Tuesday, July 01, 2003

Deflation 2004 AD Last Match

In Jack London’s short story, To Build a Fire, an Alaska prospector breaks through the ice of a frozen creek in the middle of winter, then finds he has only a few dry matches left to start a fire. The suspense builds as each match flickers out before a fire can catch. His fingers begin to freeze. Desperate, he tries to kill his dog so he can warm his hands by plunging them into the animal’s steaming guts. But it’s too late: his hands are frozen. He can’t even handle his knife.
· Finally, as hypothermia overcomes him, he sits down in the snow to die [Billmon ]