Every week, Rochelle Wisoff-Fields (thank you, Rochelle!) hosts a flash fiction challenge, to write a complete story, based on a photoprompt, with a beginning, middle and end, in 100 words or less. Post it on your blog, and include the Photoprompt and Inlinkz (the blue frog) on your page. Link your story URL. Then the fun starts as you read other peoples’ stories and comment on them!
PHOTO PROMPT© Jan Wayne Fields
Judgement Day
It was dark when Bob and Frank pitched their tent. Bob took off his leathers and gazed at the engagement ring Frank had given him.
“Only a hundred miles tomorrow,” said Frank.
“What will your dad say when we tell him we’re going to marry?”
“It’s okay, Bob. Not everybody in the military is prejudiced.” He took out a Marlboro. “Shall we look at the stars?”
As he unzipped the tent door, a dazzling point of light exploded on the horizon, growing rapidly into a fiery pillar thundering into the heavens.
“Shit! I thought they’d scrapped those! That’s a Minuteman!”
The photo is entitled ‘Lights of Sturgis’. Sturgis is a small town in South Dakota, and its main claim to fame is an annual motorcycle rally, one of the biggest in the world. Sturgis is close to the Ellsworth Air Base, where fifty Minuteman missiles (long range missiles with nuclear warheads) were sited. The missiles were said to have been scrapped in 1994. I have no reason to believe that this is not the case, other than general paranoia and a belief in conspiracy theories…
Autumn Leaves 
Oh that was a sinister start… Brings back the fear of the cold war once again.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you for commenting, Bjorn! Yes, it’s a terrifying thought, isn’t it?
LikeLike
Maybe Frank’s father has more power than he thought… 😉
LikeLiked by 1 person
Haha! Fun thought, Dale! Thank you for commenting.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Uh oh. Sounds like someone with access to the launch codes is none too happy,.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you for commenting, Alice. I blame the man with orange hair myself…
LikeLike
Great story , Penny .
It’s ironic that we should be prejudiced against love and not war . Thanks also for sharing the Sturgis story.
LikeLiked by 4 people
Thank you, Moon! You’ve pinpointed the heart of the story!
LikeLiked by 1 person
That was perceptive Moon. Thanks for sharing this Penny. I had no idea! It’s great how you manage to get in a sense of irony, a sense of lost unity in your stories. Loved reading this.
LikeLiked by 1 person
An interesting story.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, Sandra.
LikeLike
Oh, now, that would be scary. Good story.
LikeLike
Love Moon’s point – so many more people terrified of same sex marriage than war. What kind of twisted world do we live in? Great post Penny
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, Lynn. We live in a world where both the condemnation of same sex marriage, and the waging of war enable a certain sort of person to dominate and control others. And, yeah, that’s twisted. I just hope we can civilise ourselves before we make ourselves extinct.
Which is the bleak side of my outlook.
BUT
I think that love and beauty redeem us as individuals, make this a good life to live, and maybe one day will save us.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I try to be positive too. We’re selfish and self destructive, but there are a lot of people doing wonderful things too, working towards helping the planet, helping each other. Maybe we’ll pull ourselves back from the brink yet
LikeLiked by 1 person
Love the thought provoking twist coiled in this story. Wonderfully done.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you so much, Karen. I love the way you put that the twist is ‘coiled’ in the story. It makes it sound very energetic!
LikeLike
Ooooooo i want to read more of this. A great tension filled start
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you for the comment, Laurie.
No promises, but tomorrow I’m going to try to blog an extended version showing what happens next. I expect it will be about 1,000 words long, and will have the same title.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh wonderful!!
LikeLike
Good stuff–I’d love to read the rest 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you for the comment, Granonine.
No promises, but tomorrow I’m going to try to blog an extended version showing what happens next. I expect it will be about 1,000 words long, and will have the same title.
LikeLike
Dear Penny,
That was a bit of a twist. Nice to know South Dakota has something going on besides a bike rally. On the other hand…unique story.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Rochelle,
Thank you for your kind comment. Your greeting ‘Shalom’ is probably particularly apt, in view of the story.
Shalom
Penny
LikeLike
Ugh. My first thought was, at least they die happy… Moon absolutely nailed it. If the military is more open-minded than the society it’s supposed to protect–quite a unique situation. Let’s hope the military leaders are as watchful now as they were with Reagan in his later days.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you for commenting, Gah.
I think you’re overly pessimistic about their fate. If you want to find out, I’ve turned the flash into a complete short story, which I shall blog tomorrow after doing a final edit!
I, too, hope that the military leaders are watchful. But the thought that I have to rely on their potential disobedience sends shudders down my spine.
LikeLike
Great story, and who knows? I never believed in conspiracy theories until some of them came true.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you. I’m glad you liked the story. I admire the heck out of your writing, which makes a nice comment from you twice the pleasure! Thank you!
LikeLiked by 1 person
What a nice thing to say. Well, your writing is highly entertaining. I enjoy it. 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
A very topical story Penny. The good news is that more and more people are accepting of same sex love and marriage and abhorring war.
LikeLiked by 1 person