C4 antho - Chamber Four

Dragon
_______
by Steve Frederick
from Night Train
Watching his breath steam the frozen air, Wyatt considers
tugging loose the tumbleweeds one by one and burning
them in a barrel. Weeks of hard frost and winter wind have
stuffed the wire fence along his property line with the long
nest of tangled debris. After struggling with a few of the
prickly spheres he decides instead to burn them where they
sit. In his work shed, he finds a can of gasoline and some
newspapers. While inside, he lifts a pint of vodka from a
drawer and pauses for a few long swallows.
At the fence corner abutting the county road, he wets a
corner of the paper with gas and strikes a match, ignites a
few of the weeds and steps back. The oily twigs sputter and
flare, the fire creeping along the fence like a lit fuse. He
drops the smoldering paper, stamps it out, and hustles to the
side of the house to get a hose running.
When he turns the faucet handle, the water won’t come;
it’s frozen inside the coils. Pulling the hose straight he’s startled
by a pop from the gas can, followed by a whoomp from
the fuel that sends a fireball rolling across the lawn, the heat
hitting him in the face and pushing him stumbling backward.
Amazed, he watches as the spreading fence fire reaches the
dead cedar near the house and climbs the outer branches. In
moments, the entire tree erupts with a towering roar.
His wife, Dawnell, runs from the house screaming. Wyatt
turns desperate, yanking on the hose in panic. She yells,
“Stop it, Wyatt! You idiot!” The hose breaks off the spigot
and water streams onto the lawn. “Shut up!” he yells.