In another lifetime, in a land of lava and love, there lived a young girl named Veronica.

Veronica had brown hair and beautiful hazel eyes. She wore a strand of pearls every day, even to bed, because her middle name was Pearl. Veronica had a mom and dad, who loved her very much, and a little sister, Elyse, who loved to play. She was, in fact, a perfectly ordinary girl, except for one very important thing—Veronica lived on a volcano.

“Lava bomb!” Veronica called brightly from the passenger seat, as her father backed the lava car out of the garage. She heard the telltale shriek and saw the orange glow. A flaming boulder, about the size of a school desk, streaked through the summer sky.

She pressed the red button in the center of the dashboard—a button clearly marked lava shield.  The lava bomb struck with the force of a lightning bolt. Showers of incandescent stones hailed down upon them, as if from a volcanic thundercloud.

... 

Listen to the Award-Winning Volcanic Podcast!