Geyser

Daily Flash Fiction - 9/4/25 - W/C 300

I could hear a loud rumbling which shook the ground. Then a column of steam rose in the frigid air. Finally superheated water rose above the steam then fell back to frozen ground.

“Epic!” Shouted an observer.

“How’d they get the water so high?” Someone nearby yelled.

How anyone could think this phenomenon, known as a geyser, could be controlled by human hands? In this remote part of the country, someone had to engineer complicated plumbing from hundreds of feet underground. Plus this had to be done hundreds or thousands of years when this geyser was first noticed.

“Perhaps they turn the valve the same time they let the bears and elk out of their cages for the night,” stated another learned person.

‘It’s around the same time they turn on the moon and stars,’ I thought. I’ve been in remote nature before where the stars and moon light the sky enough to walk a trail. I’ve been surrounded by sounds, smells and sights that no one sitting in a car or a house or an office could ever imagine.

People milled around for a time, then slowly dispersed to safety and security of the nearby lodge.

A lone visitor stood gazing at dissipating mist, then glanced my way. So I figured a friendly conversation would be in order.

“Nice night. Not too cold.”

She countered. “Yeah. Well, it could be better. Why don’t they install those portable propane heaters out here? You know, the ones that sit on top of the tank, kind of look like mini trees? And floodlights to light the path would be nice. I guess the show’s over. Where’s the bar?”

The last I saw of her, she was walking toward the rest of them inside the lodge. Safe and secure from all the wild.



W/C 300