Friday Fictioneers – Warlord

~ neilmacdon
PHOTO PROMPT © Lisa Fox

Better to make a deal than fight, far better. The zealous boys on their mopeds won’t be here forever. They’ll age, they’ll mellow and take the little presents. And then I’ll be back. Me or my sons. We can afford to wait. We endure, like the mountains. So yes, I’ll treat with them; have them in for tea; smile and smile.

Meanwhile, the helicopters swarm back and forth, frantic little bees, bearing the proud generals to safety Don’t they know? Remember Saigon—it’s only a matter of waiting.

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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

50 thoughts on “Friday Fictioneers – Warlord”

  22. Neil,
    I like the way you put this. Ancient evils seem to distill into every landscape, every “warlord” — Saigon, Kabul, have theirs; Washington, London, have theirs. Biding their time? Their time is now. The banality of evil wrapped in the inexorability of a history that repeats itself.
    pax,
    dora

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    Reply

      1. I take your point. The Taliban after all are going to have to contend with extraneous forces but the warlords – even as they bide their time – exert their force within the communities they rule, however local.

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