For this weeks Flash! Friday we had to incorporate the theme of Friendship into a story about the following prompt:
“Hamilton-Burr Duel, After the Painting by J. Mund.” Illustration from Beacon Lights of History, by John Lord, 1902. Public domain image.
Ready, Fire, Aim
Another shot whizzed past Hamilton as he fumbled with his pistol. The crowd peeked over their shoulders, hoping this ordeal was finally over. Upon seeing both men still upright they collectively sighed and resumed their positions, facing away to maintain the charade of not witnessing anything illegal. In truth there was nothing worth witnessing.
Hamilton hurriedly reloaded, tapping his foot impatiently. He immediately fired, missing by several feet.
His lifelong friend and second watched this display and cautiously approached. He stood as close to Hamilton as possible, for seemingly that was the one place the bullets weren’t going, “If I may offer some friendly advice Alex, it is customary to aim before firing.”
Hamilton snapped, “Aiming takes too long!”
“Perhaps, but we’ve already been out here for three hours. If this continues I will need to send for more ammunition, and quite possibly some sandwiches.”
Hamilton tried to heed this advice, this duel was already embarrassing enough. He peered down the barrel and took a deep breath. This was it, he was going to end this stupid duel once and for all.
There was a thud and Hamilton fell down, his shirt turning a deep crimson. He looked at his friend and muttered his final words, “If anyone asks, we only fired twice!”
