Five Sentence Fiction – 5/16/13 – Accident – Pg13

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Tommy Renko had lived his entire life with the word “accident” always being the one-word phrase that got him out of any trouble he managed to get into by trying things that should not be tried until tested much more stringently than he usually did.

There was the time he tried to invent a new type of engine fuel from apple rinds and only managed to ignite and burn to the ground his papa’s new hen house, costing the family most of the money sat aside for his college tuition in two years.

Then, there was the college incident in which the frat house had been reduced to ashes and, while no one was hurt, he had been asked to leave by both the fraternity and the college board; what losers.

So, after getting grants in the total amount of $300,000, he was about to set the world on end  by, finally, creating the cheapest, most economical and clean fuel ever conceived by civilization, merely by pulling one lever.

After about 2 seconds of humming, Tommy realized that, not only was he shrinking and that the entire living world was, likely, doing the same, but he could no longer reach the lever and turn off the machine causing the problem, and he really didn’t think that “accident” would cover it this time.