Friday Fictioneers – Escape

~ neilmacdon
PHOTO PROMPT © C.E.Ayr

Afternoon lay, humid and heavy, on the harbour. Dogs slept in the quayside shadows, and even the air seemed to pant moistly.  

I wanted to escape and, suddenly, buying a boat seemed like a good idea. I dialled the number on the “For Sale” sign.

“Oui?”

“Je voudrais.” I began fluently, “um … vendre”. No, that was sell, not buy. Already, events had taken the wrong path.

Cutting the line, I collapsed into the wobbly metal chair.

 “Café, s’il vous plait,” I instructed the waiter, one of the few fluent phrases I commanded.

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

46 thoughts on “Friday Fictioneers – Escape”

  5. I agree we tend to try our best in foreign languages and learn all the necessary phrases. But, outside that immediate range we go into a bubbly bleep. I revert to asking if they speak English. The Germans say – yes. The French laugh and say Non, and then we get along fine.

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  19. Use of another language is more of a challenge on the phone because you can’t do the supporting gestures. Sadly, it seems his limitations are only just dawning on him. Lovely descriptions of a sultry energy-sapping afternoon.

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  22. Ah the challenges of a different language. Years ago my mother once asked the cook to get a kilo of meat and he returned with a kilo of salt. Turned out ‘meath’ meant salt in his language.
    Tres magnifique un flash, oh alright, nice one Neil.

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