She couldn’t.
The boy was crying so hard he could barely breathe.
Grandma knelt beside them.
“Come on. I’ll help you.”
She pulled at the fallen display.
It wouldn’t move.
Smoke thickened around them.
The mother gripped Grandma’s wrist.
“Take my son.”
Grandma shook her head.
“I’m not leaving you.”
“Please.”
The boy coughed.
His mother looked at him.
Then back at Grandma.
“He’s only seven.”
Grandma tried lifting the display again.
Nothing.
Above them, something cracked.
The mother pushed her son forward.
“Get him outside.”
Grandma remembered looking at the nearby coat rack.
She grabbed the first heavy coat she could reach.
Dark green wool.
She wrapped it around the boy.
Pulled the thick wool over his shoulders.
Then she lifted him.
He clung to her neck.
“I want Mommy.”
“I know, sweetheart.”
“Don’t leave her.”
Grandma looked back.
The mother was still reaching toward them.
