Friday Fictioneers – The First Lady’s Lament

~ Neil MacDonald
PHOTO PROMPT © Lisa Fox

Memories within memories. Before the war, there was dining and dancing, evenings at the Opera. No, wait—I’m getting confused. The Opera was London—our old life before we took power. But here too we once had parties, I’m sure of that.

Nowadays, there’s politics and war. War is politics conducted by other means, as Clausewitz sort of said. Turns out I’m deliciously good at politics.

Events flap and billow in the gales of history, and we struggle to hold them down.

.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

28 thoughts on “Friday Fictioneers – The First Lady’s Lament”

  1. Interesting take on unreliable memories. WE are often told that we learn from history, when it comes to politics we learn to confuse and as for war, the lesson is to become better at total death and destruction.

    Perhaps the lesson plan needs to change.

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  3. I like how this moves delicately from hazy nostalgia to cold ambition – the nod to Clausewitz against the final poetic imagery – leaves us a sense of chaos barely kept under control – great Neil 🙌

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