Tag Archives: fire
A Night at the Hacienda
One hot night, later in the Armenian summer of 4465, the Adroushans were watching TV before bed. The windows of the house were open to prevent the house from functioning as an oven. The Adroushans heard shouts outside that rose above the TV laugh track. Armen ran out to see what was going on. He [...]
In the Heat of the Kitchen
Cindy’s parents dreaded those inevitable occasions when fire would assert its ascendancy, such as it did on the day the toaster shorted out and ignited. Cindy saw the flames. She retreated through the nearest doorway and watched her mother suffocate the fire with a stack of hand towels. Afterward, Cindy saw the scorched bread. She [...]
Ignition
When she was about age five, Cindy began to grow visibly uncomfortable indoors. The whole thing started somewhat innocuously with a minor burn. At the time, her parents were amused at how well she learned the lesson of the stovetop. Her brother Armen, they’d recalled, had forgotten the lesson by suppertime; in fact, they weren’t [...]
Girl in the Mirror
During those days and nights of wandering among the cities of the plain, Zal met a girl. He found himself looking back on his burning home, and he thought he saw something move in a window. He drew cautiously closer to see what had stirred behind the glowing glass, and he looked through the window [...]
Waking the Dragon
Flame erupted through the heavy night air. It leapt out of the coffee can and reached out to the tall and yellow grass. It devoured the standing hay in big mouthfuls, sucking in the air and exhaling heat and smoke, sending a sandy haired boy, a yellow dog, and a swarm of yellow jackets flying [...]
HC SVNT DRACONES
Behrooz had been given a second chance with his new job in the California oil industry, but his heart had little capacity for redemption. The spirits of the Tennessee firewater still possessed him, and the dragon’s breath filled the house. The very walls—even the frame of the house—seemed saturated with liquor breath, like a well-oiled [...]
The Heir
Behrooz had succeeded at being an Iranian for much of his youth, but the ghosts of the occupation were rising within him. Something had released them, and now he could feel them surfacing, plotting to occupy him. If only he had never heard the stories. He lifted the bourbon to his lips. Zal waved the [...]
The Occupation
Napping deep in his easy chair with cigarette smoldering, Behrooz Kermani dreamed. He dreamt of the white grapes of the Zagros, the mountains east of his home, and the white wine of Shiraz; the forbidden wine of the poets and mystics of Persia. The wine of so many songs and so few lips, the forbidden [...]
Epilogue
Big Oak Flat Road Mehekan Aramazd, 4503 February 21, 2011 Twenty years have passed since I left this place. Yes, I do visit here on occasion. I might be drawn back by a memory of a sleepless night on a starry ridge. I might wish to sleep with the Giants once more. I might miss [...]
What is fire?
No definition is perfectly concise. We associate words with images and pretend that we all agree on their meaning, but we are occasionally reminded that we don’t always agree. I remember, as a child, being surprised to hear that school buses are yellow, having been of the opinion that school buses are orange. “Fire” is [...]