it looks like a road map, on the screen Granddad, what does it mean?”
Fred walked over to look at it, scratching his head. “I didn’t leave the computer on, or I don’t think I had, it should still be off, I don’t understand it; let me have a look.”
Fred looked at the map, “It IS a road map all right, and I know where that is,” he said, “it’s the road past Henpecker Farm, a couple of miles down the road on the other side of Battery Hill.”
“Should we go and have a look?” Alex asked.
“I suppose we should,” he replied, “it’s not very far away and it might tell us why we’ve got an old fire engine instead of an old van. I still don't understand it."
Abbie asked, “Who lives at Henpecker Farm, Granddad, do you know them?”
“Tom Allcorn owns it,” Fred replied, “he lives there with his son and his family but I think that Tom Junior, that’s his son, and his wife have taken their children away for a few days.”
They climbed aboard, Fred started the engine, they set off and, after a couple of miles, and as the fire engine was climbing steadily up Battery Hill, Fred told his grandchildren that the farm was over the brow of the hill, a little way down in the valley. As they reached the top of the hill they could see smoke billowing out from some farm buildings a little distance away.
“That IS Henpecker Farm, that’s where the smoke is coming from, it must be on fire.”
“I’m glad we’ve got a fire engine,” said Alex, “perhaps we’ll be able to put the fire out and save the farm.”
Fred thought for a moment and then said, “there’s something very clever about this old van, I don’t know how it did it but somehow it knew that there was a fire that needed putting out; that’s why it changed into a fire engine. Our job must be to tackle the fire, but more importantly, to get Tom and any livestock to safety. Alex, use the mobile, dial 999 and report the fire, it looks to me that we might need professional help.”
“What’s livestock, Granddad?” Abbie asked.
“Animals, love horses, cows, you know;” he answered, ” Live things.”
“Abbie thought for a moment and then said, “Are we livestock, Granddad?”
Fred smiled, looked at Abbie, and said, “I suppose we are dear, but we are usually called people.”
As they drove into the farmyard they could see that the fire was in a barn on the left hand side. There was a stable quite near to the barn and, trapped inside, were two horses getting quite agitated as the smoke billowed around them and the heat and sparks from the crackling flames made them nervous. The farm house was some distance away on the other side of the yard and was in no immediate danger.
“Let’s get those horses out first, before they hurt themselves.” Fred said as he stopped the van near the farm-yard pond. “And, if we are going to be firemen, we’d better put on these helmets, see if you can find one that fits, children, and do up the strap. Alex, unroll that big hose-pipe, the one with the filter, that basket thing, on the end, and put it into the pond. Then unroll the other hose, the one with the brass nozzle, and bring it over to the stable.”
Fred turned the control lever on the fire engine and the pump started working. Alexander directed the water on to the side of the stable, the side facing the burning barn, to cool it down and to try to stop it catching fire. Fred and Abigail went to open the door and let the horses out. The horses were quite frightened and were a bit difficult to handle but they were quickly led into the safety of the paddock. Abbie stayed to keep an eye on them and they soon settled down.
Alex, in the meantime, had directed the stream of water on to the burning barn. Fred rushed over to the farmhouse and knocked on the door. There was no reply, he knocked again and called out, “Tom, Tom, are you there!”
There was still no reply. “I hope you’re all right, Tom” Fred started talking to himself, “I know you’re a bit deaf, and must be still fast asleep; I’m going to try again and if you don’t answer this time, I afraid I’m going to have to break the door down.”
Fred knocked and banged and shouted. Suddenly, a small upstairs window opened and Tom Allcorn stuck his head out, “What’s all the noise about? Oh, my goodness,” he said as he saw the smoke and flames, “the barn’s on fire.”
Tom rushed downstairs and opened the door. He was wearing long-john underpants, a striped night-shirt, thick woollen socks and had a knitted hat, a sort of night-cap, on his head. He didn’t realise how funny he looked and, if he had, he probably wouldn’t have cared. He quickly put on his wellingtons and his big farmer’s coat. He was very agitated and kept repeating, “Oh, my goodness, the barn’s on fire.”
Fred and Tom rushed over towards the stable; Tom was delighted to see Alexander pointing the water jet at the burning barn and relieved to see the horses safely in the paddock..
There was a long ordinary hosepipe attached to a tap by the door on the stable wall. Tom turned on the tap, grabbed the end of the hose and he too directed a jet of water towards the fire. Fred was walking across to the paddock when Abbie came rushing towards him. “I think the fire engine’s coming, Granddad, I think I can hear a siren and there is something with a bright blue flashing light, coming down the hill.”
Fred and Abbie went over to the farm-yard gate to make sure that it was open wide enough to let the big fire engine in and, as it arrived, they were walking back to the scene of the fire. Suddenly, as they went past it, their ancient fire engine turned back into Old Fred’s van; there were no hose-pipes, no pumps, no big brass bell and no ladders, it wasn’t a fire engine anymore. William felt very silly, he had been pointing the heavy pipe at the fire and, then suddenly, without warning, he found himself standing there, in a puddle, pointing nothing at the blaze.
One of the real firemen, who didn’t know anything about Fred’s fire engine, said that he was surprised that Tom’s little hose pipe had made such an awful lot of water; the ground near the barn was a great muddy pool. Abbie started to tell him about her granddad’s fire engine but Fred whispered to her, “We’ll keep that a secret, love, we won’t tell anybody about it, I don’t think that they would understand.”
When the fire was out, the senior fire officer tried to find out how it had started. Tom told him that he had worked hard the day before, clearing up a load of old rubbish and had lit a bonfire. He said that it was well away from the barn and that he had made sure that it was out before he went to bed, that was why he was still asleep when Fred and the children arrived, he had stayed up working very late.
He had to agree, however, with the chief fire officer, that a breeze must have brought the smouldering embers back to life and a light wind, just a gentle breeze, must have carried a spark into the barn; there was no other explanation for the fire.
When the real fire engine had gone, Tom took Fred and the children into his farmhouse kitchen to make a pot of tea. While the kettle was boiling he went upstairs to get dressed. When he came down, a couple of minutes later, he made the tea and found some cans of drink in the fridge for the children.
“Do you know Fred,” he said, “I must have been in a bit of a state when I woke up, I must have looked a sight in my long-johns and woolly night-cap, and, do you know, this shows how silly I am getting in my old age, I actually thought that your van was an old fire engine.”
“Oh, really?” Fred replied, winking at the children.
Tom walked over to the van with Fred and the children as they were about to leave. “Good heavens,” he said, “look at the state of that, it’s covered in soot. I’m afraid that your old van needs a good wash and polish. Perhaps I should offer to help you, it’s the least I could do after all you’ve done for me.”
“Don’t worry,” replied Fred, “we were going to give it a thorough cleaning this morning, it’s nearly lunch time now so we’ll just do it this afternoon.”
Tom thanked them again and, as they drove away, stood waving from the farmyard gate.
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