Story #47

The furnace is bleeding fire all over the basement. The children are hiding in the attic from their parents. The parents are inhaling fumes and pretending to be busy. The neighbors are talking about the clouds and how the smoke compliments them so well. The emergency services aren't around in general. The fire never asked to be brought into existence, but now that's it here it feels the need to raise hell. "Only three more stories to the attic," the fire says, "Only ten more houses to downtown."