Spell Fire

© Barbara V. Evers, Do Not Copy Without Permission

Karen sat forward, then settled back against the canvas beach chair.  She slapped at the gritty sand coating her ankles.  It clung in desperation to her saltwater-slick skin.  Sighing, she tried the “great beach read” again. After two sentences, she dropped the book to her lap and glanced at her husband.  Eyes closed, his chest rose and fell with low rumbles.  She squinted at the rising sun.

That’s when she got a whiff.  A scorched odor wafted on the cool ocean breeze.  It drifted in and out, pulled in waves, sometimes overpowering the essence of sunscreen and sweat.  She glanced around and lurched forward, yanking her sunglasses off as she twisted in the chair.  “What the—”

“Synbatec, wastopaneer, tacise.” A frenetic young man, dressed in coat and tie, boogied behind her. Flames licked upward battling the brilliant white glare of paper grasped in his hand.  “Synbatec.”  He shoved the papers away from his body, closer to the umbrella.

“Clark.” Karen gagged on bitter vomit surge and slapped her husband.  “Fire!  Wake up.”

The flames swarmed and crackled.  “Wastopaneer.”

“Wha-what?” Clark bolted upright.  Clunk! His head banged against Karen’s.

“Oof!”  Headache stars splintered her scalp. “Clark!  Fire.”  Chills swept across her skin. The crazy man stared into her, the conflagration creeping downward to his fingers and upward toward the beach umbrella.

Whoosh. Splat.

An arc of water crashed over the man.  Clark leaned over, sucking air, a neon green bucket tumbled at his feet.

The crazy man wailed, his body collapsing to the sand.  “No.” He plucked at the papers, a whine rising from the ground with him.  He glared at Clark.  “You ruined the spell.”

 “Spell?”  Clark inched backward.

The man plowed fingers through his hair. “Publication. Agent.  My last chance.  Argh. I’m doomed.”  He stalked away.

_______________________________________

 This was my Third Campaign Contest entry.  The guidelines:

Write a blog post in 300 words or less, excluding the title. The post can be in any format, whether flash fiction, non-fiction, humorous blog musings, poem, etc. The blog post should show:

• that it’s morning, 

• that a man or a woman (or both) is at the beach

• that the MC (main character) is bored

• that something stinks behind where he/she is sitting

• that something surprising happens.

Just for fun, see if you can involve all five senses AND include these random words: "synbatec," "wastopaneer," and "tacise."   (NB. these words are completely made up and are not intended to have any meaning other than the one you give them).

My entry word count:  298.

You can find the other posts here.  I'm # 124