Fire Starting Del

by BeanTheBean

Del, as we all know, hates Leafton's unorganized mail system. He thinks it's lazy, stupid, and gets in the way of his gardening. So he hatches a plan to take revenge, but also be recognized as a hero. But when it comes to Del, nothing goes his way.

"Good morning Trevor The Always Happy Inchworm!" said Sammy The Always Happy Butterfly to Trevor The Always Happy Inchworm. The two were sitting on a sunflower in Del's garden on fine sunny day in Leafton. "And a good morning to you, Sammy The Always Happy Butterfly!" said Trevor The Always Happy Inchworm to Sammy The Always Happy Butterfly. The two sat for a while, grinning like idiots for a couple of minutes before Sammy The Always Happy Butterfly spoke up. "Did you hear Del this morning Trevor The Always Happy Inchworm?" he asked. "I don't think he's in a good mood…" Trevor The Always Happy Inchworm nodded and sighed. "Yeah, when is he ever?" he chuckled. The two laughed for a while until they saw a shadow approaching. They stopped their laughing and for the first time ever, they weren't happy. The two screamed in terror as the shadow, who you already knew was Del, flicked them right off the flower. The two flew across the sky with great speed. "My… only regret…" said Sammy The Not-so-happy Butterfly weakly as the two flew through the air like bullets. "Was… to shorten my name…" They flew right into a tree where they splated onto the tree bark and died… R.I.P... oh yeah, and the tree exploded. Del who was now standing outside in his garden, did not care care about the double murder he just committed. His face was all inraged and wrinkled. He snarled with his teeth out and sniffed loudly with that long snout of his. Like he mentioned before, he didn't like things getting in the way of him and his garden. Especially those darn presents with balloons attached to them. In other words, he did not approve of the mail delivery services. They would always float around with no pattern or order. They would disturb him when he was working in the garden. But thanks to Harry, things would change. For Del had a plan. A revenge plan. But he needed to confirm one thing first. Suddenly, he heard whistling coming from behind him. He turned around to see what was needed to be the first part of his plan. Harry. He was out doing his usual thing, pretending to do mayor work. Del rolled his eyes at him as he whistled by for he did not think Harry was a good replacement mayor. But he was stuck with him for now so he couldn't do much. Del sometimes wanted to just pack up and leave Leafton, but he didn't want to leave his garden after all the work he had put into it. Besides, he was banned from riding Leafton's train after a little "Propane incident" that Del called an "Oil inspection." But if Del couldn't have his way, even after building a giant wall to stop a postal service, then he would at least have a little revenge. He walked up behind Harry with a devilish glare in his eyes and spoke to him in a more cheerful than usual tone. "Hi there Harry!" Del said as he tried to grin. It failed. Harry was startled by the more-happier-than-usual Del, but took into consideration that he might of turned over a new leaf. "Why Del! You're actually coming up to someone to TALK instead of pounding them into the ground with a steel beam like usual!" Harry happily mentioned. "Why is that?" With a sigh, Del began his plan. "Oh, well you see Mayor," he began. "You're, er, ordinance has inspired me to become something I've always wanted to be, a firefighter!" Harry nodded, liking what he was hearing. When Del was little, his father was a firefighter. He always wanted to grow up to be one, but he took an interest in gardening and he forgot all about it. But now, he could bring his dream back to life, and in the process, take revenge on this town and come out looking like a hero. "So I thought, now that mayor Harry has created an ordinance all about following our dreams, I should live out my dream of being Leafton's firefighter!" Del struck a heroic pose. Harry was glad Del was finally catching on. "Well Del, I honestly had my doubts about you…" Harry smugly said. Del growled. "But I'm glad you're doing something something to HELP residents in Leafton instead of ruining their lives." Del slapped his forehead. "But yeah, cool. You do that." With a wave goodbye, Harry whistled off. Del rubbed his hands together in excitement. His fake smile merged into the most hideous evil grin ever seen by man. Now that he had the information he needed, it was time for his plan to unveil… and time for some apple crumble. He liked apple crumble.

The time was 11:01PM. The evening was quite foggy, so no one was outside at the time. No one except an sneaky sly alligator with a devious plan. The plan was going well so far, and with all the fog surrounding the town, Del felt like the world was telling him he should do it! And do it he shall, for he then put on firefighter hat and a firefighter suit he had gotten from Able Sisters, and grabbed his dark blue knapsack. He snuck up the concrete stairs to main street, where he then came face to face with one of his biggest enemies: The Post Office. It was a wooden building with a clock on the top of it. It had a spinning pelican on the side and in the front was a big envelope sticker attached to the side. Del thought it looked so ugly. Think of the ugliest thing ever, then multiply that by 1,000. Then multiply that 1,000 by ANOTHER 1,000 and that's how ugly Del thought the post office was. But pretty soon, Del wouldn't have to look at that post office ever again. For just like Harry had blown up his wall, he was going to blow up the post office. "This is going to be epic!" Del snickered. "I'll put out the fire from the post office that just so happened to 'blow up randomly' and be a hero! Plus, the post office will be destroyed! NO MORE FLYING PRESENTS!" Del quickly shut his mouth, for he had said that part a little bit TOO loud. He unzipped his knapsack and pulled out a firecracker he had saved from the Leafton's summer fireworks show. But he had also added in a bit more "BOOM" if you know what I mean. With precise aim, he held the firecracker in his hand and was ready to throw. Grabbing a lighter out of his pocket, he flicked it and set the end of the firecracker on fire. But for the first time ever, he wasn't sure of his actions. He didn't know if he could put out a raging fire all by himself Especially without the proper equipment. But he threw it anyway. Up into the foggy night sky it went. Down down down, aiming right at the post office. But then realized something. Proper equipment. Equipment. He forgot to bring a hose with him! With the most horrified expression frozen on to Del's face, he watched as the firecracker hit not the post office, but the building beside it. The Super T&T.

Time out for a second: Now, you may be wondering "How in the world did Del miss a target that was pretty much in front of him!?" Well my friends, if you recall from the last Del story, a wall blew up without any warning, so some debris may of gotten into his eyes, causing his eyesight to temporarily get worse. At the exact moment he threw the firecracker, his eyes twitched, causing him to believe that the post office was more to his right then his left. But unfortunately, the Super T&T was to the right of the post office, so he may have accidently set the Super T&T on fire…

And set the Super T&T on fire he did. A few seconds after the firecracker hit the building, it arose up in flames. Del just stood there, looking into the vast red orange and yellow flames of the impending doom that was occurring right in front of him. He did nothing but stand completely still. Until he realized that if he didn't stop this fire somehow, he could get blamed for this act against low budget corner stores. Without even thinking twice, Del rushed into the flames. It was beyond hot. Del thought the heat in the burning store was as hot as the sun, but we all know that the sun is precisely 27 million degrees Fahrenheit (15 million degrees Celsius). But everyone already knew that. Except Del, who was now stuck in the middle of a burning store. "WHY DID I EVEN RUN IN HERE!?" he screamed. Coughing like mad, he desperately tried to find a way out of the flaming death trap his was stuck in. Alas, Del had no way out, for some beams from above had just collapsed and unfortunately blocked his only exit. Del hit the floor like a head being chopped off by an executor. "Okay okay! New plan. I'll just PRETEND to put out the fire, and when someone arrives to see what's going on, I'll say I've got it under control…" The flames rose higher. The smoke got lower. The Del got coughier. "A-and when I say that, they'll obviously come in to save me and act like a 'hero.' But then I'll be like, 'DUDE! Without me in there, the flames will never stop! You just burned down the Super T&T you idiot!'" But secretly, Del knew the truth. HE was the idiot who burned down the Super T&T. As the flames continued their burning rampage, Del got more and more terrified. All his life he wanted to be a hero, and all his life he never wanted to admit defeat. But the way things were going tonight, I looked like Del would be losing both his wishes. But this wasn't the time to give up. This was the time for new ideas! "Well… what would a fireman do?" More flaming debris collapsed to the ground. "Um... they, um, use axes sometimes…" Del coughed and tried to clear the smoke to see if there were any un-damaged axes around in the store. There weren't. "Um… well how d-did they stop the fire in that episode of Cheers when Rebecca burnt down the bar?" Del coughed more. This really wasn't his better days. Lying completely on his back, he saw a cloud of black smoke coming to attack him. But before the death of Del occurred, he had a flashback…

Why is Del so grumpy? Maybe it has to do with his firefighter father. The two would spend so much time together when he was off duty. He was the only family member and friend Del had. The last moment Del ever remembered with his dad was with when the two were sitting on the leathery couch in Del's old living room. "Son, make me proud." As he said this, he placed a tiny sunflower seed into palm of his hands. He then got up from the couch, waved goodbye, and walked out the door to go to his job. His job that he one day never came back from. As his flashback came to an end and the smoke drew near, a single tear fell from his eye. He never made his father, and anyone else in his life, proud.

"Why Del? Why?" a freaked out Harry called out to Del as he suddenly awoke. He was back in his house, lying on his bed of pure nails. All the lights were off and Harry was sitting on one of Del's wooden chairs. He couldn't see Harry that clearly, but something told him he had an upset look on his face. "Wait a sec…" Del said weakly, as he lifted himself up from his bed. "You got into my house?" Harry slapped his face. "The door was unlocked Del!" Harry yelled. "That's not really the point, is it Del!? I RISKED MY LIFE TO SAVE SOMEONE WHO ISN'T EVEN GRATEFUL THAT I DID!" Del's face turned shocked. "You… saved… ME?" He shyly asked. Harry sighed. "Yeah Del…" he said. "I had to sacrifice my fireproof vest that was in my emergency drawer in my office. It was for only if the town hall burnt down. I could've used it to save myself in the future, but you're happy I used it to save you, huh? Or are you?" Del, looking guilty than ever, finally did something not even Donald Trump could do, admit the truth. "FINE HARRY! I USED AN OVER EXPLOSIVE FIREWORK TO BLOW UP THE POST OFFICE, BUT IT BACKFIRED AND SET THE WHOLE BLOODY SUPER T&T INTO FLAMES!" Del shouted. "I messed up, I did wrong, and I learned that being a hero requires more work than usual…" Harry was dead silent. "Del…" He said slowly. "I… why do you do it?" Del sighed. "My father would be proud…" Del mumbled. "Plus it would've put a halt to all that air mail that was ruining my garden that I've based around my dad…" Harry smiled a bittersweet smile. But it suddenly turned into a worried frown. "Wait… you said you used a FIREWORK to blow up the store?" Harry asked. Del nodded. "No mere firework can set an entire building on fire, no matter how much 'BOOM' you put into it…" The two stared at each other, with scared and puzzled faces.

When the fire died down at 5:06AM, Timmy stared down at his now burnt down store. "Well, maybe now mayor Harry will give us the store we've always wanted…" he sadly said. "Right dear brother?" Putting the last remaining C-4 bombs into his pocket, he walked away into the setting sun, knowing that wherever his lost brother was, he knew he would be proud of his acts.

It is August 26th, there is 1 more chaotic event until Harry loses his mind...