The
Shopping Centre at the End of the World
“Oh
Daddy! You promised there’d be food if I didn’t cry!” I was crying now, though.
“I’m
sorry, baby, I didn’t know. I
thought there’d be food here.”
Standing
in the water, left by the receding flood, were three empty shopping carts.
“I’m
so hungry.” We’d been chewing the skin of bark-less trees for weeks. The flood had stripped the land bare.
“Look,
honey! At the end of the valley! Debris from the shopping centre! There could be food there!
“I’m so tired,” I whined.
“That’s
okay, girl. I’ll lift you up. At
least you can ride in this.”
This Dabble
in FLASH FICTION is from FRIDAY FICTIONEERS courtesy of:
· and you can
comment on mine below:
Very well conceived and presented.
ReplyDeleteThere's always an up side to a situation... a deft post apocalyptic touch.
ReplyDeletegreat post apocalyptic tale.. i hope they do find food somewhere.
ReplyDeleteDear Lindaura,
ReplyDeleteHope springs eternal. Perhaps the road to the debris at the end of the valley is mostly downhill.
Loved this piece, especially the last line.
Aloha,
Doug
Hope does spring eternal. Have you been reading the last three Margaret Atwood books? She has totally gone dystopiac - if that is a word, which spell checker tells me it is not. I had to stop reading the stuff of nightmares and now I am reading a children's book from the early part of the century. I don't know what to read next. It is hard to find books in English in Athens that are not just best sellers and I have been downloading books from IBooks.
DeleteNaturally, I read "The Road" as well as all the rest of Cormac Mac Carthy's fantastic offerings...
Dear Lindaura,
ReplyDeleteMy stomach is growling as I read. Well crafted apocalyptic tale. Hope the ride leads to food.
shalom,
Rochelle
Thank you, Rochelle. I just gobbled up a ripe avocado!
DeleteShe's pretty hungry to gnaw the bark off tree. High in fiber, but not a lot of protein. Hopefully, the debris pile hasn't already been raided.
ReplyDeleteNo, Russell, she was gnawing on that lovely juicy part of the tree that lies beneath the bark! The water had taken the bark with it. I don't think the inside skin of the tree has much nutrition either, so I hope they find something in that pile.
DeleteHi LG,
ReplyDeleteShe shouldn't whine so much. Children in China don't have tree bark. Her father should sign up for food stamps, though I ate some once and they weren't very good. Ron
Well, I must admit to licking the glue off the backs of stamps - not food stamps though, but I did collect them once. Also, remember eating manilla paper, or whatever that was that we had when we were little kids back before computers were invented...
DeleteAnd another thing. I love Cormac too. As you are looking for reading material, have you read Lawrence Durell's Alexandria Quartet? I read it ages ago and recently bought a used copy and the writing is so beautiful. Ron
ReplyDeleteI never did read the Alexandria Quartet. I don't know why not, but I might as well try and I bet I can download it for free!
DeleteI'll ditto the good-end-of-the-world story and then skip to the joys of an iPad or Kindle when books in English are hard to find. That way you can easily bring them home, too. :-) Just totally off the top of my head, have you read Arthur Ransone (speaking of good children's books from days of yore?) "Swallows and Amazons" is the first and they're quite a lot of fun, from the days when children could still play all over the place without worry or lawsuits!
ReplyDeletejanet
Hi Janet, I have been downloading loads of books to my Iphone, which works a treat for reading in bed. I never liked the Kindle and the Ipad is the wrong size for me, but the phone works great. So,no, I have never read any Arthur Ransome, but I just looked him up on Wiki and he seems like an amazing human being. The book I am reading now is by E. Nesbit. They should have almost been contemporaries and very alike politically. So, I shall pursue Arthur Ransome after I finish my E. Nesbit. thank you.
ReplyDeleteHow terribly sad.
ReplyDeleteA touch of warmth in all that bleakness.
ReplyDeleteGrim but good!
ReplyDeleteThanks, but aren't you the same elephant who steals children for a living?
DeleteWell crafted apocalypsia.. I could see the poor survivors trying their best.
ReplyDeleteI really liked this, great imagery, hope they find food
ReplyDeleteThanks for the nice comments. Glad you enjoyed it!
DeleteApocalyptically well done! You really captured a young child's anxiety... really good. (had a very difficult time signing in, so using anonymous. Dawn at *Tales From the Motherland*
ReplyDeleteSorry about signing in Dawn, I'm in Athens, Greece, and it changes all my site into something exceedingly Greek, even though I am not. You know the expression, "It's all Greek to me?" There's a reason why they only use Greek.... Thank you for your nice comments,
DeleteLaura
I would hate to be that dad :-(
ReplyDelete