Working for a small weekly newspaper with minimal staff, I have often been assigned to cover a wide and disparate variety of assignments - politics and the prom, newlyweds and 50 year anniversaries, beginnings and endings. I never thought, though, about how my work can literally run the gamut, though, from tragedy to pure fun until yesterday when it all happened in one day.
On my way to work, I spotted thick black smoke and even though I hadn't heard any sirens, I decided to try to find it and check it out. I've done it before and most of the time, it's a local farmer burning off something in the field, nothing more. This time it was a serious townhome fire. I got there before the engines even arrived and found what you see in this photo. By that time I could hear the sirens on the way.
An 11 year old boy had been the first to spot it from where he sat, just hanging out in the park. He screamed, he told me, over and over. Only one person was home at the time, but heard the yelling and the man escaped. He was in the townhouse most effected by the fire and admitted he might not have gotten out had it not been for the boy.
Later that day I covered the first night of the local carnival. In going over the shots I took, I spotted one of kids on the Tilt-a-Whirl, screaming - in laughter this time, having fun. The boy in the shot is 11.