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 on your page. Link your story URL. Then the fun starts as you read other peoples’ stories and comment on them!
PHOTO PROMPT © LIZ YOUNG
The Security of Wealth
Gold, silver and crystal thrust skyward in gigantic whorls that scattered mazy gleams from a myriad brilliant points. The billionaire looked and beheld that it was good.
People, ant-like, came from the slums and worked in the hotel of shiny surfaces, cleaning, toting bags, serving, making beds, all for the comfort of the guests. And if they were lucky the ants received tips. And if they weren’t tipped, they can’t have done a good job.
And that night, the billionaire felt his heart constrict, counted his racing pulse, sweated with the agony in his chest – and died.
Autumn Leaves 
You don’t have to be well to be wealthy, as the song goes, but you have to be whole to be holy
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It is so often the story that he/she who is at the top uses others to get there.
Well done, Penny. Everything conveyed beautifully… Not often the one at the top’s karma acts thusly!
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Ooops! That was not supposed to go under Neil’s comment!
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Thank you for your thoughtful comment, Dale. Yes, exploitation of the poor is often the basis of great wealth.
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More often than not, I’d guess.
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Thank you for commenting, Neil.
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That’s certainly one person less who won’t be missed. A wise take on the prompt, Penny. Maybe eventually people stop dreaming about changing places and demand fair treatment.
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Thank you for your thoughtful comment, Gabi. It’s hard to demand fair treatment when you’re bemused by the mazy lights of success and wealth.
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Reminds me of the story of the rich man and the beggar in the Bible. Wealth didn’t save the rich man there, either.
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Thank you, Linda – I knew you’d spot it! Yes, it’s my take on that parable.
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death is a great equalizer. everybody dies no matter what your status in life.
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Thank you for commenting, Plaridel. Yes death is a great equaliser.
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If only his wealth bought him immortality, but we are all equal in the end.
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Thank you for commenting, Iain. There’s always an end to this earthly life. And afterwards?
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Dear Penny,
I’ve heard it said that he who dies with the most toys, still dies. Well penned. Loved the descriptions.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Dear Rochelle
Thank you for your kind comment. I’m glad you loved the descriptions. It’s rather a stunning photograph, isn’t it?
Shalom
Penny
xx
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Wealth and security don’t necessarily walk hand in hand. Well done Penny.
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Thank you for your thoughtful comment, Keith. I believe that some wealthy people actually feel less secure as a result of their riches.
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You don’t get to the top of the heap by being a doormat. You get there by using others for that purpose. Eddie Vedder would say, “he’s a man they’ll soon forget.”
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Thank you for your thoughtful comment, Jade.
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You’re welcome, Penny.
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It sounds as if those people got reasonably good jobs, where they were treated in an unacceptable manner. In spite of how good the protestant work ethic may be, it’s capable of being misused beyond belief. Capitalism too is swell but susceptible to really big trouble
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Thank you for such a thoughtful comment, Larry. Personally, I feel that all political systems are (very) flawed. Isn’t what matters the way we treat each individual human being?
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Yes that’s always so very important
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I loved the line, “the billionaire looked and beheld that it was good.” Sounds like a line from biblical creation.
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Thank you for an insightful comment, Russell. That was exactly the way I hoped the line would be read. I needed a way of conveying the sense of entitlement that many of the rich have, an almost god-like arrogance.
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Gathering silver and gold in this life is not wise, but sadly it has a strong allure. And, how much of it did he take with him? A very thought provoking story, Penny!
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Thank you for your wise comment, Brenda. It’s true, we can’t take wealth with us.
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Couldn’t have happened to a nicer chap.
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Thank you for your ironic comment, Ali! He had a massive funeral, though, and it was ever so well attended by Congressmen and Senators and attorneys and judges and many well-connected folk…
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An excellent moral n your tale, Penny, and beautifully descriptive language.
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Thank you for your kind comment, Jenne. I’m delighted you liked the descriptive language.
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Penny,
Well done. A nice retelling of Christ’s parable and a memorable warning to prepare for eternity: no one knows when their soul will be demanded of them, for good or ill. Everything about the story is shot through with irony, and that ironic voice is brilliant given the message, including the allusion to Genesis and the billionaire’s god-like pride in “his” works.
pax,
dora
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Thank you for your careful and insightful reading, Dora. My bible study that day had been Mark 10: 17 – 32. The photograph was such a fabulous evocation of the surface appeal of wealth that I just stayed in study mode!
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That’s to your credit and our edification! :>)
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I really like the voice’ you create for your story, like a poem blended with a fable. The social commentary fits in perfectly.
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Thank you for such a kind comment, Francine.
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