Ctrl-Z by Andrew Norriss

garden he found a stick in the earth
     at the far edge of the lawn. Perfect! He grabbed it in his teeth and did what all sensible dogs do with a stick – he carried
     it back to his master.
    Callum had been right when he told Alex that you should never go back to a firework once you had lit it. The blue touchpaper
     of The Mortar had been slightly damp, but it was still smouldering. Now, with the air blowing past it as Mojo raced down the
     garden it suddenly ignited and a moment later balls of phosphorous began bursting from the can at the end of the stick.
    If The Mortar had been stuck in the ground,
the balls of fire would have shot up into the air, but because Mojo was holding the stick in his teeth, they shot out sideways.
     The first of them travelled across the ground at about knee height, straight towards Callum.
    Callum squeaked in panic and stepped to one side, but there were already others following. In a series of dazzling colours,
     they shot out from the firework to splatter all over the garden. One of them went into the fence, another flew
over
the fence to land on top of Mr Kowalski’s shed, and two more flew towards the house. The first of them bounced harmlessly
     off the brick, but the other went straight through the open back door into the kitchen.
    There was a faint
whoompf
as the burning ball landed in a bowl of paraffin that Mrs Howard had been using to soak the grease from a section of engine
     mounting, and ignited. The bowl was actually an old ice‐cream tub, and two seconds later, one side of the tub melted in the
     heat of the flames and the paraffin, still alight, poured out on to the floor.
    The pool of fire spread rapidly from the back door to the door that led into the hall and then over towards the sink, where
     Lilly was in her wheelchair, getting herself a drink. The flickering blue flames meant she was trapped, Alex realized.

    The burning paraffin cut her off from both the back door and the door to the hallway and there was no way out. She looked
     across at Alex. She didn’t say anything, but her eyes were wide and frightened.
    By now the newspaper Mrs Howard had placed under the tub of paraffin to catch any drips was alight as well and burning fiercely
     in the doorway. There was a
pop
as something in one of the kitchen cupboards exploded in the heat and there were more flames licking up the varnish on the
     door to the hall.
    What Alex needed to do was press Ctrl‐Z, but his computer was in the dining room. He had left it there when he collected the
     fireworks – ready and set with the time before he started so that all he had to do was walk in and press Ctrl‐Z – and now
     he couldn’t get to it without walking through burning paraffin. There was no other way into the house. The front door was
     locked and there were no windows open. The only way to the dining room was through the knee‐high flames and he didn’t think
     he could do it. He didn’t even have shoes on…
    Callum appeared, white‐faced, beside Alex. The boys watched, frozen, as the flames moved across the floor until they were
     lapping at the wheels of Lilly’s chair. She screamed.

    ‘Hang on!’ said Callum. ‘I’m coming…’
    Alex pulled him back. It might sound callous, but he knew the important thing was not to rescue Lilly, but to get through
     to his computer. ‘I’ll go,’ he said, and was about to step into the fire when a hand descended on his shoulder and pulled
     him back.
    It was Mr Kowalski, old Mr Kowalski with his unshaven chin and his cardigan with the holes in the elbows, and he was pushing
     both boys away from the door.
    ‘Stay back,’ he said gruffly. ‘Both of you!’ And then he was walking into the kitchen, taking no more notice of the flames
     around his feet than if he were wading through a patch of long grass, and he was scooping Lilly up and out of the wheelchair
     and carrying her in his arms with long, careful strides back through the door and out into the garden