Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: FIZZLE (06/09/16)
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TITLE: No sizzle left | Previous Challenge Entry
By Jack Taylor
06/11/16 -
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“Jason!” she bellowed. “What was that?”
I pushed up off of her and knelt, surveying the surging cloud of ash and the orange flicker of flowing lava just below. “It’s Santiaguito,” I answered. “We’ve reached the volcano.”
Hector, our guide, rose from his crouched position and pulled at Sharene’s pack. “Senorita, the first aid kit, por favor.”
Sharene shrugged off the pack and rolled onto her side before sitting, elbows on knees, head in hands. “I trusted you,” she shouted. She looked up at me. “You told me a little adventure in Guatemala would heighten our romance; add a little sizzle; that it would be a perfect place for our engagement.”
I rose and took a step toward her. “It looked good on the brochures. They said camping by a live volcano would get us close to heaven.”
Sharene jumped up and pointed toward the lava flow. The ash caked on her ebony hair and all over her crimson hoodie. “Look at that lava,” she yelled, pointing. “That’s not heaven. That is hell.”
Hector held out a cloth to Sharene but she waved him away. The setting sun cast ominous shadows over the landscape.
I took another step toward her but she stopped me with that death stare. I could swear she got some of that lava in her eyes.
Hector tried to talk sense into her. “Senorita, we’re at 12,000 feet. The whole Southern side of this mountain was blown away in 1902. This is just a small thing, like Old Faithful.”
Sharene started pacing like a caged tiger. “Why is that steam coming up out of the ground?”
“It’s just the vents,” I said. “It’s getting cold. We need to build a fire.”
“There’s nothing alive up here,” she said. “It’s like the moon. Why is there all this fog?”
Hector moved closer to Sharene. “Senorita. Come away from the edge. It will soon sound again. We need to make a fire and eat.”
Seconds later a plume of jet propelled ash hurtled into the sky and up into the night clouds. The accompanying screech sounded louder than the first. Like snow, grey-white flakes settled all over us. Sulfur fumes took any potential pleasure away.
“Get me out of here,” Sharene snarled. “Your sizzle is now fizzle. I wouldn’t trust you with another second of my life.”
“Honey, hundreds of people have done this. We’ll get back to the forest tomorrow and hike out to Xela. It’ll be fine.”
Sharene shone her flashlight onto a flatter patch and threw her pack in place. She knelt beside it and started unpacking.
The icy winds probed through my parka. The wind wasn’t the only icy thing up here.
Hector assembled a ring of lava rocks and soon had a fire roaring; its crackles pierced the deafening silence in this ash covered death zone; the zombie’s playground.
Sharene set up her own pup tent and energetically zipped it shut. Her message was clear.
Hector and I pulled ponchos around ourselves and added a blanket for good measure. We curled up by the fire and tried to ignore the volcanic screeches and engine blasts that sounded hour after hour. Finally, I dozed.
I woke to a scream. It was Sharene. Endless starlight filled the canvas of the heavens.
I jumped up and saw a flashlight beam several dozen yards away. “What is it?” I called. “Are you okay?”
Sharene did not sound pleased. “You could have told me there were wild dogs up here. That thing nearly bit me.”
Hector stood beside me. “Senorita, they are looking for food.”
“How was I supposed to know? I came out and left my tent unzipped. That little runt held me off while its partner snuck into my pack and stole my food.”
“What do you want me to do?” I asked.
“If you laugh I’ll throw you into the volcano myself.”
“What are you doing out there?”
“I sure wasn’t saying my prayers if you can’t figure it out.”
Hector stirred the glowing embers and tried to blow them into life.
Sharene stepped up with her canteen and waved him back. She poured out her water on the coals and let her flashlight catch the result. “Hear that, Jason?” she said.
“The sizzle?”
“No, the fizzle! That’s us.”
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