A Good Find by Gary L Beer (chrysanthemum read aloud .TXT) 📕

see no sign of life. Lighting the lighter he puts it to one of the curtains catching it alight. As the flame races up the curtain Dippa lights the other one and backs out of the kitchen hurriedly.
Walking quickly, Dippa enters the lounge and sets light to the three sets of curtains before doing the same to the two sets of curtains in the dining room. Satisfied that this will be enough he hurries down the hall, pausing as he reaches the front door, he looks back at the smoke billowing from the kitchen. Smiling he reaches out to open the door, as his fingers touch the door handle the door flies open breaking his finger. Curly Pete rushes at Dippa his face contorted into a fit of rage.
In his pain Dippa manages to point the gun at Curly Pete and pulls the trigger as Curly Pete crashes into him knocking him to the floor, with Pete's now dead form on top of him!
Dippa tries to get out from under the huge weight that is pushing down on him and only manages to free his left arm. The broken finger gushes with blood where bone sticks out of the flesh and Dippa screams in agony. Desperately he tries to push Curly Pete off of him but each time he pushes, more blood gushes out of his finger followed by an excruciating pain all the way up the arm. His other hand and arm are trapped painfully between himself and Curly Pete and Dippa screams in desperation and fear.
The smell of smoke reaches his nostrils and he starts to panic, wriggling his body he tries to get out from under Curly Pete but does not have the strength. Smoke from the kitchen starts to billow towards him. The fire feeds hungrily on the fresh air coming in through the front door. Dippa starts to cough as the smoke thickens, with Curly Pete on top of him this is a painful thing to do. Struggling to breathe in with the heavy weight on him crushing the breath out of him Dippa puts his damaged hand across his face, blood from the broken finger drips into his eyes making him panic further. Trying to wipe the blood out of his eye with his wrist Dippa does not see the approaching flames as the fire spreads quickly into the hall.
The heat of the flames as they approach Dippa makes him scream in frustration and tears flood into his eyes obscuring his vision totally. Curly Pete's trousers catch fire first and the smell of his burning hair makes Dippa want to throw up. Trying to retch under the heavy weight, forces some of his stomach contents into his mouth. As he tries to breathe he sucks in fragmented meat and acid tasting bile into his lungs.
Curly Pete's shirt catches alight setting Dippa's T-shirt alight, Dippa tries to scream and cough and breathe in all at the same time as his hair catches alight, coughing painfully Dippa starts to scream as the fire engulfs him.

As Stef takes the turning for the seafront he sees a big cloud of smoke hovering over part of the town, blue flashing lights confirm there is a house on fire in an expensive suburb on the other side of town to where they live. Stef remembered looking at a flat in the area before they got the flat they are living in and he remembers that there wasn't a house under three quarters of a million in the road where the flat was. The flat was expensive and well above their budget but as it was one of only three in the entire town that was on offer they had gone along to have a look.
A policeman steps out onto the road about a hundred metres away and puts his hand up for Stef to stop.
Stef pulls up slowly and winds the window down as he approaches him; “The seafront is blocked further down sir, where is it that you are going?”
Stef's mind races and he smiles up at the young looking policeman; “That's Ok, I'm going to take the next right as I need to get some petrol.”
“The town is clear that way sir, have a nice evening.” the policeman politely says and waves Stef forwards.
Putting the car in gear Stef drives slowly away and takes the next turning right, once out of sight of the policeman he puts his foot down and hurries across town to his flat. Pulling up in the next street, Stef carefully picks up the pane of glass and little tool bag and walks quietly and quickly along the path and into the back alley. Approaching the back gate he puts his tool bag down and carefully leans the pane of glass against the frame of the gate. Opening the gate wide Stef looks about the garden and up at the windows of the flats above. Only one light shines from the kitchen of the top flat. With the Polish couples fast asleep above him Stef picks up his tool bag and walks along the path to the back door. Unlocking it he opens it wide and puts his tool bag onto the worktop, walking softly he retrieves the pane of glass and returning to the flat he wastes no time in replacing the glass.
A half hour later Stef washes his hands in the sink using the washing up liquid as the soap as his fingers have become covered in silicone. Stef had never mastered the silicone gun tending to squeeze the silicone into lumps rather than an even line, hence the mess! Stef had put the silicone onto the window frame in his usual style and when he pushed the glass in silicone oozed out covering the glass. Stef had tried to wipe it clean but all he achieved was spreading it further and inevitably some got onto his hands. Wiping his nose resulted in silicone on his nose which seems to soak into the skin and stay there as a slimy covering. Stef washes and scrubs his hands several times and the silicone still remains. Picking up the towel he rubs his hands hard into the material hoping the absorbent towel will soak up the silicone. Furiously he rubs his nose with the towel and succeeds in only removing a small amount as his nose and hands still remain slimy.
Putting his tools back into the tool bag he puts the bag outside and washes his hands again rubbing them dry on the towel; and the sticky substance still remains! Going outside he approaches the flowerbed and pushes his hands into the moist soil. Rubbing the soil into his hands he searches around for some dry soil, finding some under a small bush he rubs it into his hands and also his nose. Going back into the kitchen he washes his hands and nose several times before drying himself on the towel. Throwing the towel into a corner of the kitchen Stef, after a quick look around to make sure he has left nothing behind and walks out of the kitchen. Shutting the back door quietly he locks it and picking up his tool bag he makes his way back to his car and drives slowly away.
The town has quietened, blue flashing lights and a small cloud of smoke show that the house fire is getting under control, Stef takes a left turn to avoid the town and reaches the main highway and heads for home.

“What are we going to do now?” asks Carol.
They are sitting at home and several days have passed since the fire and deaths of their friends. Eric had tried to go and see Steve this morning and was dismayed to see Steve's house half burnt down. Police guarded the entrance and forensics still searched through the burnt remains. Eric had been aware that there had been a fire in this area but didn't suspect that it was Steve's house. The house fire and six deaths had been on the local news but Eric and Carol had not paid much attention thinking it was no concern of theirs.
“What can we do? I think that we have enough money to go and stay in the mountains for a few months until things quieten down.”
“Can we stay in the Elan Valley like we did last time?”
“That sounds a good idea.” smiles Eric as he looks at his watch; “If we pack now we can leave this evening and be there in the morning.”
Carol stands up from where she had been sitting on the couch; “I'll be ready in an hour.” she says laughing with relief and excitement at the thought of escaping to the mountains.

Bang, bang, bang. Stef lifts his head from the pillow and looks at the clock; the time is six-thirty in the morning! Who could that be pounding on the door?
Bang, bang, bang.
“What's going on?” shouts a frightened Nicola.
“Dunno, stay there I'll go and have a look” Stef tells her as he jumps out of bed, hurrying to the window he pulls back the curtain and looks out, it is Simon about to pound on the door again. Stef hurriedly opens the window; “Leave it out will yer? It's six-thirty in the morning, what's the matter with you?” he shouts.
Simon laughs; “Open the door Dude and let me in am I gonna make you smile.” he says waving a newspaper in Stef's direction.
Stef shuts the window as Nicola gets out of bed; “I'll let him in, make yourself decent will you?” he says as he hurries out the room avoiding the angry retort from Nicola.
Stef opens the door; “What on earth are you doing up this time of day?” he asks.
“I run out of cigarettes last night, been awake for hours waiting for the paper shop to open and look what I've got.” he laughs pushing the newspaper at Stef.
Stef takes the newspaper from Simon's outstretched hand and opens it to the front page as the headlines seem to shout at him; 'Drug gang burnt in mystery fire' say the headlines, photos of the gang below the headlines with their names beneath cover the front page.
“We're free Dude; that's the people who we took the money from.” Simon laughs, a broad smile covers his face as he stops laughing and Stef feels his spirit soar.
“Is that all of them?” Stef asks trying not to get too excited.
Simon points at the picture of Curly Pete; “That's the one I knocked out.” pointing to the picture of Steve he says; “That one is the leader and all those others were outside my flat; we're free Dude.”
Stef looks Simon in the eyes; “But there was about ten of them, where are the rest?”
“Don't think it matters Dude, with the leader gone and the police sniffing around they will keep their heads down.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right.” laughs Stef the relief flooding through his body; “Come on, let's go make Nic smile.” he says happily as he hurries into the kitchen.
Nicola is making the coffee when he enters and she looks around at him as he enters; “What's going on?”
Stef lays the paper on the kitchen table; “Come and look at this.” he laughs.
Nicola walks across the kitchen and picks the