Lisa* brought me my coffee while I was creating a few Twitter masterpieces this morning. She and Lindsay** were in the kitchen waiting for the kettle to boil.
I took a sip and saw them entering the paranormal room. I have no idea what Lindsay could do with alchemy tools and ancient scrolls, and I didn’t want to find out. I carried my cup to the doorway.
“…stone flooring is perfect for something like this,” Lindsay said. “If an ember escapes the fireplace it’ll be safer.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” I said. “What’s going on here?”
“She’s showing me some covert ways to start a fire,” Lisa said.
“Why exactly?”
“Because it’s interesting,” Lindsay said. She fluffed up a piece of fine steel wool and sat it inside the fireplace, then she took out a simple battery. Lisa back pedaled and moved behind the couch.
“I’ve had some bad experiences with electricity,” Lisa said. “I can zoom in and see from here.”
Lindsay shrugged and touched the terminals to the steel wool. It immediately lit on fire. It looked something like this video.
We watched the steel wool burn, and Lindsay said, “It’s about twenty five hundred degrees.”
Then she took out an ordinary ball of cotton, fluffed it up, and placed it on the opposite side of the fireplace. She pulled a small tube from her purse. “Simple nail glue.” She poured the entire tube over the cotton and sat down. “This one takes some time.”
It took a few minutes and spontaneously burst into flames. It looked something like this video.
“The best part, is all the evidence burns up in the fire. Imagine trying to find one burnt cotton ball at the bottom of a house fire.”
She took out a tiny perfume bottle and sprayed it on the burning cotton. The interior of the fireplace burst into flames and faded. “All kinds of things will accelerate the fire, hairspray, baby powder, some eye shadow. Do you want to see?”
My iPhone vibrated, and I looked at the message. “Nope. We have to figure out how to get Perry out here.”
“Why?” Lisa asked.
“I’ve been invited on the Meet My Character blog tour.”
Lisa gestured toward Lindsay. “We’re both characters of yours, and I’m a main character.”
“I know, but all the bloggers know you. They ought to meet Perry on this tour.”
Lindsay slid out a credit card thin cell phone from her wallet. “I promised to call him today anyway. Maybe he can take me home when we’re finished.”
* Lisa is the main character in Wild Concept. She’s a robot and helps me around the cabin these days.
** Lindsay Pennington is a supporting character in my newest book, Arson.
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