When you're drawn to being a writer, motivation for a story can come out of the blue. Events inspiring this entirely fictional yarn titled 'Prairie Basin' are worthy of comment and began when my wife Elly and I were touring the USA when a cancelled flight over the Grand Canyon due to bad weather led the next day to a helicopter flight with four other tourists into the Canyon for a picnic, all was well until the pilot casually stated we could walk over to the nearby Colorado River but advised we 'keep an eye open for rattlesnakes'. This truly amazing experience ended with no sight or sound of danger underfoot yet brought welcome relief when we lifted off. Safely back in our hotel I began making notes about a story set amid a backdrop of rugged spectacular Arizona scenery, the merciless heat and as a former Para not without experience of such things, how tranquil normality can, in the blink of an eye, change to sudden terror
