The Coriander Fire

By Max Burstein

The sun, it seemed, stood still in the sky for hours that Sunday afternoon over the shingled roofs of the Al Alcion gated community. The fire had been full ablaze now since sun up and the lack of cool night-time air was leaving the poorly established Community Rescue Organization thoroughly distressed. That was not to mention the fire which showed no evident signs it would be stopping its alliance with the wind in passing from house to house, lane to lane, leaving little but the charred remains of material possessions and the occasional pieces of pottery and cookware.

All of the town gathered outside, some still in their satin sleeping robes, to watch the blaze spread. While many of the women cried and held their young children as close as one would a pacifier, the men stood glued to their cell phones calling lawyers, insurance brokers, or anyone who could offer them some consolation from what seemed the inevitable loss of all they had worked for and held dear.

“Why isn’t anyone coming to help?” The same cry came in many different forms from the inhabitants of Al Alcion .The neglect, however, was not all that surprising considering Al Alcion’s distance from any major cities, more importantly fire departments near it.

Seven hours later the sun had set and help from the Amberland Fire Department had finally arrived. The damage had been surprisingly moderate considering the time with which the fire was allowed to roam free, but the commotion caused by the spectacle was enough to serve its purpose in the first place.

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At a bus station some miles from Al Alcion the Coriander children sat bickering.

“That’s quite enough of that,” Margaret harped, her dark brown eyes casting waves on Gulliver’s far fairer blue ones. “There’s really nothing to be done about it now anyways.”

Gulliver sensed that this was not the time to disrupt Margaret from whatever was occupying her mind and so he retreated back into his leather-bound novel, letting out only a casual “Hm” of acknowledgment.

As the Coriander children waited for their bus to arrive, the residents of Al Alcion began the effort to clear the wreckage left in the fire’s wake. They started where the blaze had begun in the early morning hours; just before the sun and faint smoke smell had stirred them from their sleep. They started at 12 Dias Drive. What they found there was similar to what was found later at all the other homes lost to unforgiving blaze. There were scattered documents, some completely scorched, others half or quarter burned. There were picture frames now empty, and dishes, and warped spoons and knives sitting on top. What was peculiar, however, about 12 Dias Drive was three skeletal remains. One had been discovered downstairs in the living room right near the door. This one was smaller than the other two and upon first glance was most obviously that of the family cat. The other two skeletons were more important and they sat side by side in the largest of the upstairs rooms, or what remained of its structural integrity. These were large and clearly that of full-grown adults. These remains were that of Mr. And Mrs. Coriander.

Margaret was the older of the two Coriander children and while she was only seventeen, she possessed an heir of wisdom and sturdy confidence far beyond that of her peers. More often than not when the Coriander's had been heard discussing their daughter at the social soirees they frequented, it was to mention the new language she had casually picked up or full-length play she had written in the plentiful free time she had while breezing through hr courses with all A’s. Margaret, who was initially reserved in her achievements, ultimately began to bask in the limelight cast upon her by the adoring elders in her life, and this left a perfect place for Gulliver to remain reclusive from the outside world; just the way he liked it.

Gulliver was the youngest in the Coriander family at 14, but judging by his accomplishments in the sciences, particularly that of engineering, no one would have held that against him. Ever since anyone in the Coriander family could remember, Gulliver had been quite fond of reading and engaging himself in studious endeavors; taking any minor assignment from the academy he attended and turning it into a full-scale project. While Gulliver was well spoken and amiable, he had never taken great interest in the social networks he saw forming around him and found reclusion in his independence and singularity. The only person other than himself he felt he could confide in was the girl sitting next to him. A few hours had passed since the bus stop and Gulliver deemed the passing adequate to field questions once more. "I just don't know if this was the right thing to do," Gulliver quietly mumbled to Margaret.

"This still?" Margaret lazily sighed. "You know exactly why thi--" but Margaret was cut off by the jump of the Castile County bus over a large hole in the highway's concrete.

"I just mean that, it wasn't all that big of a deal. They were just busy. I don't think they really wanted to hurt us or anything. Or at least..." Gulliver lost his train of thought. "I really think if we were to go back right now and just explain what happened...well don't you think they'd have to go easier on us, we're just ‘children' still I suppose." As he said the words Gulliver cringed, knowing beyond his feeble attempt at derailing what he now considered to be Margaret's plan, that in all reality this was a much more severe and dire situation for their future.

Margaret denied this claim any response and chose instead to wait a few minutes to move the conversation onto topics she considered more immediate. "You know where we're staying when we get there, right?"

"Yeah."

"We're going to have to wait a few days, but I think that'll be just enough time. She's really the only person left in the family these days, you know, now that we're gone too. She'll get the word quickly enough."

"Yeah."

"And from everything I've read the actual money transaction is fairly quick."

Gulliver stopped talking at all at this point and returned to his novel, leaving the aisle of the bus silent once again.

Several weeks passed since the fire and all that could be clearly discerned from the origin of the crime at 12 Dias Drive was that the perpetrators had clearly intended for both Mr. and Mrs. Coriander to perish (the two having been obviously drugged as there was no signs of a struggle anywhere as if no one, except the cat, had tried to escape during the blaze) and that both Coriander children were very mysteriously missing from the residence. A connection between the two seemed imminent to Margaret, but she intended for their escape to be hastily completed and judged her wit to outmatch that of the local police especially seeing as there would be no grieving parents to start a full-fledged search. And so while the police began to dismiss the case, leaving it behind in the records until any new clues appeared, and the insurance companies paid off those whom had the foresight to purchase protection, the Coriander children delved deeper into their scheme.

"Did they deserve it, Margaret?"

"It's not a matter of deserving."

"Well not deserve it, but didn't we owe them more than that? This is all so...extreme"

"Look Gully, this was for our own good, not theirs, sometimes you have to look out for your own good intentions and forget about everyone else," Margaret said with a clear voice of dominance and attempted wisdom.

"Would you do that to me?"

"You're my brother, it's different Gully."

"I just don't know anything anymore Margaret, how did we even decide on this?"

"You knew what you were doing just as well as I, don't play it off like you--"

"No, I know, it's just...I didn't plan for it to really...happen."

"Gulliver, I'm through with your questioning," Margaret said, far more threatening than Gulliver had ever remembered her to be in the past. "It's distracting you and now you're making it a distraction for me. You know we've got to be careful these first couple weeks, and then we're home free. Just think about adopting a new name, a new persona, with enough to live on for as long as we like. We can do whatever, whenever. No more--"

"Parents?" Gulliver interjected.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Margaret retorted.

"It's just, weren't we able to do all that before, wasn't the point to just, you know, get their attention, wake them up?"

Margaret could see Gulliver fading from the conversational path she would have liked and picked up where she had begun. "We've got to stay the course, we'll make the visit to Celia's tomorrow."

"Tomorrow?" questioned Gulliver meekly.

"Yes, tomorrow, it's been long enough, she must have cashed the checks by now and you know Celia, 'if it's not in cash, it can't be trusted to really be there at all'." Margaret mimed much more spritely than Gulliver had expected.

"I suppose you've planned out the next one too, I suppose they'll keep being 'one more' to 'get what we need'" said Gulliver dramatically

"You know this will be more than enough, this is the last time, and yes I do, it's quite simple really."

"Leave me out of it."

"I hadn't planned for you anyway, Gully."

This statement froze Gulliver and at first enraged him at the fact of his exclusion, even though it was what he had requested. However, he began to calm down as the thought of being uninvolved from whatever Margaret had planned for the trip to Celia's house eased back into his consciousness.

The evening passed and with the morning Gulliver awoke to find himself very much alone. At first he was confused, but soon realized that Margaret had gone to Celia's in the morning to catch her before she even woke up. Gulliver believed it to be a logical plan, but was still somewhat shaken inside by the prospect of what unknown was going on. As a man of certainty getting himself in this position was growing ever more frustrating and second guessings were making Gulliver's conscious heavy. He drank some water from the hotel bathroom's faucet and returned to his single bed with his leather bound book.

When Margaret returned, she seemed panicked. She hurriedly rushed Gulliver to gather his belongings and get ready to go to once more.

"Where were you--what happened, Margaret?"

"It went fine, but we have to leave before we cause any trouble for ourselves."

"But what did you--"

"It doesn't matter Gully."

"But I want to know."

Margaret didn't answer, but merely dumped the contents of a black schoolbag into the much larger black duffle that she had brought along. Shortly thereafter she was out the door and Gulliver could do nothing but follow in pursuit. Once outside Gulliver saw Margaret getting into a particularly boxy American made car and hurried to get inside. Just as soon as the door had closed Margaret took off, not bothering to wait for Gulliver to buckle his seat belt or even get situated in the foreign car.

"What's this? Where did this come from?"

"I took it when I left Celia's. I figured in the very least it can get us closer to the border and" but Margaret was cut off by the now distressed Gulliver.

"But what if we get pulled over, you know our names have to be on some database. We're missing, remember."

"Yeah, I know, but we need to move quickly and the bus just won't do."

Gulliver took a moment to think over the events of the last several weeks. When he tried this time, unlike the previous times, his mind went hazy. He began to believe that everything might have just been one long dream, but was quickly reminded of the reality of the situation he was now subject to when the car came to a sudden stop. Gulliver looked up and was surprised to see a rather pastoral scene in front of him. Just a few minutes ago they had been near gas stations and small stores and currently they were parked right next to a lake tucked into a section of the regional park. The lake seemed familiar and Gulliver recalled what he believed to be a family day trip that may have been taken here when he was much younger. No sooner, however, had Gulliver begun to reminisce than he was hit over the head and he ceased to think at all. Margaret got out of the car, scanned the surroundings and checked to see if all the windows were securely rolled up. She got behind the car, which was pulled up right on the lake embankment and pushed as hard she could. Exhausted, Margaret watched the car slowly sink from some distance. Gulliver was gone, so was everyone else in the Coriander family and she was finally all alone.