J Chris Garrick

The Tyger's Tale J Chris Garrick

WILDFIRE. An ostensibly living entity. It breathes, eats, grows; as if a predator hiding, stalking, attacking. Like the hungry tiger, it will strike without warning, without mercy. It will kill. Pursuing its lurid traces through the wilderness of New Mexico, the Negrito Helitack depend on their training, their equipment, their experience to contain, control and destroy it. First and foremost, however, they must depend on each other. HERO, they had called him. He thought that was odd; for he was just doing his job. And then there was her; a tigress in her own right, wanting naught but to be left alone; toiling hard to provide her child with some kind of life. And Maria did manage to carry her load while remaining decidedly indifferent, if not overtly antagonistic, toward her Helitack crewmates. Until Alex got in her way. She despised heroes. She detested him. Despite her practiced insolence and quick temper, through his determined patience an amity somehow ensued. And, yes, the rose helped. Love might seem inevitable, but will it survive the relentless wilderness of smoke, flame, sweat, tears, and cultural, religious and racial norms seeming alien to the other?Loosely based on real events in the life of the author, this work of fiction looks at the question posited by his forever love: Why couldn't I have met you ten years earlier?