Friday Fictioneers – After the Asteroid

~ neilmacdon
campsite-jwf
PHOTO PROMPT © Jan Wayne Fields

“Dad, please. The asteroid’s passed, and we’re still alive, okay?”

The tent flap remained zippered tight as clenched teeth. I guessed the etiquette was the same as doors – you waited to be invited in.

“Dad?”

His voice was clear and stronger than it had been for years. “Go away. I’m armed.”

“It’s me – Josh.  Open up.”

Silence.

You expect your parents to grow old gracefully or, at worst, to become a little forgetful. Not to blossom into survivalist delusion.

“Dad? Civilisation has collapsed. There’s only you and me. Let me in. Feed me.”

“Josh?”

 

 

Friday fictioneers is a weekly challenge to write a 100-word story in response to a photo prompt. You can find other stories here.

82 thoughts on “Friday Fictioneers – After the Asteroid”

  14. I really like this. Not sure I saw the dementia element, just that his Dad had gone into full survivalist mode. (Maybe he’ll open the zipper, and it won’t be Josh after all.) Just…joshing…

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  15. Nice bit of psychology from Josh there – otherwise he mght never have got Dad to open that zip! How the roles reverse as our parents age and we become the carers, not the cared for. Nicely doen Neil

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  19. I really liked this. I feel for both of them. And I loved the line, “Feed me.” Way to go! I’m going to remember that as a possible way to roll back the decades should I ever be in a similar situation (whether involving a tent or not).

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  25. What is the etiquette to gain entrance to a tent? This sets the situation nicely. Loved the resourcefulness of the son. A dark topic handled very deftly.

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  29. Sounds like night shift on the Altzheimer’s ward I used to work in. We had a gentleman vet who had flown sorties in WWII at Pearl Harbor. Occasionally, I got the opportunity to relive that history with him by being his co-pilot/ bombadeer. Learned more in those sorties over the picnic table than I ever did in History class.

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  38. That is scary. He really needs to get hold of the gun. Survivalists scare the daylights out of me. They don’t trust anyone. It would be even worse if one was delusional. I knew one woman whose own violent husband with Alzheimer’s tried to shoot her. She escaped and had to have him hospitalized for life in a special nursing home for violent patients. Good writing, Neil. —- Suzanne

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