"Burnt Orange," by Shawn Reilly Simmons, in Passport to Murder, edited by John McFetridge, Down and Out Books, 2017.
This is Simmons' second appearance in this blog. "Burnt Orange" is a fresh tale, by which I mean it went in directions I did not expect at all.
Shelby is a teenager with a problem. She likes to burn things.
Her mother is driving her to a reform school. Her mother, by the way, is a narcissist and a bit of a fabulist, which is no doubt is connected to the roots of Shelby's problems.
So I was expecting a story about a troubled kid, and I suppose in a way that's what I got.
But there are worse people out there than Shelby and her mother, and folks with worse problems. And if Shelby thinks fast enough she may be able to save a few lives. She may even get to use her, well, special talents to do it.
A clever tale.
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