Friday Fictioneers – Something’s Coming

~ neilmacdon
PHOTO PROMPT © J Hardy Carroll

The motor coughs and stutters. The engineers, with wrenches and oil cans, crowd round in agitation. Stern sentinels patrol the city walls and, beyond, a dark beast bays in the night.

“All will be as it was,” the engineers promise. “in the eternal city.”

“Build back better,” the citizens beseech.

“We are of nature,” says the seer. Crowds gather round. “But not everything we choose to do is natural.”

“What must we do?” asks a woman.

“Go back,” some scream. Others yell, “Go forward.” A chant begins, “String up the engineers.”

Down the plaza, a crack dances like lightning and widens.

Me, I wonder what might be coming for us. And whether we will recognise it as kin.

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

57 thoughts on “Friday Fictioneers – Something’s Coming”

      1. I was thinking of Mr Cohen, Neil:
        ‘There is a crack, a crack in everything
        That’s how the light gets in’
        And sometimes maybe what we call ‘sanity’ is actually madness – like the life portrayed in what reads to me like a metaphor for the UK today in your story. I’d love some light to get in.

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  21. I’m another one who’s read your story repeatedly. It’s an interesting allegory with some ominous truths. How long will it be before we hear ‘String up the engineers’, I wonder? It reminds of Italy a few decades ago when they gaoled some academic seismologists because they hadn’t forecast an earthquake that killed people.

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  24. Has anyone mentioned this is ominous or foreboding? That sums up any potential change or lurking danger. Everybody wants to do something different and knows there is no way but their way.

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