Grease and Guile - Chapter 4: Fire

• Posted by Mottyskills December 29, 2016 - Filed in TSC: CB Story - #TSC: Fallout  - 1,309 views

  “Nathan! What’s burning?”

  From my childhood garage, the sounds of my mom’s concerns were mostly muffled by the success of my latest creation. For weeks I had roamed our neighborhood for bits and pieces to complete the spectacle. 
  
  I was elated and my adrenaline drowned out the fear of being scolded. Besides, I was now 12 and my parents were used to my tinkering. My father was rarely home as he was a traveling salesman for Wilson Atomatoys. My mother was left to monitor my mischief. 
  
  But these days she was mostly resigned to leave me be. I suppose she figured the garage turned workshop was safer than most parts of town. 
  
  What had alerted her nostrils were the fumes off my newly tested insect destroyer. The one downside of working in our garage was the constant presence of mosquitos. No matter what I tried, they never failed to infiltrate my workspace. The level of hate for them reached a boiling point. So my plan was to create the ultimate weapon of mosquito destruction (a WMD, one might say). 
  
  I started with the stock of an old .22 rifle, long since abandoned in the attic by my father. This provided a base for mounting a mini acetylene torch. I swapped out the torch’s original valve for one that threaded seamlessly to another that connected better to a servo. I soldered the rotating mechanical link to a new, modified trigger. The final touch required a semi-automatic lighting system. For this I used a battery powered spark plug, mounted right next to the torch nozzle. This way, every trigger pull released gas and simultaneously created spark resulting in an open, but directed flame.
  
  It was a flame-thrower with purpose. 
  
  And I was putting it right to use, roasting the blood sucking intruders with extreme prejudice. The combination of open flame, incinerated mosquitos and the occasional smoldering collateral damage finally alerted my mom.
  
  “I told you, no playing with fire!” she said as she stormed into the garage.
  
  “It’s these stupid mosquitos! I can’t take it anymore!” I retorted. 

  Her disapproving eyes turned slightly empathetic. “I know it’s frustrating, but burning down the house is not an option. We give you a lot of freedom out here. You’ll just have to find another solution. Now…give me the…” 
  
  “Mosquito Buster,” I said, finishing her sentence and handing it over.
  
  She held the gun gingerly and tried desperately to hde any traceable amount of pride. 
  
  “Did it work?”
  
  “Yeah. Sort of.” I replied, trying to sound seriously dejected.
  
  “Well, here – please take it apart.” She handed it back to me, knowing it was probably safer it my hands.
  
  “Tomorrow we’ll go to the hardware store and get one of those bug lanterns. Just remember our rule - No Fire!”