This weeks Flash! Friday asked us to incorporate the theme of War into the following prompt:
From “La Bas et ailleurs.” Drawings by Jacques St.-Cere, 1890. From the British Library.
A Clean Fight
The child burst into the room with the kind of joy only the young can muster. He yells, “The War is over! We have won!”
While the patrons leap from their seats, hugging and cheering, I quietly carry the armful of jugs to the sink and set about scrubbing them. I do not share their elation. With the war over the men will be returning, to their wives, to their children, and worst of all to their jobs. I find myself scrubbing harder, my teeth grinding. My mother will be on the hunt immediately, any war hero will do, she’ll have the wedding arranged before these jars are dry.
Well I have news for them all. My war is not over, it’s only just beginning. I will not submit to the slavery that is marriage, I will defend my independence. If a man wants to take this job from me he’ll have to fight me for it!
