Flame

Starsky and Hutch take an afternoon break to connect with nature.

Written in response to a SH911 20 Minute Challenge, prompt words: “Golden Poppies”

The golden poppies ignited by the recent spring rain made the rolling hillside look as if it was being consumed in fire.

We had drawn away from the city that afternoon to indulge my need to reconnect with nature, and with my partner. It had been an exhausting couple of weeks. As we stretched out in the field, luxuriating in the warm earth and sunshine, I explained how the poppies’ deep roots allowed them to endure the harsh California droughts.

“Those flowers are kinda like me,” the man beside me drawled.

“What do you mean by that?” I couldn’t help but ask.

“I got a deep root and it seems like forever since it’s rained.”

“Starsky, you’re uncouth. You know that?”

“So they tell me.”

Then he covered me like the flowers covered the hillside and, like the poppies, I burst into flame.