Friday Flash Fiction:Rolf

This came from my writers group last weekend. Each person created two characters, then we passed them to the people on our left and right. The two characters I received were as follows:

1) An alcoholic firefighter who wants to open a home for kittens.
2) Rolf Koenig--a former warfighter who now smuggles drugs to the first moon colony. He is also raising a teenage son, trying to keep him away from the crime community.

Rolf Koenig arrived at the moon colony right on schedule. He had brought his teenaged son, Leif, along for the ride this time, attempting to get some quality time with him. Leif was having behavioral issues at school, and Rolf had been hoping to get to the root of that problem.

The trip up to the colony had not been as productive as Rolf had hoped. Leif was engrossed in his virtual reality world and resisted all efforts at conversation. Now that they had arrived, Rolf had to concentrate on unloading his cargo and getting it delivered to his contacts without attracting the attention of the local authorities.

Being a newly-widowed single father was difficult enough, but coupling it with being a drug smuggler who was trying to keep his son unaware of his occupation was even worse. As far as Leif knew, his father was merely a delivery courier for a major corporation. 

Father and son carried the three large crates out of the cargo hold of the ship and placed them in the cargo vehicle. Checking the invoice, Rolf plotted the coordinates and they set off to make their first delivery.

Arriving at the colony's fire prevention station, they were greeted rather over-enthusiastically by Andy, one of Rolf's regular clients. Stumbling his way to the vehicle, Andy slurred "Good morning, gents," and mimed a tip of his hat.

Leif, who always treated the old alcoholic kindly, asked if he had any new kittens in the station or at home. Andy smiled widely as he answered. "Had another five dropped on my doorstep yesterday, which makes the current total thirty. The good news is, I've found a reasonably priced warehouse I can renovate into a cozy living space for them, and I'll still have room for plenty more."

As Rolf listened to the two of them continue to talk about the cats, he wondered if Leif's opinion of the firefighter would change if he knew Andy's money for the project came from selling the drugs they were delivering to him. And what would he think of his father for smuggling the drugs in the first place? Maybe it was time to stop bringing Leif along on these trips, and to find him a boarding school where he could be kept apart from this life.