ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — Ancient Greek scientists called aloe vera the universal panacea — a remedy for all difficulties or diseases.
St. John’s resident Vikkilynn McGrath could hear sirens wailing while she waited for her husband to pick her up from the Village mall.
McGrath works downtown, so she takes the bus to the west end, where her husband, Darcy Sauvageau, picks her up.
On Friday, Nov. 1, she was looking forward to relaxing at home after the long work week.
But Darcy was late, and he wasn’t replying to her text messages.
“Right away, I felt like there was something wrong, because he’s never late. Then, probably about 15 minutes later, he screeched into the parking lot. The dog was with him, and he had the Jeep piled up with all this stuff. I asked him, ‘What’s going on?’
“He said, ‘The house is on fire.’”
She recalls pulling up to their Cherrington Street home to see firefighters hosing the house, and neighbours gathering to watch the flames.
Telegram photographer Keith Gosse was also at the scene.
“We’re starting over pretty much from scratch.” — Vikkilynn McGrath
He spoke with platoon chief Roger Hounsell, who said they arrived at the scene and found heavy smoke and flames coming from the rear of the home.
They attacked the blaze from inside and outside, and had the fire put out fairly quickly, but not before the upper floor of the home, inside and out, suffered substantial damage.
Hounsell said the couple that lives upstairs were alerted to the fire by passersby, and escaped unharmed.
Meanwhile, the McGrath and Sauvageau were renting the basement apartment. Sauvageau was home with their elderly, blind dog when the fire alarm went off in their apartment. He went outside to look around and saw the fire upstairs.
With emergency crews on the way, Sauvageau quickly gathered the dog’s diabetes medication, their computer and anything else he could grab in a hurry, then left to pick up his wife.
When the fire was out, the couple were allowed back in their apartment to salvage what they could of their belongings.
“It was raining in the living room — all the water coming down from the fire,” McGrath said.
Aloe plant survives fire
Sitting on the windowsill was their aloe plant, which they had dubbed Allie.
Nine years ago, when the couple first moved in, the aloe plant was the only thing in the apartment.
“She was wilted, and we were going to throw her away, but I said, ‘No, no, we’ll go get some new dirt.’
“We put her in a fresh pot, and oh, my God, she bloomed — she had a whole lot of little sprouts which I gave to my mom and my friends.
“Over the years, she helped us with a lot of scrapes, burns and wounds.”
After the fire, Allie the aloe plant was the only thing in the basement that was dry.
All of the couple’s furniture and electronics had water damage, and a lot of their clothing did, too. They salvaged dishes, and their washer and dryer.
“It means a lot to me." — McGrath
“We’re starting over pretty much from scratch,” said McGrath.
They have stayed with her mother for the past few weeks.
While they search for a new home, they felt Allie the aloe also needed a fresh start.
“We can’t cart her around, and we can’t bring her to Mom’s — there’s no room over there because she’s a huge plant.”
They thought about the Bowring Park Conservatory, which has one section dedicated to desert plants, and luckily, there was space for the couple’s donation.
“When city staff were contacted, they were more than happy to help out and re-home the plant in the greenhouse,” a city spokesperson told The Telegram.
‘It’s a fresh start’
On Saturday morning, a cold wind slapped the greenhouse with rain, but it was warm inside. A city employee guided McGrath past lush exotic plants and shrubs to the desert section, where her donated aloe was transplanted.
“It means a lot to me,” she smiled, crouching down to touch the succulent.
She said it’s little things — like ensuring a long-loved plant has a home — that mean a lot when you’ve been through so much.
“To see her planted there right now, it’s just, oh, my gosh. I love it. I love it.”
While finding a home for the aloe was a welcome distraction, to McGrath it was also symbolic and therapeutic.
“Everyone keeps saying, ‘Everything happens for a reason,’ and at the time I didn’t think there was a reason. I was like, ‘What’s the reason for this?’ You know, my whole life all of a sudden seems gone, and I’m having to start over. But having to start over is not always a bad thing. It’s a fresh start.”
A fresh start for both the aloe, and McGrath and Sauvageau.
“For lack of a better phrase, it lit a fire under us to get us going.
“If it wasn’t for the fire, we’d probably still be going day by day, the same thing.
“Paycheque to paycheque, rent cheque to rent cheque, and still not moving towards our goal of having our own spot — something to call our own other than what’s in the apartment. Because now what’s in the apartment is gone, and the apartment wasn’t ours to begin with, and now that’s gone.”
A GoFundMe page was started for the couple to help them furnish a home when they’re able to move out of McGrath’s mother’s place. Nearly $2,000 has been donated since Nov. 3.
They’re now talking to mortgage brokers, and are working toward buying a house.
Wherever they settle down again, they plan to bring with them a snippet from Allie the aloe.
“We can either go back and just be OK, or we can learn from this, and move forward and make things better.
“Life really does sometimes throw you a curveball, but you’ve got to catch it, and run with it, and say, ‘I’m not going to let this get me down.’”
Twitter: @juanitamercer_
