15 in 1 Fic: Disaster "Summer in the City"
Title: Summer in the City
Rating: T, because Mary has a bit of a potty mouth
Summery: A heat wave and a drought are never good. Mix in a pyromaniac witness and you know nothing good can come of it.
Authors Note: This was written for the
15genres1prompt challenge. As a reminder, the prompt is "luck". This is a "disaster" fic, but it is a bit funny...at least I think so.
Summer in the City
Hot and dry was nothing new to Albuquerque, but this summer it seemed worse. The whole South West was in the middle of a record breaking drought, there hadn’t been rain in New Mexico in almost a year. There had been a few feet of snow that winter; nothing like there normally would have been, even in the mountains. The winter snow pack was barely enough for skiers, and the season had been much shorter than usual. Coupled with the recoded breaking heats during the summer and they were in dire straights. Outdoor watering was banned and the dry brush seemed charged and ready to burst into flame it you looked at it wrong.
Rolling blackouts were the order of the day as the constant running of air conditioner’s taxed the power grid. Marshall had been to see a family six months into the program who had previously called Northern Main home. They had witnessed a mob hit while vacationing in New York for Christmas and hadn’t really adjusted to their new life yet. Never having lived somewhere where 90 degrees was considered cool wasn’t helping them any.
As he walked into the Witsec offices he heard Mary yelling at Stan and sighed. No matter how many years she’d lived here, she still wasn’t used to the weather and was always just a bit grumpier when it got hot.
“It’s over 100 degrees out there Stan! And the humidity is somewhere around negative 90%. Did anyone in the justice department think before they decided to relocate a pyromaniac to a fire just waiting to happen!?!”
“It’s not up to us, you know that Mary. And you’re not the only one with witness and weather issues. Marshall has a whole family about to melt.”
“I don’t know Stan,” Marshal said, coming into the conversation, “I think I’d rather have Mary’s witness. Stick him in the center of town, away from any open fields; check him every day for lighters and matches and it should be fine.”
“Nice try. I’m not talking the great melting family,” Mary snorted. “I don’t want to have to explain, again, that setting the AC to 65 and running 10 fans in every room is only going to make the risk of a black out even higher.”
As if summoned my Mary mentioning it, the lights blinked out and the gentle hum that had been the AC stopped. In the silence and dimness that followed a voice cut through the still air. “That’s just fucking great.”
“Language, Mary, please.” Stan said, defeat in his voice, knowing that she wasn’t going to listen to him.
“Does anyone else smell smoke?” Marshall asked, looking around for Mary’s witness who had been sitting in the conference room while Mary told off Stan for things out of his control.
They all looked toward the bank of windows that lined the patio and saw a whiff of smoke coming from a trashcan, with Mary’s witness standing next to it.
“Oh Hell,” Stan said, looking at the smoke.
“See Stan, that’s why this is a bad idea.” Mary said; her voice smug and annoyed at the same time. She grabbed a fire extinguisher and headed out side.
“It’s not going to end well for him,” Marshall observed as Mary laid into her witness, backing him up against the wall.
“No, it’s not.” Stan agreed and then smiled. “Got any popcorn?”
“Sadly, no. The powers out,” Marshall said, eyes riveted on the scene outside the window.
“Right,” Stan said. “Hot enough outside to pop it though.”
“No kidding.”
“Want to try it?”
“Out there with Mary? Not on your life.”
Rating: T, because Mary has a bit of a potty mouth
Summery: A heat wave and a drought are never good. Mix in a pyromaniac witness and you know nothing good can come of it.
Authors Note: This was written for the
15genres1prompt challenge. As a reminder, the prompt is "luck". This is a "disaster" fic, but it is a bit funny...at least I think so.
Summer in the City
Hot and dry was nothing new to Albuquerque, but this summer it seemed worse. The whole South West was in the middle of a record breaking drought, there hadn’t been rain in New Mexico in almost a year. There had been a few feet of snow that winter; nothing like there normally would have been, even in the mountains. The winter snow pack was barely enough for skiers, and the season had been much shorter than usual. Coupled with the recoded breaking heats during the summer and they were in dire straights. Outdoor watering was banned and the dry brush seemed charged and ready to burst into flame it you looked at it wrong.
Rolling blackouts were the order of the day as the constant running of air conditioner’s taxed the power grid. Marshall had been to see a family six months into the program who had previously called Northern Main home. They had witnessed a mob hit while vacationing in New York for Christmas and hadn’t really adjusted to their new life yet. Never having lived somewhere where 90 degrees was considered cool wasn’t helping them any.
As he walked into the Witsec offices he heard Mary yelling at Stan and sighed. No matter how many years she’d lived here, she still wasn’t used to the weather and was always just a bit grumpier when it got hot.
“It’s over 100 degrees out there Stan! And the humidity is somewhere around negative 90%. Did anyone in the justice department think before they decided to relocate a pyromaniac to a fire just waiting to happen!?!”
“It’s not up to us, you know that Mary. And you’re not the only one with witness and weather issues. Marshall has a whole family about to melt.”
“I don’t know Stan,” Marshal said, coming into the conversation, “I think I’d rather have Mary’s witness. Stick him in the center of town, away from any open fields; check him every day for lighters and matches and it should be fine.”
“Nice try. I’m not talking the great melting family,” Mary snorted. “I don’t want to have to explain, again, that setting the AC to 65 and running 10 fans in every room is only going to make the risk of a black out even higher.”
As if summoned my Mary mentioning it, the lights blinked out and the gentle hum that had been the AC stopped. In the silence and dimness that followed a voice cut through the still air. “That’s just fucking great.”
“Language, Mary, please.” Stan said, defeat in his voice, knowing that she wasn’t going to listen to him.
“Does anyone else smell smoke?” Marshall asked, looking around for Mary’s witness who had been sitting in the conference room while Mary told off Stan for things out of his control.
They all looked toward the bank of windows that lined the patio and saw a whiff of smoke coming from a trashcan, with Mary’s witness standing next to it.
“Oh Hell,” Stan said, looking at the smoke.
“See Stan, that’s why this is a bad idea.” Mary said; her voice smug and annoyed at the same time. She grabbed a fire extinguisher and headed out side.
“It’s not going to end well for him,” Marshall observed as Mary laid into her witness, backing him up against the wall.
“No, it’s not.” Stan agreed and then smiled. “Got any popcorn?”
“Sadly, no. The powers out,” Marshall said, eyes riveted on the scene outside the window.
“Right,” Stan said. “Hot enough outside to pop it though.”
“No kidding.”
“Want to try it?”
“Out there with Mary? Not on your life.”