Hey, CWG, if you want, I'll be brave and volunteer to read your story. And I'm pretty sure it won't kill me.
I may not be the wisest person for the job, but I'll give you my honest opinion.
BTW, I got ambitious yesterday and finished a short story I've had in th works for ages. I was supposed to have it done by the end of May for a particular challenge, but RL kept me from meeting that deadline. But now that I've finished it, I'm going to post it anyway. It's the longest one I've done in first person (5,100 words) and I want to see what the others think, though they're not exactly lovers of first person. But maybe it'll change their minds.