Another wonderful Halloween story

Well it's that time of year again. Another Halloween story from your's truly. After the break

The Children Who Played With Matches

The autumn leaves crunched under the feet of the campers who had started their escapade a few hours earlier. Three siblings, Quincy, age 12, Mary, age 11 and Christopher age 14, were all on their way to the peak of the heavily wooded bluff that loomed over their little town in Colorado. They were planning their first overnight camping trip without their parents, who had finally agreed to their proposition after quite a bit of begging from the children. They reached the ridge and came to a clearing where they started unpacking their belongings: A large tent that could capacitate four people, a bag full of food, including hot dogs, marshmallows and graham crackers, some lighter fluid and matches for the campfire, and some other miscellaneous items for their stay.

“Boy it sure is getting dark”, remarked Quincy after the trio had set up their camp. “Maybe we should start a fire to keep us warm” he continued.

“I’m on it!” exclaimed Christopher, and he went about gathering up sticks and leaves for their fire.

Quincy and Mary used some nearby stones to create a makeshift circle around the tipi-like structure conceived of the various branches that Christopher had gathered. As Christopher was soaking the wood pile with lighter fluid, Mary interjected:

“Maybe you shouldn’t be using that much. We don’t want the fire to get out of hand.”

“It’s fine”, said Christopher. “I’ve done this before.”

He lit a match and tossed it on the pile of sticks. It flared up in an orange ball of flame, but the fire was contained by the rocks that encircled the wood. Their night around campfire consisted of eating marshmallows and telling ghost stories. Before they went to bed in their tent, Mary asked Christopher about extinguishing the campfire.

“It’ll burn itself out” Christopher reassured Mary. She was still a little uneasy about it, but decided to let it go.  They all snuggled up in their sleeping bags and soon fell into a deep slumber against the sounds of the Colorado night.

A little past midnight, Mary was awoken to a foul smell. She waked her two brothers and asked, "Is something burning?"

*sniff* "You're right, something is burning!" Quincy exclaimed.

They all quickly filed out of their tent to the disaster in front of them. The forest was on fire! The sparks from their improperly extinguished campfire had ignited the dry brush that covered the side of the bluff. It was creeping along down the hill at a moderate pace and was threatening the town below.

"We have to do something! Call 911!" shouted Mary.

"How are we going to do that? We don't have a phone!" answered Christopher. It looked as if their hometown was in grave danger and would soon suffer the same fate as the bluff; but then, something happened. From behind them they heard a great roar, and the crashing of brush. They turned around to who it was: It was Smokey the Bear with an ax in paw. He ran down the bluff ahead of the fire. Using is un-human strength, he cut a path with his ax that diverted the fire away from the town. He then harnessed the water of a nearby fire extinguisher with a large hose and used it to choke the fire of its heat. After an what seemed like an eternity of chopping and spraying, the fire was brought to a standstill. The town was safe.

By then, dawn was starting to break over the valley. Smokey slowly traversed his way up the hill to the frightened children. He walked up to them, looked over at the fire pit that had started this whole mess, and then turned to the children and said in a deep commanding voice, "Who is responsible for this forest fire?"

"W-we are" said Christopher.

"Who did not properly put out their campfire?" He asked.

"We all did" said Quincy.

"No, it was my fault. I didn't want to put it out because I didn't want to bother!" Replied Christopher guiltily.

"But I should've made more effort to convince you to put it out!" Mary put in.

"Well, it looks like you are all at fault" said Smokey the Bear.

"We all deserve to be punished" said Christopher.

"Yes you do" said Smokey, and with one full swing, Smokey cleaved Christopher's head off of his shoulders. Mary and Quincy could not react in time to escape, so they were also decapitated in the blink of an eye.

.................................................

It wasn't until later that day did the firefighters who were investigating the mysterious forest fire found the children's bodies. On them, they found a paw-written note by Smokey explaining what happened to the bluff and that the blood of the guilty shall be spilled in order to pay recompense for the damages done to Smokey's dominion. At first the Children's parents were distraught at the loss of their sons and daughter. However, they soon realized that what had been done was best for their town and the forest. So they went on a cruise in the Caribbean hoping to forget what had happened to their beloved children.

Remember, only you can prevent forest fires.