The Firefighter

Chapter 1 - Bush Fires in Australia

On a stiflingly hot Australian summer day, the bush fires were burning out of control across many of the States and Territories. It was being reported on the local news and had been picked up by international news media outlets too. Charlotte, who lived in rural New South Wales, was aware of the more than 100 bush fires burning in her home State. She lived on a sheep farm that was surrounded by natural bush. She wasn't too worried about a fire as she had lived on the farm most of her 25 years and had never had one burn across the lands of her farm or the other nearby farms. However, while she was helping one of the ewes to give birth in one of the stables, one of the ranchers came around the corner smoking.

"Hey, Charlotte?" he shouted to her as he lent against the stable door.

"Yes, Ben. What is it? Can't you see that I'm busy with birthing one of the sheep from our flocks over here."

"Yeah, sure darling. How would you like to accompany me to the barn dance on Saturday night?"

"Ah, no thanks, Ben. You have asked me before and I'm still not interested. I need to be on the farm that night as we are expecting two more ewes to give birth and if there are any complications, I need to be here to sort the issues out." Since Charlotte was a trained vet who worked on her family farm and at most of the other farms in the area, she was often on call.

"You're just making excuses, darling. I know that you have the hots for me!" he said with a chuckle, then Ben turned around and wandered off. Charlotte sometimes wondered what he did all day. He was meant to be the local handyman, but you couldn't find him when you had an emergency. She changed her focus back to the sheep and once the birth was over, she cleaned up, and left the ewe and her newly born lamb to get to know one another and share each other's company.

First-time moms, especially yearlings, are more likely to have single births, though twins are not uncommon in some breeds. Ewes produce their largest litters of lambs when they are between the ages of 3 and 6. There are some breeds of sheep that average more than two lambs per litter.

Charlotte was familiar with how to aid the birth of more than one lamb and had saved the lives of many ewes and their lambs. As a vet, she specialised in sheep farming. Another issue she dealt with was sheep that were accidentally injured when being sheared of their wool. Some of the sheep shearers were excellent at their job but a few of the new shearers weren't as careful as the more experienced shearers. They would call her if they nicked the skin and she would come and stop the bleeding and sometimes sew a few stitches. Fortunately, this didn't happen too often, so the sheep were generally safe from harm.

Charlotte loved being a vet and even when she had to perform surgery to save an animal's life. She wouldn't exchange her job for one in an office because she felt as if she was making a difference in the world.