flash fiction: burn
glass breaks at the front of the retail store, someone used an axe, which is apparent because the axe lays now on the ground, apparently no longer of use, probably from someone’s barn, maybe stolen, plenty of reasons to have an axe, plenty of trees and stubborn roots, but who knows what happens after it just broke this window — there was no reason for the window to be broken, 3 retail workers selling high-end men’s shoes, suits, wallets, belts, cigar boxes, all were there, with door open for business, one of the workers elwood ambre just started working there a couple months ago, at the time of the breaking glass leaning against a glass counter, with a woman interested in purchasing a new pair of brown dress shoes maybe for her boyfriend, she was asking elwood what he thought of blue socks with multi-colored diamond print, elwood’s first thought was elton john —
breaking glass comes initially across
as a robbery, get in fast and run out quick, throw an axe through the window to create a large space for easy in and out with supposedly a bunch of shoes, maybe the 1934 brand cologne, something that can be sold maybe on the street, an odd type of robbery — but no in the larger picture of things this wasn’t about robbing, elwood could tell that, because the people are jumping in, some faces are covered, someone has a baseball bat, no well 2 have baseball bats, the customer with elwood runs to the back of the store, someone else jumps in with a gas can, he starts pouring gas on the blue slacks on sale 20% off get rid of them the owner dusica said because the new season of clothes now coming in — someone puts a match to the gasoline-soaked pants and they light up, initially controlled, just to the table, the sign 20% off burns immediately, elwood screams he runs to the front of the store, he thinks to look back for his customer, but with the smoke building and the haze he can’t find her, if she’s in the bathroom she’ll be trapped —
elwood’s foot collides
with someone else’s foot, he’s being tripped, for god — he falls to the floor his arms stop him from face-planting oh this is — worried now about getting trampled, gasoline smell, elwood thinks he needs to make a call — someone yells traitor — someone yells racist — someone yells never again — yes dusica, what’s she’s said, people in town very angry, and now her store in an hour likely gone — elwood thinks to take something, the 1934 cologne, a couple bottles, nobody will notice it, in an half hour all these bottles just broken, shards, broom sweeping, it might smell sweet in here, overpowering even the gasoline if one wants to find the beauty in the burnt wreck sometime tomorrow while cleaning up, what do burnt clothes look like?
dusica finally appears from her lunch
she’s tearing the brown cloth off of someone’s face, before she punchers her — dusica yells for water, elwood just saving himself at this point ignores her — his co-workers charla and magda probably just behind nobody cares enough to get a bat in the head, town enemies, maybe move out, maybe to marion, there’s a mall there so plenty of clothes to sell, just go for the gap or something they stay neutral broad boring like their clothes, nobody burns down a gap, unless they’re burning down a target and a wal-mart, the whole world is burning of course — dusica found water somewhere and she throws it on some flames they just keep going — someone takes a bat to the rack of 1934 cologne all the bottles shatter elwood worries of people’s eyes, but he’s got 2 in his pocket, he’ll smell good while the world burns —
Image by Ronald Plett from Pixabay
