Set Me Alight Read Free Page A

yourself.”
    “Most of it's on the ground, not me.”
    At that point I'd had enough. I started to walk away, hoping he'd take the hint. Not this guy though. I guess he was determined to get something through to me.
    “When I first saw you, you told the bartender you were looking for firefighting work.”
    “Yeah, so?” I quickened my pace, and tripped over my own feet and fell to the ground. The old man helped me up, even as I tried to push him away.
    “Firefighting is my line of work, kid. I've been doing it for decades now. The summers keep getting drier and hotter, and the state keeps getting less and less resources to properly manage the forests. The end result being, we get a lot of forest fires around here.”
    “Yeah, ok, and why are you telling me this?”
    “We need new people every year. It's seasonal work, so most of the labor force moves away. Come the end of September, I’m the only guy left on the team.”
    “Are you in need of a completely inexperienced drunk?”
    “Experience, you'll get in time, but lowlife drunks aren't the sort we're looking for.”
    “Then what are you doing talking to me?” I'd had enough of his lecture. I tried to bull past him. He stuck out his hand and pushed on my chest, stopping my getaway. I was too out of it to put up much more resistance.
    “Stop for a second, son, so I can look you in the face when we're talking. Right now, you're no good for anything. You're on the way to drinking yourself to death, and it isn't going to take much longer for you to get there. I see kids like you every year. They come here because they had nothing left for them back home. They think they'll find something here, something to at least pass the time and scrape a living off of. Over time they all realize the same thing, life's rough here. The work is harsh, the weather is harsh, and the drink is harsh. Even the water here tastes rough. You, though… you seem a little different. I don't know what it is about you, but you seem like the kind of person that can buckle down and focus toward a real goal. That's why I'm talking to you. You've fallen into the same trap as every sad sack who comes through here does, but I can see you climbing out. You just need a little guidance, and I think I might be able to help you out a little bit.”
    “What makes you think you can help me?”
    “To be honest, you remind me a lot of my son when I look at you. I-I lost him a few years ago. Working down in the mines.”
    “So what? You want to relive your father years through me? Find someone else to fulfill your fatherly needs, gramps.” I started walking away again. I hoped he would get the right signal, but the old man grabbed me by the arm and twisted me around to face him.
    “Listen to me. I just want to help you, you stupid son of a bitch. Firefighting takes a lot of training. I can help you with that. It will be worth your while if you're willing to put in the work. Trust me on that.”
    “Whatever, old man. I don't even know you. Why should I believe anything you're saying?”
    “I'm not going to force you into anything. If you want my help, stop by the forests service building downtown tomorrow morning. Ask for Paul.”
    Sleep came easy for me that night. The tradeoff were these bizarre dreams I had the entire night. I kept going back into The Sink Hole, over and over. The only thing they would serve me was tap water. The bartender would always give me some strange, random response to anything I said to him. ‘Drink up, it'll put scales on your chest’, ‘Have a sip, it’s good for your brain, or at least the one in your second head’, ‘Drink enough of that and you'll shit out a mighty fine necklace’, ‘Trust me, you’ll get a better buzz off that than any alcohol we have here’, ‘You’ll get all your vitamins and minerals drinking that, and then some’. Paul was there too. Something terrible was always happening to him, but he didn't seem to mind. Once he was on fire,