Wednesday 28 August 2013

FRIDAY FICTIONEERS - UNION STATION TODAY - MY 100 WORDS - BY LINDA PALUND





UNION STATION TODAY

            “Jeez, will you look at that!”
            It’s hard to move quickly inside a Hazmat Suit, but when I managed to fumble my way through the opening Jack had blown for us, I had to catch my breath.  Which is also very difficult in these suits.
            With Global warming, the tornadoes became more frequent in Maryland until they finally decimated the Lusby Nuclear Power Plant, sending deadly radiation on favourable winds straight to DC. 
            The evacuation was a farce, only the President’s plane made it out safely.  The remaining terrified residents barricaded themselves inside Union Station.
            That was 50 years ago.

  • Historical Footnote:
  • In 1961, as a testament to the strength of the Station's design and construction, a civilian firm surveying the Washington, DC area buildings determined that Union Station could serve as a fallout shelter for hundreds on an extended basis and thousands in an emergency. One key location was a deep, heavily pillared storage area originally designated as a swimming pool and steam room for affluent railroad patrons.
·       This Dabble in FLASH FICTION is from FRIDAY FICTIONEERS courtesy of:
·       and you can comment on mine below:
·        

45 comments:

  1. hair-raising. you painted a horrifying picture. well done.

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    1. Well, I had a little help from a book I just finished called BOMBSHELL, by James Reich. Talk about hair-raising!

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  2. Global Warming is a myth, darling, and Al Gore a fearmonger. Or, at least that's what the guy wearing the tinfoil hat on the street this morning told me.

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    1. Oh darling! If only we had remembered what we used to know...

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  3. Can't help it--I like the idea of a swimming pool and steam room for affluent travelers in a train station much better than the possibility of Union Station being turned into a fallout shelter. Ahhhhh, for the good old days. Nicely done (hopefully, this is not prophetic).

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    1. God, I hope it is not prophetic, but read BOMBSHELL a fiction by James Reich and all this will seem tame by comparison...

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  4. A really original take on the prompt, and a bit of education to go with it. Well done, enjoyed this.

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    1. Thanks, Sandra. I was prompted by reading that bit and combined it with a wake up call in the novel BOMBSHELL, by James Reich. If you want to read something really horrific, and a reminder of what we used to know and let ourselves forget, read it now!

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  5. It looks like we were both on the same page. Just hope yours doesn't come true.

    Tom

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  6. Yes, Tom, I have been quite touched by the memories of all we were supposed to stand for and all we have let slip away...

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  7. Different and very interesting!

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  8. Ah yes, now I see what you mean about my piece following up on yours! Those that could, would probably aim for robust buildings in a situation like that. Londoners escaped to the underground in the Blitz, after all... I like your take on this (dystopia rules!).

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    1. I am feeling very dystopiac, if that's a word. I've been reading horrific fiction, like Bombshell, and Life After Life, and now I am reading the latest by Margaret Atwood, all hoping to save the world by presenting the worst we have to offer!

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  9. Fascinating! I had no idea. You created a really good little story! :D

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    1. Thanks Linda, one never knows where the prompts will lead...

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  10. 50 years ago! That means I've been dead for quite some time. No wonder my life is so boring! Nicely done, Linda; a preview of the shape of things to come ... or what has come already.

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  11. Yeah, pretty grim. I wish you hadn't reminded me of taking the 50 years personally. Ouch. You are right. Aint life just wonderful?

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  12. I like it that a favorable wind took the fallout over DC. People have been saying for years that we need to clean house and start over.

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    1. Hey, thanks for noticing that line. I kind of liked it myself...
      Remember, this was actually inspired by a book I just finished by a guy living in New Mexico, named James Reich, called BOMBSHELL.
      That says it all.

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  13. Hi Linda G,
    You did some crucial research to come up with this futuristic tale. And those HazMat suits, well, that's the future of haute coture. Nobody does the dark vision of our collective future the way you do! Ron

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    1. Thanks for the praise, but it really wasn't that difficult. The really dark vision came from BOMBSHELL by James Reich.

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  14. Very effective description of one possible future. Hopefully I'll be gone by then....

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    1. Oh no, not you too! Don't remind me of our short spell on this planet, it hurts. I want to fix it before we leave it.

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  15. Now I like a good history lesson with a story. Really well done!

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  16. Dear Lindaura,

    Those fallout shelters are only as good as their supply of food and water. I loved the President escaping...to preside over what population exactly? Idiots. Great story though.Will probably come true before we're gone.

    Aloha,

    Doug

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  17. I guess it's not really such a great story then... I have to start looking at things differently, but I can't find my rose coloured glasses!

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  18. Dear Lindaura,

    I always enjoy and educational story. This one made me shudder. Funny how the president is the only one to escape. Well, not funny...you know what I mean. I fear this one won't be fiction much longer.

    Shalom,

    Rochelle

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    1. And now I am reading the latest Margaret Atwood. No wonder I feel so pessimistic! But you should really take time out to read the English author, Kate Atkinson's Life After Life - It's about somebody trying over and over to change the world...

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  19. I understand why it's quite empty now... sad one.

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  20. Haunting story, mostly because it could be real one day....

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  21. Yes, I am pretty haunted by reality. I hate it.

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  22. This is such a chilling story. Great research too, into the location. Fascinating.

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    1. Thanks, Greeny,
      I had help with the inspiration after reading the novel BOMBSHELL by James Reich.

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  23. And what do they find inside that place? Simply grisly remains? Or perhaps...something even more terrifying...

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    1. I think really grisly remains is most likely. Really grisly....

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  24. Glad you like our combined efforts with the vampire story. Writing with someone can be a fun challenge.

    Up until the latest renovations a few years back our local high school still had a fall out shelter. My one child while in attendance about fourteen years ago did a little exploring and found stale crackers! I like your story. I wonder if we still need a few today...
    ~Jules

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    1. I think we need more than that. I think we need to shut down Nuclear and for for wind and wave. Not to be too controversial....

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  25. Linda, this is so chilling, all the more so because the research has already been done...
    Well done, great story
    Dee

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  26. I'd love to think that they found the descendants of the original shelter-seekers living a grand old life inside, but I'm guessing not :-(

    Great story!

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    1. Oh, that's a nice idea, but hard to think it could become reality.

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