_      On Wednesday, December 14, my family and I were heading to Anchorage when I was told we were going to turn around and head back home. I asked why and my dad told me that the car was acting up; then it stopped.  I looked up after I smelled something funny. I realized the car was smoking bad. Dad was looking on the dashboard to see what it was that was smoking when I told him it wasn’t the dash; it was coming from under the hood of the car. He jumped out and popped the hood. All I could see was a cloud of smoke and the lick of a flame around the hood. “Get out of the car hurry up, and grab the bags,” dad said. We listened, and before we knew it, we had run about 30 feet behind the car, without our shoes.

I threw a blanket on the ground and told the girls to step on it and wait for me to come back. I took off for the rest of the stuff and left it with them. Pulling on my sweater we waited in silence. We waited until dad had put the fire out and called us back. Happily we ran for the car. Our feet numb and fingers chilled, we got in and sat, warming ourselves as we waited for my sister Danyle and Trooper Heinbaugh to come. When they arrived we told them what happened. The older two of my nieces, my nephew, and I climbed into the back of the Trooper Heinbaugh’s police car. Danyle pulled the car to a pull off and dad got in the trooper car with us. We where brought to the Glennallen hub, where we waited for about an hour for a ride to come from Chitina. Then we went home. Our minds scrambled into a heap of emotions from the excitement.