This weeks Flash! Friday is actually a big milestone, representing two years since I started writing in the Flash Friday competition. In one of those funny twists the very first story I wrote was about a cowboy name Skinny Pete, and here I am two years later writing about an Indian. You can read that first entry here. I’m not typically the sentimental type, but I have to say the reason that I have stuck with this writing for so long is the fantastic community over at Flash! Friday. If you have even a passing interest in reading or writing Flash Fiction you should totally head over to check it out.
Anyway, lets get down to business. This week, we had to include downtown in a story about the following prompt:
Navajo man representing the Yebichai god Zahabolzi/Zahadolzha. 1904 PD photo by Edward S. Curtis; image retrieved from Wellcome Images.
Gone Native
The deeply tanned man stood on the street corner, his neck craned back as he stared at the glistening towers that surrounded him. A gaggle of white coats crowded around, eager to interrogate him. They had finally achieved the impossible, resurrecting an ancestor from the old world. It had only taken thirty years and $200 million.
They all wanted a turn. A spotty kid with glasses sidled up next to him, clipboard at the ready, “What are your impressions of the year 2104?”
The subject sniffed, “Air smell wrong. Smell like campfire just put out.”
The kid scribbled frantically, “Don’t worry, it’s just the pollution. Anything else?”
He gestured to the skyscrapers, “How you move these giant wigwams when Buffalo migrate?”
“Actually they stay where they are. People don’t move their houses anymore. Also, all the buffalo are gone.”
“This make no sense. You have power to create life, yet you take beautiful plains and turn them into lifeless grey wasteland? Where are all the plants and trees?”
“Sorry Chief, all the parks are gone, we paved over them. This city is your new home. Don’t worry, you’ll get used to it.”
The Chief shook his head, “I think I return to Mother Earth.” With that he stepped into traffic.
