Congratulations to Dick C. Waters, the readers’ choice in this week’s Indies Unlimited Flash Fiction Challenge. Thanks also to everyone who participated – excellent entries!
The winning entry is rewarded with a special feature here today and a place in our collection of winners which will be published as an e-book at year end.
Without further ado, here’s the winning entry:
Too Hot to Handle
by Dick C. Waters
We were all getting comfortable with our new Humvees. They were part of the luxury we earned for risking our lives containing forest fires…well, not exactly. The solid gold plaque on my dashboard is also a reminder.
These recent purchases were the reward for risking our lives. Not for fighting a new fire, but for ducking assault-rifle bullets.
It all started when our team of nine was sent in to fight a new fire. Once on the scene, we realized a very small plane had crashed. When we could get close enough to the remnants, we realized there was nothing we could do for what was left of two very large occupants. However, our hoses quickly revealed gold bars strewn about the crash site.
That is when, a lifted truck came crashing through the scorched underbrush, guns blazing. We have learned to move quickly fighting fires; those bullets certainly increased our speed.
From a distance, we watched the three shooters run to collect the gold bars. They were not the brightest vermin, but they learned quickly; not because the gold weighed 600 pounds, and not because that very small plane could ever carry all that weight over the mountain range. No, they learned because they were rushed to the hospital with third-degree burns.
Yup, that gold plaque is a constant reminder—‘If you play with fire, you will get burned…unless you know what you’re doing.’
Congratulations Dick, another great entry.
Thank you Aron. I’m glad you are still providing your own stories. Keep it up…one of your entries will be a future winner.