Interview with the Fireman

raging inferno, hot seats throughout the house on the hill
there was a candle, dripping red and black wax, and a downy mattress.
feathers fluttered around the bedroom, poof with the quick
and then the lazy drawl of southern folk in mid-August.
the water leaped from cannons, eager to leap frog
resistance to space. upon the flames, curses and ordered shouts
a fireman turns away from the scene hours later as the fire
finally billows out into clouds that hide any trace of stars or moonlight.
He looks in your eyes and says, "We seem to be having some problems here.
I'm always nervous on the job. No, it's not the fire, seen plenty of those
in my day, it's a general feeling of nervousness that I've found won't go away.
Do you have a minute?" the back of the truck supports your weight, and
side by side, you listen to the fireman reveal his guessed at temper.
"What makes me nervous is all that ice melting. The seas are coming up,
and according to some law or another something has to go down for something
else to go up." you glance over and catch his wry grin, more attached to the slight
tremble of his voice than anything else. "90% of humanity lives on the coasts,
maybe 5 billion...most of the major cities are on the coast. Castles made of sand,
you know? And damn, how about those nuclear power plants littering the countryside.
Gimme a freakin break, they build them on fault lines and near metropolitan cities.
It just all seemed so hopeless that I decided to fight fire, started about 8 years ago.
Learned a few things too, like force for example. It's mostly useless out here,
these axes we use to further the evasion of fuel from ignition, cutting down walls
among other things. You have to flank a fire, a good one anyways.
Gotta pack up the hoses now. Maybe I'll see you around the coals again
sometime. The fires are going up everywhere." wandering off to the side, you turn back
for a moment, standing between a middling elm and the sidewalk. imagination or fantasy
you can pick your friend out from all the other milling and busy firemen.