EXERCISE: It was just a wink

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Just for fun, here's a beginning line that you can use for a story, or maybe a poetry, or whatever.

He knew they were in trouble when the face in the fire winked at them.

There you go. Who are these people, and just where is this fire? Franklin stove, household hearth, campground fire pit, or perhaps somewhere else? And then, of course, there's that face. And it winked at them?

Fill in a little bit more of the setting, perhaps add a dash of backstory, and then tell us what happens.