(a late) Three Paragraph Stories: The F Bomb

Hello everyone! Hope your weekend is going well. Sorry for the late posts but due to some technical difficulties (and the nature of daily blogs) Thursday and Friday's posts are being uploaded today. Thursday's three paragraph story is from the very talented Mia Resella. Enjoy

The F Bomb

Richard never considered himself very good at one particular thing. He always thought of himself as a sort of temp... a permanent temp. He would never have taken this job, if it weren't for her. I mean, how hard could it be? It's all diagrams in books. He had been an electronics inspector before. Worked in a science lab. Been a mechanic. It seemed like all of those things, in that he would do what he was told. And now, here he was, diffusing a bomb. Bother.

At least she was here. She was Suzie Brink, a young and hip lab assistant who was a thousand times his superior. Well, maybe it wasn't such a good thing, since if he were to make a mistake she'd surely perish. But he was grateful nonetheless. "Richard," she said. He didn't know she knew his name. His hands were clammy but his heart leapt over skyscrapers. "You can do this," she said, as calmly as possible, but sweat was dripping from her brow. Dr. Jenkins, too, was sweating, clenching his lab coat nervously. "Come on, Richard, you're the expert!" he barked. "Not helping, Jenkins," Suzie snapped back. Sparks flew from the ceiling; at any moment it would collapse.

Concentrate, Richard thought. Just concentrate. Red wire. Blue wire. Er...Green wire? Richard suddenly became anxious that he had never taken a colorblindness test. But he glanced over at Suzie and felt a wave of relief and self-respect. Her smile propelled him forward. It promised faith and hope. He closed his eyes and snipped at a wire. He and Suzie and Dr. Jenkins waited with baited breath. A moment passed. Richard grinned and sighed in relief. "Suzie--" he started to say with a newfound confidence. "What's that beeping?" she interrupted. It was the bomb. It began flashing and beeping maniacally and, quite frankly, it didn't sound good. Richard looked at Suzie. Suzie looked at Richard. They both looked at Dr. Jenkins. "Fuck."