Dorothy and her dog, along with her three traveling companions, were making the hazardous journey through the land of Oz heading toward the legendary Emerald City, which they were told was a welcoming land of opportunity just on the other side of the river.

Their journey had been an arduous one so far. They had successfully escaped capture by a band of marauding gorillas and had survived the numerous tornadoes that wreaked havoc upon the towns and villages all across the countryside.

Life in Oz had become unbearable and the four companions believed that their only chance for survival would be to flee to the Emerald City and seek asylum there. No hardships in their path to a better life was going to deter them. To them it was truly a matter of life and death.

Suddenly one of the companions looked up and in a very excited voice said, “Dorothy, look. It’s a poppy field. According to Google Maps, the river should be just beyond the field of poppies and then, not to far from there, we should find freedom in Emerald City.”

“Oh,” Dorothy responded. “That’s wonderful. Let’s go.” And the four of them, along with Dorothy’s little dog, ran into the poppy field.

The little dog was the first to succumb, collapsing on the ground. “Toto, what is wrong?” Dorothy cried. But then she, too, grew incredibly sleepy, as did her three companions. One by one they fell to the ground fast asleep.

When she woke up a few hours later, Dorothy was lying on a cot within a chain link fence inside of what appeared to be a large warehouse. She saw a large sign that read “Welcome to the Emerald City Detention Center.” She saw a uniformed guard carrying a semiautomatic rifle pass near by.

“Excuse me,” she said, getting the guard’s attention. “What is this place? And where are my friends and my dog?”

“You were apprehended in the poppy fields attempting to illegally enter Emerald City,” he said. “You and your companions have been separated. And your dog, well, we can’t allow mangy creatures to come to Emerald City.”

“Oh my,” said Dorothy. “What did you do to Toto?”

“He’s in a better place now,” the guard said, a smirk on his face.

“And what of me and my companions?” Dorothy asked.

“By order of the Great Pumpkinhead, our Dear Leader,” the guard said, “you will be sent back to Oz.”

“But we came to Emerald City seeking asylum. We were told that Emerald City would allow us to stay.”

“Not anymore,” the guard said. “Perhaps if you’d come here from Norway and not some shithole country, we’d hear your case for asylum. But Dear Leader says that we don’t need more of your kind to bring about massive demographic changes upon the people of Emerald City. The Great Pumpkinhead has declared a national emergency, so you must be deported back to Oz.”

“But that’s a certain death sentence,” Dorothy protested.

“Sorry, kiddo,” the guard said unsympathetically, “But our orders are to make Emerald City great again, and we can’t do that if we let your kind in. It’s our new zero tolerance policy.

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Written for Sue Vincent’s Thursday Photo Prompt.