FIRE(Terri Talley Venters) Fire

Scene from novel
Body of Gold

“You can bring the crate in here,” Barbie Butler told the mover.

“No problem, Ma’am.” He maneuvered the wooden crate in front of the fireplace in Mrs. Butler’s home.

“Thank you so much for moving this from my husband’s office. I greatly appreciate it.” Barbie handed the man a twenty.

“You’re welcome, Ma’am.” He clenched the cash in his sweaty fist, then left the palatial home.

Barbie descended the stairs into the wine cellar. Scanning her soon-to-be ex-husband’s extensive wine collection, she searched for the most expensive bottle of wine. She found a bottle of ’57 Bordeaux and figured the oldest bottle was the most expensive. She took the stairs back up and uncorked the dusty bottle to let it breathe. Barbie never considered herself a wine expert, but she’d picked up a few things from Bill over the years.

With ceremony, she started a fire in the enormous fireplace. Barbie planned to purge Bill Butler from her life. She sat in the oversized wing-back chair while the fire roared to life. The fresh logs slowly turned to ashes, reminding her of her own failed marriage—beginning with roaring flames and ending with a pile of dirty ashes.

Barbie blamed Bill for the entire mess. His constant infidelity and lies made it impossible to forgive him. She smiled knowing she’d raped him in the divorce. His seven-figure paycheck provided hefty alimony payments for the next ten years.

She admired her size four figure and thought she still looked smokin‘ hot for her forty-five years. Kickboxing and Botox were her two best friends. With half of Bill’s wealth and a point to prove, Barbie couldn’t wait to get back into the meat market of the dating world. She took pride in her new cougar status and hoped to run into Bill with a hot, twenty-eight-year-old boy toy on her arm.

Barbie poured her first glass of wine and put her nose to the glass to inhale the aroma. It smelled divine. She gently swirled the glass in a counter clockwise motion, and the red wine slid along the upper inside of the glass. She stopped swirling and witnessed the legs of the wine slowly slide back down the inside of her glass.

She took her first sip, and the flavors danced on her tongue. Then she downed the entire glass in one gulp, just because she knew it would’ve pissed Bill off had he witnessed such an atrocity. Then she poured a second glass.

Flipping the pages of her wedding album, she recalled how happy she’d been on her wedding day. She truly loved Bill back then. He was such a charmer. He’s still charming, but just towards other, much younger women.

Barbie slowly removed the pictures with Bill in them. She’d keep the ones with just her and her family. But she needed to see his face burn. She painstakingly tossed each one into the fire and smiled as the flames engulfed Bill’s image.
Now for the highlight of tonight’s festivities. She turned her attention to the wooden crate dominating the study. She opened the lid with a crowbar and beheld the medieval knight’s armor.

The armor represented an important part of Bill’s legacy and had remained in his family for centuries. He loved the hunk of metal more than anything else in the world. Now Barbie must destroy it. She knew this act would hurt him more than anything. And she needed to hurt him, like he’d hurt her.

She planned to remove the knight’s helmet, then set it on the mantle so it could watch her destroy the rest of the armor. She’d take him apart piece by piece, throw each one into the fire, and drink the rest of the expensive French wine.
She tugged at the knight’s helmet. It felt tighter than she had expected. Bracing her foot against the knight’s chest, she pulled with all of her might. The helmet gave way and came off into her hands. With that one swift motion, the rest of her life changed forever.

The knight’s helmet wasn’t hollow. A treasure beyond her wildest dreams filled the helmet. Barbie stared in awe at the armor filled with gold.

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