All Comments on 'Hot as Sun'

I read it as people concerned with public perception seeing the ex become town hero, shallow people are often obsessed with what peers think about them so story rang true to me :/

... I just wish it was longer.

A wonderful tale of heroism and integrity...very well crafted, as is always true of an HDK story. With a few word substitutions, it would be a natural for Readers Digest.

HDK, is always good, but he is at his best with stories such as this. He has only written a few stories where additional parts were present but they are always good and this one could be in that category as Rachael and her mother learn the lessons that Jeff has taught them.

That would be only if they were considered property by the husband. Seems too often that men, and some women, treat their partner as property. Property can't have independent choice and freedom. Equal partners can abandon each other, as the wife did in this story. She wasn't "stolen" from her husband.

Sure, she went to Hanson of her own free will, and in that aspect, she was not stolen.

However, seen from a different perspective, Hanson did indeed steal Jeff's wife and daughter. He should have not attempted to interfere in Jeff's personal life. The fact that he did, stole away from Jeff his illusion of a virtuous and loving partner. He stole the years Jeff was expecting to spend with her. And indeed, he stole so much personal time with his daughter, even if he did not steal away his daughter's love like he had taken Diane's.

He also took, without the right to do so, Jeff's self-respect, his confidence and security. Also, to some degree, he took away from Jeff, his standing in the community. At least, it appeared that way to Jeff, even if it were not really the case.

Put it this way... if I'm walking past your house, and I like the look of your boat, sitting all alone there on it's trailer, do I have the right to back my toe-hitch up to it, or should I just think to myself, "Lucky bastard", and keep on walking?

Diane may have been weak and unfaithful, and it does take two to tango, but a long time ago I found myself strongly attracted to a married woman at work, and I found out that she felt the same way. However, I somehow found my backbone and let her know that nothing was going to happen until she ended it with her partner. Once I had said that to her, it was strange, everything changed. It seemed that our attraction cooled almost instantly, and without the driving force of lust, I realized that we weren't all that suited, and in my opinion, I dodged a bullet... a relationship with a woman who may have in turn, betrayed me at a later date. For one, she wasn't even interested enough to end it with him when it came down to it, so she was only looking to be bad.

I did feel sorry for her husband though.

if he had 1 more IQ he'd be a pot plant

Hero has a moral victory at the end? Thats so sad. I wish we could have seen some regret from Diane and a 'real' victory for Jeff.

I've read this story several times and it never fails to impress me. Life offers very humiliating defeats, but often the victories are powerful if subtle. I like how you think man. Morgan is very likely too arrogant to appreciate what he lost, but I think the exW and her daughter learned a very important lesson. Excellent

Of all the stories you've written (that I have read) this is the best by far. You kept it bubbling along throughout and made us feel for the hero as he struggled with his feelings.

I think there are more subtle ways of ramming home the moral of the story but I also know how hard it is to keep a good short story short.

Very well done

he got a victory and there is no doubt about that but the last paragraph needed some punch, it was a bit lacking. "You got him good" sounds a bit hollow, but the story is great idea. he saves the son of the cheating bitch and the man who stole his wife. and yes it was a theft. he stole her affections and her body and she was still with her husband until she turned up pregnant.

Good idea, well-executed.

It seems to me that a sequel would show how low the ex-whore er wife and her asshole er husband would be ostracized in the public's eye. Also Rachel would go live with her hero father. Greater revenge could be had. Let's do it.

I think it will be more along the lines of "Thanks loser, not only did i take your wife and pretty much sink you, now i have you looking after my kid too. haha what a maroon. Tomorrow you can come service my car"

People who would do to someone what they did to him completely lack the capability for self-reflection. It was the right thing to save the Boy but don't delude yourself.

Man i would love for this to continue

I've noticed that many readers on this site want to be spoon fed. However, a short by its very nature needs to be focused and begin and end in places that highlight that focus. IMHO the author ended this story where it needed to end. 'Nutf said.

I must reaffirm what norcal62 wrote in his comments. If you have 'duty', only then can you have 'liberty'. If you have 'freedom', only then do you have 'responsibilities'.

If women are property of men, then they have no free will, no legal standing and are blameless of any sin. Only free human's have souls, only free human's can choose to commit sin. If it's non-consensual, it ain't a sin!

Many of the commentators to this site equate women with slaves or cattle. That their narcissist penis gives them authority and ownership over any and every vulva that has had the misfortune to come within the reach of their manly fists.

Neither slaves nor cattle have a duty of obedience to their master. No moral bonds, no ethical responsibility and no contractual obligation. As they are property, basically on the same level as inanimate objects.

It is outright hypocrisy to accuse women of violating an oath of loyalty that their lords and masters cynically refuse to adhere to. Or who committed outright defalcation against the male's obligation to their oaths. To which they had sworn perpetual commitment.

And before you fulminate that I am exaggerating about YOUR behavior. Consider the number of men in prison for violence they committed against their wives and children. It would be an interesting study to trace back the ID threads to discover how many of those men are contributing commentators, from their prison cells and half-way residencies.

I am considering, if I decide to go for an advanced degree in Psychology, of putting together a grant proposal to expand upon this idea.

-fanfare-

a little flat but still damn good.

I have given my sworn word on three occaisions, when I enlisted in the Army, when I undertook to preserve top secret information and when I got married. If I had of broken my word in the first two instances the state would have punished me, when my wife broke her wedding vows the state rewarded her with half our assetts.

I viewed my wife not as a slave or possession but as a partener and revered her as the mother of our children. I do not condone any violence against women and as a BTB proponent I am not in Prison.

BTB proponents are about getting the better of a cheating spouse financially in a divorce and perhaps getting a measure of revenge against their lover perhaps financially or by exposing them. BTB propents dont condone murder or any other form of violence except, in self defence. These are fiction stories, and I dont mind a story that contains violence, after all it is a fiction story.

Take your pshyco babble, sissy faggot bullshit and go to college and learn some more pshyco babble bullshit, what a great contribution society that would be.

Jakorchuck sir, please do not be bothered by immature jackasses like fanfare. That retard has absolutely no idea of how the real world works or even how it should work. Fucktards like this faggot think replacing patriachy with matriachy is a good idea. These uber feminists need a boot to their asses. They dont understand that equality does not permit the use of greater than or lesser than sign otherwise its not equality. Even a fifth grade kid would confirm that. Fanfare, if that is what you are being taught in college then the education system needs a major overhall. Sick fucks like you and danger09 make me disgusted. Ask yourmother what equality means, maybe shell whoop some sense into your sorry ass. I cant belive veterans like the aforementioned have to deal with this shit. Wives of soldiers who cheat are the lowest form of scum. Not only are they cheaters but also traitors. If you cant handle the pressure of being an officers wife leave him. Let the poor bastatd be. Atleast he will get blown up by a jihadi fucktard in peace, not worrying about a cheating skank.

The story ends with a transparency of personality traits of an ex-wife & her new husband as well as the husband & his new wife. What it shows is a contrast in personality traits and preferences. While the ex-wife and her husband are not community minded very selfish and highly judgmental; the husband and his new wife are more community minded and participatory in their demonstrated behaviors as contributors and not takers. The contrast clearly shows that they were not suited for eachother in anyway and they're divorce was well needed due to these differences and without any consideration of the wife's obvious infidelity. There is an element of revenge but it doesn't dominate the outcome. The husband's sense of self was misplaced in his assessment of his circumstances. His oversight in selecting someone with outrageous differences from himself were at the crux of his dilemma and placing his own sense of culture and values on a person that had none.

The ex-wife is self centered so she isn't the least bit concerned about whatever debt she may owe to her ex.

you need to write a sequel to this.

The man is thinking productively from the beginning of the event, and never stops, despite surprise, disorienting fall, heat and smoke. The kinda guy you would like by your side in any circumstance, including combat!

It sounds like his Ex did not even have the class to visit him in the hospital to thank him for saving her love-child. Forget the SoB who cucked him!

5*

Cannot believe CantBuyMy is so stone-cold angry he could even conceive of leaving a pre-school child to burn in a building, no matter WHOSE child it was! Even hard to believe he would put that vile comment out - under his moniker! I understand BTB, but BTC is just sick.

the ending was too abrupt. There should have been more on the interaction between Diane and Jeff after the fire.

Unfortunately self-important bastards like Hanson never learn humility. Jesus himself could confront them with their sins and they would still be able to have the insight to accept anyone else's judgement.

Good story.

I felt like I was there! Great writing!

0

what revenge, he went there for his daughter's sake. She was going to lose her brother. The kids did nothing wrong, Hanson was an asshole anyway who gives a fuck what he or his slut wife think.

Prove it.

Oh wait HDK doesn't finish stories.

Nevermind

when you need him.

Good story, Great ending. I was surprised at all the comments deploring what they thought was an abrupt ending. Then it occurred to me that many of those comments might be from city folks.

To a small town reader the almost certain ending is fairly obvious. Let me state what almost certainly happened. To those that thought Morgan and Dianne could easily just ignore this event, that would not happen in a small community like HDK described. Owning a small town car dealership is a fragile business depending on a loyal customer base (spanning generations) and a friendly banker. Best case he lasted 5-8 years, and it would have been a slow painful decline. Even if he survived it would never be the same. For weeks after the fire Morgan’s words and antics would be the talk of every Kiwanis, Lions, JC, American Legion/VFW, Knights of Columbus meeting. These service clubs are the brick and motor of the community…. Immediately he loses all the volunteer fire department’s sales, not to mentions their parents, children and cousins. He does not lose them for one sale, but forever, he will never get them back. This grows after the event putting unbearable pressure on the business and on Morgan’s family.

Dianne would of already been ostracized by much of the community for her first moral failing. This didn’t help.

What I described is the almost certainly outcome. Additionally the likely outcomes are that the pressure on Morgan’s business causes family problem. Morgan likes to blame others for his own problems and Dianne almost certainly got much of the blame. She likely eventually divorces his ass and moved out of the area (Rachel would of stayed with her dad), even if Dianne stayed with Morgan her life would have been hell, and Rachel would likely of left the poisoned environment and moved in with Jeff. Morgan built walls that could never be removed. Was it revenge. Depends on your perception, perhaps it was more like consequences, but the results are the same. Morgan and Morgan Motors is finished, his image in tatters. Jeff gains respect, most importantly his own.

Great Story

Small Town Guy.

..all is said. Great story from a greatly talented writer. 5*

Thank you for the pleasure you gave.

one point for every centimeter of his little pee pee

Sometimes revenge is a dish best served COLD! As the years go by Jeff will win. Actually, he has already won.

Wife has unprotected sex with boss, knowing husband's vasectomy precludes him being the father.

She gets knocked up, leaves (obviously!) and SHE gets custody?!

Yeah, KarenE, that's the way the system works. Sucks, huh? Good story line HDK. Good writing as well. Cheers!

Good story. Tautly written. Tense and plausable.

Enjoyed it enough to comment.

People like Morgan feel that the world owes them. It's doubtful Jeff's sacrifice even registers to him. After all, it's the job of other people to do whatever they can to benefit him. The ex-wife might feel some guilt, but any woman willing to marry a puffed up fool like Morgan is suspect herself.

I can see Laura's point of view, I can even agree with her, but I don't know if I would leave my work to go there and help...The SOB is the one to try and save his own son, born of a cheating, if he could...

Very well written. Well conceived, well executed.

This needs to be finished....as is I doubt that Morgan registered anything. I would like to see this story continued, but from the POV of the ex wife

Just re-read this story. Still a 5* and one of the best on this site. The shifting of personal perspertives throughout the story gives it the video feel of a movie/TV script and enhances the tension.

After extensive reading in the LW category it seems they can be categorized into 3 types; wimpy cuckold, Burn the bitch and revenge.

This is the most unique and positive "revenge" LW story of the many I've read. Kudos to you.

I rated it a 5, but there was an error at the very end of the story. "Now Morgan Hanson will spend the rest of his life feeling small and inadequate. He'll go to his grave knowing you're a far better man." Nah. People like that don't know gratitude or humility, they don't recognize debts of honor, and they are basically shitty human beings. The ex, maybe....possibly....but not Morgan.

Seems to me the cheating wife should of gotten a spotlight at the conclusion with all the town folk recognizing her for the low life cheat she was and the low life man she cheated with.

When I grow up, I want to be like Jeff. That's funny with me being in my fifties and all. There are no words for a man who is willing to sacrifice his life to save another. What can one say to such a selfless act of bravery. Living in The Bronx, you see a lot of things. One I will never get use to is watching firefighters walk into a burning building, just unreal. Some day I will meet a man like Jeff. For men like Jeff, their minds and hearts are open, willing to endure pain and suffering for the betterment of us all. The true angels among us.

Your story gives me hope that being human isn't such a bad thing after all, that there are souls who are bless by The Spirit, to save us from ourselves. Who have suffered by no fault of their own, but are will to make the ultimate sacrifice for you and me.

Thank You.

He might have shamed them, if they had any sense of shame! Of course given the way they treated him - they had no shame! Cheaters are extremely selfish people. Some of them to the point of being sociopaths. They do NOT care about other people, not even their own children. They do not understand love, because they cannot feel it. This is not a slam on cheaters, it is just a statement of fact.

Diane, if she has an ounce of humanity in her, now realizes she betrayed the better man for a few moments of meaningless sex.

Hanson, however, has no sense of morality or humanity. He still feels that he is the better man, and Jeff did only what he was supposed to do for his "betters".

This is one for the good guys. Someone should of spoke up and told the story to everyone about how a real man acts and how he saved the child of his ex and the man that stole her while they were married. All should know the hero and how what he did was even more remarkable because of the situation

Hanson, and to some degree Diane, are unlikely to care too much about Jeff's sacrifice. Hanson especially won't care if it doesn't affect his bottom dollar.

What would have been nice would have been for them to have parties and have a lot of people come up with excuses not to attend. For Diane to run into a friend in the grocery store, invite them to lunch, drinks, or a barbecue and have them give her an obviously lame excuse for not accepting; saying to her, "maybe next time" or "I'll get back to you".

Or for them to be out at a restaurant and catching snatches of conversation about the fire and them clearly not being complimentary to Hanson... For them to see THEIR friends walk up to Jeff and shake his hand and talk to him for a while and then when they see Hanson and Diane to quickly turn the other way and walk away.

Humiliation can be a bottom line kind of thing if it starts to effect the business.

And their son will grow up eventually... and he'll SORT of be famous as the boy who survived that awful fire... and every time that's brought up the hero who saved him will be too.

Like THAT won't eat at them - having THEIR son eventually develop hero worship for the guy they shat on... would love to read about that... *chuckles*

This is a good story, but I agree with @Ambivalence...His new wife was wrong...Of course his Ex and her lover and now husband didn't care a shit about his heroic act...His daughter yes, maybe she could force her mother to allow her to go live with her father!!! maybe now his former friends could understand how selfish they had been to him...but those two cheating bastards wouldn't care less about it...That was no revenge...Just an act to make him feel better...3*

five stars and an instant favorite. One of your best. Thanks.

the whole point of a flash tale, which I would certainly consider this, is to give you a small snippet of the larger story. It is up to the reader to infer what happens next, based on how the author sets it up. I imagine all those things happening, just as you suggest. After the way Morgan behaved, you can be sure his business will suffer. And his wife has already shown some embarrassment because of her behavior. That will surely increase and the marriage will suffer. This is not so much revenge, as Jeff did not set out to get back at his ex and her new hubby, as it is cosmic karma.

Actually that's wrong. The story was well told. I just believe that the ending was flawed. I don't think that any of the things his wife told him happened. Yes, he saved their son. Yes, his daughter saw him act bravely. But as far as Diane is concerned? I think she's grateful to have her son back, but doesn't give a damn that it was her ex-husband that saved him. And Morgan isn't going to think about it twice. Diane is happy, he's happy. And probably happy that he didn't have to risk his life and doesn't have a broken ankle. After a couple of months the incident will be forgotten and everything will will revert to normal. Jeff will still have a wife that cheated on him, left him and thinks she married a better man. So while you wrote a good story, your ending, in my worthless opinion, was not a good one.

The author left the rest of the story up to the reader to supply. Read Ambivalent's comment and then consider how spot on his ideas are. Volunteer fire department men have friends and family, after seeing how the sorry fucker badmouthed these heroes do you doubt that they would act exactly in the way described? Then there are the family and friends of the other children as well as the teacher, think that they won't also loathe the ones who hurt their hero so badly? Human nature will push people into ostracizing the cheating slut and her wife stealing bastard of a husband.

Personally I think that the daughter would, if not outright leaving her slut of a mom to live with her dad, at least spend as much time with him as possible. And if they didn't move away even the son would most likely end up spending as much time with the man who saved him as possible. Face it, hanging around people who are disliked means no friends, or very few, to play with or socialize with. I think that this is a very good story indeed, and lets anyone who really thinks about it reach the proper conclusion as to the ultimate fate of the characters.

It is interesting how many people long for some kind of cosmic justice. They feel that they have been wronged, and that somehow the "scales" need to be re-balanced. Some seek revenge, some beg for reconciliation, some turn bitter and shun the world. These people are all "VICTIMS". A few take a look at the situation and ask themselves, "What part did I play in this horrible mess?" "What could I have done differently?" Sure the shrinks will all tell you that it is not your "fault" that your spouse cheated on you. You should not feel any less a person for their betrayal. However, you are still just as screwed whatever the case may be. So, why not look at what you can do to improve your situation and avoid more pain in the future. It is much easier to change you own behavior than it is to change someone else's behavior.

As you work on your own life, you may find some kind of "justice" by doing the right thing as those that betrayed you continue on their paths of wrongdoing. We are all the beneficiaries or victims of our own decision making.

Here's another one!

"Now Morgan Hanson will spend the rest of his life feeling small and inadequate. He'll go to his grave knowing you're a far better man, Jeff. He'll know that Diane has seen it as well. Yep, Jeff, you really got him good!"

Hardly!

Hanson And Diane are selfish, self-centered cheaters. They will not be ashamed, will not feel remorse or small or inadequate. That assumption is based on moral, sensitive, rational people and their beliefs. Hanson and Diane have already demonstrated they have no morals or compassion. Jeff did nothing to them but what they would expect or even demand as their due. See Hanson's rant at the firemen.

I applaud Jeff's heroics and agree that decent people would be humbled by his actions.

Unfortunately, Hanson and Diane are NOT decent people!

Just how I see it.

Morgan DeWolfe

I have to agree with @MorganDeWolfe...This is a good fairy tale, but even in fairy tales the selfish and bad people never repent, never feel "small and inadequate"...So I can understand that he could feel that he had showed he was a good and real man, that from then on, the other people wouldn't feel sorry for him, but those two will never change...They even could feel that he has done nothing more than his duty!!! Another error: his daughter living with her mother and her step-father, why had to call him? She should have called the father of the child...any child would have done that...She would call her father if she was trapped in the building too...

It is more likely Morgan Hanson will only believe that he's even more superior. Jeff obviously slaved away for Morgan, risking his life to save the son Jeff couldn't give Diane. It was Jeff's duty to risk his unimportant life to protect the offspring of his betters...

only their perceptions and morals. TK U MLJ LV NV

Maybe she wanted to go with her mother, but coupled with her mother's betrayal of her father, at 12 Rachel probably could have stayed with her father if she wanted to.

Still five stars. Ending didn't have the punch it deserved.

Nice tale but ..... in the real world, people like Morgan Hanson have no shame, no sense of guilt and constantly believe they are the better man and therefore entitled. He will still feel something like an 'alpha male'. He will never feel small and/or inadequate.

Which is a shame and spoiled the ending for me.

And I don't know what happened when she was 12, but I'm surprised that Rachel didn't move in with her father once she reached high school!

Would have been 5 with more story and a more detailed ending dealing with all the players.

That all?

Karma It's a BITCH ! The story is great! That's how I want to go out Deep Blue hero 100 % OF READING ENJOYMENT BYE. Love you all! GREG. BYE.

But it was far too short.

This is a great story that is worthy of more detail and length.

The hero needed nothing more than he got. He has Laura, a thousand times better than his cheating ex, Diane. He put a spotlight on the pompous ass Morgan. He saved the lives of three children, one of whom was Morgan Jr. As Morgan Jr and the other two children grow, they will be telling first hand stories of the courage shown by Morgan Jr's stepfather. Rachel will become closer to her father and distance herself from her mother and Morgan. The community is now solidly behind Jeff. Oh, and Ralph is also a big hero to the teacher whose life he saved. Jeff doesn't need anything more. After all, now everyone knows he is "the man."

Payback is hell.

Wanting more! And you did, of course.

Another fine story, thanks!

Totally enjoyed this story, it is worth 5 ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

And Morgan Sr. and his slut will never be able to forget it. Morgan Jr. may even develop a true loving relationship with his sister's father, pissing Morgan Sr. off even more. At least one final kick to Morgan, Sr's nuts will be when Morgan Jr. gets married, has a son, and names his son after Jeff! Perfect.

As long as they stay in the same town, they will have to deal with what people say and think about them. Even shallow, selfish people can love their children, and even if they are selfish and shallow, it will certainly cause some hurt and confusion to owe their son's life to the man whose life they screwed up. And if Morgan Sr. doesn't feel it . . . well . . . he can't very well let on that he's anything other than extremely grateful to the man who saved his son . . . or he might end up looking like the complete ass that he probably is, pissing off the entire town, and having his business go down the drain!!

Diane certainly loves her son, and since I suspect she was somewhat of an opportunist, and probably turned to Morgan Sr. because she found him to be suave, well-off, and a person with better prospects in general. Now that fantasy is shattered! He'll have looked like an idiot on TV, everyone in town will see her ex as a hero, and know him to be the better man. So . . . she loses either way. If she's a relatively decent person who made some very bad choices, she'll now have to live with that knowledge, and the fact that the whole town knows. As someone pointed out, anytime she looks at or holds her son, she'll always envision and perhaps feel some debt to her ex. On the other hand, if she is terribly selfish and shallow, she'll have to live with the fact that she made the wrong choice, got the lesser man, and the whole town knows.

Great story!! Truly interesting payback. I wouldn't want to be Morgan Sr. or Diane in that town.

Does this lazy writer EVER finish a story?

Good story.

jtaylor

Should have includedan embarressed meeting with his ex wife and her arrogant husband at a ceremony to honour him for his bravery and Morgan getting a lot of flack and loss of trade for his out burst against the fire department.

Well written with positive outcome. THIS STORY IS COMPLETE. Tired of chicken shit anon assholes messing with good writing. Thanks for the story , excellent read.

Morgan Hanson is an Egotistical Bastard! There will be no (Well no anything from that bottom feeder) Yes!!!!!!( All Men and Women who risk Their lives Deserve Our Gratitude and Heartfelt Thanks)

Story is another True Blue Hero Fare "I love em" Fantastic Story★ ★ ★ ★ ★ WOOF!

really good story keep writing

"Your father is an incredible man. He will not quit! He'll never give up!" - Too bad Diane didn't think of that before she cheated on him!

"Yep, Jeff, you really got him good!"" - No, not until Diane and Morgan go to him and she admits that she gave up the better man! THEN let Morgan live with the knowledge that his wife thinks the less of him!

The premise behind the story was good, but as it stands, it's too short and the 'revenge' too subtle. As people point out, a douchebag like Morgan and a cheating slut like Diane won't feel shame or remorse for their actions. Scum like that need the consequences ground in their face before they feel any regret...

This story needed a bit more, detailing the aftermath of the fire:

The local townsfolk rally behind Jeff, honouring him for his bravery, while refusing to buy from Morgan's car dealership for his castigation of the emergency services. As financial pressure increases, Morgan starts drinking, then lashes out at Diane and Rachel because of their association with Jeff who he sees as his nemesis. This leads to Diane losing custody of her daughter to Jeff, and Morgan Jr is taken away by social services.

Then the cheating couple really get into it; spousal abuse, further cheating, Morgan's descent into alcoholism, financial destitution...

Finally, a tearful apology from Diane to Jeff, where she bitterly regrets choosing the "worthless" Morgan over him.

And the karmic balance is restored...

WRONG!!!! Hanson isn't the kind of man to feel anything but selfishness and contempt for other people! Diane may now regret what she did and may even divorce Hanson, but at this point, who gives a fuck!

Your quote about Jeff is Laura speaking, not the skank Diane.Powersworder gives the logical and acceptable end to the story, as a synopsis.

That "revenge" was way too subtle for me.

Yeah, Morgan failed his family by... not being able to make it to the school on time. He'll be thankful (well, he'll behave in public as if he's thankful) to Jeff for saving his son, but deep down, he'll believe that he could have done the same.

The whole "he knows you're a better man" is the kind of bullshit you tell yourself to make yourself feel better. It's based on assuming that deep down, everyone is just like you. No, some people are assholes with no sense of empathy, and the kind of thing that would make you reevaluate your life will roll off them like nothing, because they didn't become the kind of person they are by being bothered by things like that.

For this to work, I think he needed to be publicly shown to be a coward, being able to run in and save his son, but not doing so. As is, all he did was have an angry outburst, which is almost certainly going to be ignored by everyone as just the lashing out of an overly-emotional father.

The whores son and the whore left in an ambulance, and the jackass follwed in his car

The guy and his new wife also left in an ambulance

How did the 15yr old daughter get home?

So, Jeff proved that he’s a real man by rescuing four people, but that’s just a one-time event. His ex will always be grateful, and that might piss off her current husband, but the reasons she had for first cheating on him and then marrying Morgan are still there. Morgan appears to be wealthier, and he might be a lot better both in bed and as a husband in general.

We don’t know any of that, because we weren’t told. A lot of commenters have assumed that, since Jeff proved himself to be a real man in this one event, he’s a better man than Morgan in everything else, but that isn’t a given.

Morgan will return to his business and keep making money, while Jeff is out of work for a couple of months with his injury. Did he have the insurance to protect himself from two months without a paycheck?

Yes, this was a cynical comment, but it was generated more by other commenters’ assumptions than the story itself.

You know you're on the right track. A few more stories and he'll retreat to the bunker.

I failed to see how this is revenge. But one thing is certain Jeff is the “MAN” and everyone knows it, including the ex, her husband, the daughter and the rest of the people. Please keep writing, Panther fan.

There are several hints given in the story that Jeff is overall a better guy than Morgan. The first being that Morgan was fucking a married woman. The second is his behavior when he arrived at the scene. Third is the fact that he never thanked Jeff for saving his son.

The second hint might be a one-time thing, though without any contradicting evidence from the author and combined with #1 we can assume that he is just as much an asshole in everyday life as in this one instance, which I think was the whole point of why HDK put that in. #3 could occur at a later date, but combined with #1 and 2, I don't think that will happen.

You might make the argument that Jeff's wife was in a terrible marriage and that was why she cheated with her boss. However, we are given no indication of this and the fact that he seems to have a good relationship with his daughter and current wife suggest he was a decent husband.

Morgan being richer and possibly better in bed doesn't necessarily mean Diane likes him better. HDK in fact does not give any motivation for Diane's cheating. We do know that she left soon after she found out she was pregnant, which suggests that she knew her husband would divorce her and decided not to fight it and went with the guy she knew would support her. Whether she loved Morgan or whether she had been planning to leave is not stated. Neither is any information given on her current relationship with Morgan. The only thing we know is that Diane did not like Morgan's behavior during the fire. We've already assumed that Morgan is an asshole and thus can probably safely assume that he has some faults as a husband that, at the very least, don't make him a better man in Diane's eyes than Jeff, especially after this incident.

I generally try to take authors at their word. This is especially true with these short flash stories. You have to take what little the author gives you as representative of the whole. That's what makes these flash stories work. The author expects you to assume things about the characters because if you didn't than he would have to spend more time on character background, which would make the story much longer.

This story is short.There should have been some follow up on people shunning Diane and Morgan's business going down hill with his mouthing off against everyone and Jeff should have got some form of bravery award.

Pun intended!

Great story. Kept us on pins and needles.

I liked the way the principal onlookers were used to advance the story.

That is how you get revenge! Excellent story and Laura is a real keeper. Good, good story! I plan on reading it again tonight.

This really belongs in non-erotic, not LW.

What happens next ?

for a child that isnt mine if I had children of my own to take care of

Are we really to believe the cheating cunt and her asshole husband would care for her if her father died?

her mother left her at the scene of the fire to dote over her new son and the asshole got in his car and drove off wthout her

'Nuff said. 5 Star Rating.

Because of his comments it would have been nice to hear people were staying away from Morgan and his buisness and berating his ex wife for not thanking him for saving her son.

Still one of my all-time favorites.