Chapter 37: A Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight, Part 4

For the next several hours, Katya and Cyrus assisted people on the beach or sat with Catherine, quietly at times or sometimes sharing stories. The fire swept all the way to Fullerton Avenue to the cemetery, which would one day become Lincoln Park. Many more people would be stranded without shelter or food.

As night once again crept over the city, a gentle rain started to fall as if a gift from heaven. Rain had not fallen in Chicago for nearly a month. What would make it fall tonight to extinguish the flames, if not from God himself? Cyrus noticed an old man struggling as the wind knocked down his wooden shelter. He ran to help, but as he picked the lumber from off of the man, he cut a large gash on his arm. He secured the wooden shelter, and the man thanked him.

When he returned to the women, Katya noticed the cut on his arm. "Go and wash that in the lake," she said.