Her roommate was skeptical when Carolyn told her that she was going to meet a guy she had been exchanging messages with on a dating site. “You need to be careful,” Sara told her. “What do you really know about this guy, Carolyn?”
“I know that he’s good looking, he’s smart and funny, and he wants to meet me at his yacht club for an early dinner on his yacht,” Carolyn said. “His yacht, Sara!”
“Carolyn,” Sara said, “these guys who use online dating sites are trying to sell themselves and aren’t always honest.”
“But he really seems genuine,” Carolyn said. “Besides, I can take if myself. If he’s a bust, I’ll know it right away and will scoot. Now help me pick out a suitable outfit to wear to dinner on a yacht.”
When Carolyn left for the yacht club to meet her online date, Sara urged her roommate to text her to let her know she was okay.
About an hour later, Sara received a text.
He’s older and fatter than his photo and his “yacht” is a large, yellow rowboat that he calls “Banana Republic.” But he seems harmless enough. See you in a few hours.
“I’m calling to report a missing person,” Sara told the police when Carolyn never returned from her date.
Written for Roger Shipp’s Flash Fiction for the Purposeful Practioner. Sorry, Roger, my post is 18 words over 200. Photo Credit: Morguefile.
This, That, and the Other 
It seems that Carolyn wasn’t able to take of herself, as she indicated.
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True story
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That’s a grim one, Fandango. What an odd name for a boat too, lol
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I was wondering if the story was going in that direction. I would never go on a boat with a stranger. Imagine having to jump overboard? Sharks, squid, who knows what else is lurking below the surface waiting to pull you under and make you dinner.
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I was supposed to stick to 200 words for the prompt, but I ended up at 218. I was thinking about how to end it — to work out okay for Carolyn or not — and decided on not.
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nah, no one wants a happy ending….
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Ha! You’re probably right.
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Uh oh. Things don’t look very hopeful for Carolyn!
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I’m afraid not.
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It’s a great name for a boat and and quite fitting for that photo. I see it as emblematic of where we are headed. Think, for instance, of the thing that was actually a yacht, although a small one, that Steve Brannon was arrested from. We’ve gone out to sea with the Trump/Bannon grifter set; all about money without value.
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Certainly about money and not value.
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https://www.businessinsider.com/inside-yacht-steve-bannon-arrested-on-lady-may-photos-2020-8
Bannon — as I shall make a correction — was arrested from a larger yacht… owned by a Chinese billionaire in exile.
Apparently, the small yacht in recent news is one bought with some of the money stolen from donors for Trump’s border wall.
Anyway, big yach or small, there’s no soul value or morals involved in these matters of people enthralled with themselves.
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Oh, no! That’s quite a scary scenario you leave us with!
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Life can be scary.
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A sad story!
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You have to be careful!
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