Cinnamon, Cayenne and Fire

This short contemporary fantasy explores the bond between grandfather and grandson. Beau knows the town thinks his grandfather Leon is crazy. Leon doesn't help that fact by claiming to be Ponce de Leon while manning the counter of his liquor store, The Fountain. But crazy to outsiders is just life to Beau, who for as long as he can remember has been following his grandfather into the Louisiana swamps and looking for the right place to set their fires.

"At some point in the story, I found myself almost wishing to be burned, which must mean that this story is doing something remarkable." -Matt Williamson, Unstuck Books.

EXCERPT - Grandpa Leon was a firebug for as long as Beau could remember. He was not one of those you see on TV, setting fires to abandoned homes and warehouses and accidently torching sleeping homeless. It was nothing like that--or maybe it was, just with a different style.

For one, Grandpa was a seasonal firebug. When the spring rains tapered off and the swamps started heating up--bluegill turning circles in their shrinking pools, gator trails drying into mud tracks between the islands--Beau began listening for the antsy snap of that Zippo lid coming out of his grandpa's trouser pocket. It was like the sun's hot eye set something afire in the old man and he'd whisper in his thick Cajun, "Cher, let's you and me go find something to do."