Flash Fiction

It Must Be True, I Saw It on Fox News

Fandango22 Comments

“We are witnessing the burial of individual freedom in our country due to all of these mandates to wear masks and get vaccinated,” William said, disgorging phlegm from his throat and spitting it on the ground at my feet.

“Your crazy conspiracy theories beliefs are as distasteful as your gross habits,” I said. “I totally dispute your notion of lost personal freedoms. Do you vaccinate your children for measles and chicken pox?”

“It’s not the same,” William said. “Measles and chicken pox are real. This whole COVID nonsense is a liberal hoax.”

“Again, that’s crazy,” I said. “But if you’re so concerned about individual freedoms, why are you opposed to women having the freedom to choose to have an abortion?”

“Because abortion is the murder of innocent babies and I’m opposed to murder,” William said.

“And yet you’re in favor of capital punishment and you have no problem with people someone like Kyle Rittenhouse shooting and killing non-violent protesters. Plus, you are opposed to common sense gun laws.”

“Gun ownership is a fundamental right guaranteed by the Constitution,” William said. “I own four guns and you better believe, I got skills, so you better watch what you say next.”

“Ooh, I’m shaking in my boots,” I said, mocking fear. “Let me ask you, would you use your skills to defend Americans’ right to vote, which is also in the Constitution?”

“Not illegal votes, fraudulent votes, or votes by people who aren’t real Americans,” William said.

“Like white Americans, you mean?” I said.

“It was my ancestors, not theirs, who made this country great,” William said.

“I think you need to break the chains tying you to Fox News and try to come back to reality here on Earth One,” I said.

“Fox News is like the Bible,” William said. “It speaks only the gospel truth.”

All I could do was shake my head in despair. This country is in deep doo doo, I thought.

Written for these daily prompts: The Daily Spur (burial), Ragtag Daily Prompt (freedom), E.M.’s Random Word Prompt (disgorge), Word of the Day Challenge (tasteful), Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (dispute), Scott’s Daily Prompt (I got skills, and My Vivid Blog (chains).

Photo credit: JUSTIN LANE/EPA-EFE/REX/Shutters.

Weekend Writing Prompt — Since First We Met

Fandango7 Comments

I used to feel
Like I was traveling in the right direction
Like I was making progress
Like things were moving forward
Like I was going with the flow
Like my world was copacetic

Now I feel
Like everything is backwards
Like I’m rowing against the tide
Like I’m a salmon swimming upstream
Like everything is upside down
Like my world is counterclockwise

Because since first we met
You have turned my whole life widdershins

(Exactly 75 words)

Written for Sammi Cox’s Weekend Writing Prompt, where the word is “widdershins.” I hope I’ve interpreted and used that word correctly, as it’s one I’ve never heard before.

That Didn’t Go As Planned

Fandango10 Comments

Betsy was on a mission to throw her daughter the best sweet sixteen party ever. She and Alyssa had been having a rather strained relationship of late. Raising a teenage daughter was a challenge for any parent, and Betsy was hoping that a big bash would smooth things over between the two of them.

The last thing Betsy wanted was for her Alyssa’s sweet sixteen party to be something merely repetitive of all of the other lame sweet sixteen parties that her friends’ parents threw for their daughters. No way. So forget about being sensible. This was going to be a totally skookum, bordering on fatuous, party.

Betsy planned it out to the most minute detail. She wanted the party to be a huge surprise for her daughter and she couldn’t wait, when the night of the party arrived, to see the look of joy that she knew would overspread Alyssa’s face.

But when her daughter entered the ballroom that her mother had reserved for the party, Alyssa burst out crying. And they weren’t tears of joy.

“Oh mother,” Alyssa cried, “this is so over the top, so gawdy, so ostentatious. This is an embarrassment. How could you do this to me? I hate you!”

Written for these daily prompts: JusJoJan (mission), Scott’s Daily Prompt (sweet sixteen), The Daily Spur (smooth) Fandango’s One-Word Challenge (repetitive), My Vivid Blog (sensible), Ragtag Daily Prompt (skookum), Word of the Day Challenge (fatuous), and E.M.’s Random Word Prompt (overspread). Photo credit: Pinterest.

Friday Fictioneers — The Library

Fandango9 Comments

Seth’s parents were not book readers. Everything they read, from the news to novels, was online, using their smartphones, tablets, or laptops. Seth wasn’t used to seeing actual books on shelves, which his why he was fascinated when his kindergarten teacher marched his class to a large room that she called the school library.

The teacher looked at Seth and saw that he was confused, so she handed him a book and asked him if he’d like to read it. Kevin looked the book over in his hands. Still confused, he ask his teacher, “How do you turn it on?”

(100 words)

Written for Rochelle Wisoff-Fields’ Friday Fictioneers prompt. Photo credit: Ted Strutz.

One Minute Fiction — A Toast to Our New Life

Fandango16 Comments

It used to be that people from Mexico and South and Central America were desperate to come to the United States. But that was before Trump. And before the Republican Party became infected by The Big Lie and the insanity that it inevitably led to. And after Joe Biden and the Democrats in Congress failed to enact the Voting Rights Act, the Republicans were able to take control of Congress after the 2022 midterm elections.

The Republicans used that control to impeach and remove both President Biden and Vice President Harris from office in early 2023. They installed Speaker of the House, Kevin McCarthy, as interim president until the 2024 elections. Ron DeSantis, the far right governor of Florida won the GOP nomination in July of 2024 at a contested convention, edging out both Donald Trump and McCarthy. DeSantis selected Ted Cruz as his running mate and they ultimately won the general election, since most votes by black and Hispanics were disallowed and votes in heavily Democratic districts around the country were “mysteriously” tossed.

Before DeSantis could be sworn in as President in January of 2025, the U.S. broke out into a violent civil war and thousands of Americans fled to Mexico until the Mexican government shut down its northern border. You and I were among the lucky few who were able to escape the chaos in the States before the border closed.

So here we are, safe and sound in sunny, warm Mexico, sitting and relaxing with our Coronas. I propose a toast to our new life south of the border.

Written for Cyranny’s One Minute Fiction prompt. Photo credit: Cyranny. I confess this took me more than a minute to write, but once I got started, I couldn’t stop.