1953…

It was November, and Ann would soon have completed her year eight studies at Northern High School. The holidays would arrive again, and some of the orphan girls at Freedom Fields would have other places to visit for the summer holidays. Although orphans, they had friends to accommodate them. The others would stay at the orphanage, as Ann would be doing.

After a whole day of school, Ann was often eagerly awaiting an opportunity for adventure. On one particular Wednesday afternoon this opportunity arose without warning. Ann was riding home from school on the bus as usual, when she noticed that one of the two storey houses was on fire.

Ann pulled the cord, which activated a small light and bell beside the driver, signaling him to stop the bus and open the doors for passengers to alight at the next bus stop. Clutching her schoolbag in her hand, Ann stepped out of the bus, hid her schoolbag in a nearby tree's convenient branches, and ran back to the scene of the fire.

In the garden, some distance away from the flames, a frantic lady was talking to one of the spectators who had been drawn to the scene by the sight of the flames.

"My little girl's asleep up there!" she said, "I've called the fire department, and the house is insured, but what about my little girl?"
The flames were billowing out amidst the smoke, both of which emanated from the downstairs rooms of the house. There was no time to wait for the fire engine to arrive. The flames could spread to the upper rooms. They could even burn through the floorboards of the room where the girl was sleeping.

"Which room is she in?" asked Ann.

"Oh, the one at the back," shrieked the lady in a tone of voice which was hinting at the words            "How could you help? You're only a young schoolgirl."

"If I race back to take my mask from my schoolbag, then that girl might die in the meantime," thought Ann, "So I will have to take a risk on being identified and do things differently."

She asked Wendell if he minded the risk she was about to take, and he said no. To him it was one more exciting adventure, and the girl’s mother was now out of earshot.

Ann ran around the corner, unfolding the anti-gravity triangles attached to her bracelets. At school, they were folded into the shape of a decorative ornament. However, now they would enable her to float towards the house. She waited nearly a minute to be sure that there were no passing cars or pedestrian spectators, and then touched the hidden controls and began to rise into the air. Soon she was able to see over the rooftops, and caught a glimpse of the smoke which was pouring out of the endangered house. She put her hands out in front of her and - as she had been practicing for some time now - floated over the rooftops of several houses. The movement was almost like the flight of an aeroplane. The clouds of smoke would probably hide her from the view of the people in the front yard, but she stayed behind the house and faced towards it in order to prevent the neighbours form identifying her.

"There's bound to be someone looking at the scene," thought Ann, as she lowered herself to a hover position outside the closest upstairs back window. The room was full of toys, books, and a rocking horse.

"No girl asleep in there. So she must be in the other one," thought Ann. She flew over to the other window and saw the girl asleep. For many seconds Ann knocked loudly on the glass, until the girl finally stirred and looked up at Ann in amazement.

"Open the window!" called Ann, "Your house is on fire!"

The girl opened the window as instructed, and marvelled at Ann's apparant ability to fly.

You're in a lot of danger if you stay up here," said Ann, "And you cannot walk down the stairs, because there are lots of flames in the downstairs rooms."

"Where's my mummy?"

"She's in the front garden, but she is very worried about you. So why don't you climb out the window and I'll carry you down to the ground?"
"Yes, thank you."

The girl would have been only six or seven years old. Ann could easily carry her, but she needed her hands free to work the controls of the triangles.

"You climb onto the windowsill. That's it," said Ann.

She reached over and lifted the girl into her arms, and slowly found herself sinking.

"Of course," thought the young heroinne, "I don't need to work the controls. I was going to swing this little darling into a piggy back position, so I could have my hands free. However, the extra weight is causing us to sink slowly. It is not fast enough to be like falling, but we will soon be down."

As a precaution, Ann kicked out at the wall of the house with one of her legs. The movement propelled the two of them away from the house. When they reached the ground they were safely away from any of the flames in the downstairs room.

"Now what's your name little girl?"

"Kay."

"Well Kay, I have to go now, but you should go to your mummy. Don't go near the house. Walk around near the side fence over there."

Ann pointed towards the fence.

"Then go to where Mummy is out the front. Do you understand what to do?"

The girl nodded and ran towards the fence.