Written for OLWG #33
Mike and I looked across at one another. He grinned and I shrugged my shoulders as if saying, “What could possibly go wrong?”
I reached out with the wire cutters and studied the device. The numbers on the timer were counting down slowly.
“The red one,” Mike whispered, “red.”
I nodded my head and moved the tool toward the red wire.
“No, no, no… no,” Mike almost shouted this time, “blue do the blue.”
I looked over at him, raised my eyebrows, “You sure?” I asked.
“It’s either that or the green one,” he whispered like he was talking to himself. “Blue is one of my favourites and, the green is not very likely.”
I nodded and positioned the cutters to clip the blue wire. My hands were steady, my mouth was dry and something the size of a cat was doing somersaults in my stomach. Mike put his head down and covered it with his hands to instill confidence.
I snipped the blue wire.
Under my breath I shouted very softly, “boom.” I exhaled as if I had only just then remembered I needed to breathe. There was no explosion.
I looked at Mike to smile and noticed the alarm in his eyes. He pointed at the timer and when I looked I saw that the numbers were counting backwards twice as fast as they had been.
“Red or green?” I asked urgently, “red or green?”
Michael stumbled over his words, “I think red, man. I think red.” He put his head back down on the deck like he had before.
I clipped the green wire and the counter stopped, went black. I watched for awhile; then I stood up and held the wire cutters at about shoulder height. I dropped ‘em, “boom.” I said.
BOOM
This week’s prompts are:
- One of my favourites
- What could go wrong
- bandleader
Don’t think! Write!
You have 25 minutes but if it takes longer – just don’t tell anyone.