Friday Fictioneers – The Final Meal

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!

FF - The Final Meal 190206

PHOTO PROMPT © Anshu Bhojnagarwala

The final meal

The embers still glow, but the flames flicker and fade and there are no more logs. I swirl the cognac in my glass. Its bouquet is exquisite, its flavour majestic; a magnificent vintage. The unearthly shriek of a peacock rends the air.

It’s midnight. The bank now owns my restaurant. And my house. And my car. Damned if I wouldn’t have to ask my lawyer before I could be sure they don’t own my britches as well!

Gourmet meals served on the terrace under the stars had seemed like a great idea…

So, I was wrong.

But I’ll be back!

94 thoughts on “Friday Fictioneers – The Final Meal”

    • Dear Rochelle
      Thank you for reading and commenting so kindly. When I looked very hard at the prompt, I could make out several tables in the background, which suggested the restaurant idea.
      With very best wishes
      Penny

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    • Dear Alice
      Thank you for reading and commenting. No, this isn’t the end for our hero – merely the end of one phase. He’ll have a new bright idea just as soon as he recovers from the hangover!
      With very best wishes
      Penny

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    • Dear Violet
      Thank you for reading and commenting. Yes, along with all the good skills and character traits, I think you need a big dollop of dumb luck to succeed in the restaurant business!
      With best wishes
      Penny

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    • Dear Iain
      I think you have to be very resilient to attempt life as a restaurateur. The MC’s attitude is very positive; he’ll have another bright idea – just as soon as the hangover has worn off!
      With very best wishes
      Penny

      Liked by 1 person

    • Dear Abhijit
      Thank you for reading and commenting.
      He borrowed a lot of money from the bank to start the business, using his house as security for the loan. Unfortunately the business was not successful and the bank foreclosed on the loan; so the bank owned the business and his house – pretty much everything. Strictly speaking, the bank owned the cognac he was drinking too…!
      With very best wishes
      Penny

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  23. Sounds like an excellent idea for a restaurant to me — depending on what the weather’s like there, of course. But then, most restaurants fail, it seems. Great job painting that scene of the one last bitter celebration. Makes me root for the narrator and hope they *will* rise back from the ashes!

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    • Dear Gabi
      Thank you for reading and commenting so kindly. It was the multiple tables that you can just make out in the photoprompt that gave me the idea of an outdoor restaurant. And yes – no risk, no gain!
      With very best wishes
      Penny

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  27. Story of many a failed business enterprise. This character is down but not out, i think. I Like the metaphor of the fire, for a person whose every posession has been consumed by an ill-timed or unfortunate idea, but whose core, like the embers, is still alive and well, and ready to blaze up again, should he encounter the dry tinder of a new idea.

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  32. I could taste the cognac from your description. YUM … afavorite drink for a wintry evening.
    I like that you ended the story with him being optimistic. Sometimes, it’s the best way to look at things. I liked where you went with the prompt, Penny. Well done …
    Isadora 😎

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    • Dear Liz
      Thank you for reading and commenting. It wasn’t so much the rain – he had some very effective awnings for dealing with that. But even those lovely fire-pits were unable to keep the chill away, and the delicious food was all-too-often cold!
      With best wishes
      Penny

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