It’s time for this week’s Song Title Challenge, back after the disruptions of NaNoWriMo.

Write a short piece of fiction, around 300 words, using the song title as your story title but don’t listen to the song.  You can pick your own genre or use the one suggested to me.  Remember to link back to this post so I can find yours.

If you would like to suggest a song title for a future post, you can do so from the challenge page.  You can also leave a suggestion on the Facebook page.

This week’s song is Shaving Cream by Benny Bell and the genre is Fantasy/Sci-Fi.  Thanks to bumblepuppies for the suggestion.

Warning:  I banged this post together in a very short time, so I’m not so sure about its quality.  There’s a bit of strong language in there as well.

Shaving Cream

We were in a spot of trouble.

An asteroid was hurtling straight at us and the ship’s control panel was on fire, making us unable to steer.  Oh, and someone…not naming names… had left the fire extinguishers back on Earth to conserve weight during take-off.

As I said.  A spot of trouble.

I heard a banging from the kitchen and went to investigate.

“Ace.  What the fuck?  Now’s hardly time to make a sandwich.”

He didn’t look at me but poured the entire bottle of hydrogen peroxide we use as disinfectant into a pot.

“Get me some shaving cream, won’t you?” he said, adding some soap to the pot.

“Shaving cream?  Are you out of your fu…”

“Just do it, okay?  I’m trying to save our asses here.”

He started stirring the mixture vigorously.  I made for the bathroom.  We were going to die anyway.  Might as well do what he says.

When I returned he was manoeuvring the pot onto the control panel with a broomstick.  Problem:  there were much more fire than stuff in the pot.  It felt futile to point that out.

“Got the shaving cream?” said Ace.

I tossed him the can.  He knocked off the nozzle against doorjamb and the pressurised contents spewed out.  He aimed it at the pot and moments later thick foam started bubbling out the pot, spreading over the control panel and dousing the flames.

A proximity alarm sounded.

“The asteroid, Ace,” I said.

“On it,” he replied.

He swept the foam off the panel with his arm and flicked some switches.  Nothing.

“Try this,” I said, tossing him a hammer.

He banged the control panel a few times and it came to life.

“Nothing like a bit of percussive maintenance, hey?” he said, with a grin.

Copyright © 2013 Herman Kok

Disclaimer:  I have no idea whether this is actually a viable way to extinguish a fire, so please do not try it.  Always use approved fire safety equipment and call the relevant emergency services should you face an out of control fire.  Also, hydrogen peroxide is dangerous, so please do not try this experiment at home (though unless your shaving cream contains potassium iodide it won’t work anyway).

• Fiction
• Song Title Challenge