Friday Fictioneers is hosted by Rochelle Wisoff-Fields who provides us with a photo prompt. Each week’s challenge is to write a 100-word story inspired by the photo. Click here to play along or just read more stories.
This isn’t where I wanted to go with this, but it’s where it went. “Don’t blame me. I was given this world. I didn’t make it.” – 2Pac “Keep Ya Head Up.”
Off The Grid
“Bets, will you go out to the garage and get me a coconut?”
“Goddamn it, Dad! It’s not a garage. It’s a deformed carport with a tin roof. And I’m sick of coconuts.”
“We have to make concessions to live off the grid.”
“I don’t want to live off the grid. I want to live with mom.”
“Your mom left us.”
“You left mom. She didn’t want to live like crazy, paranoid people.”
“We have everything we need right here.”
“I need cell service and wifi and to go to school like a normal kid.”
“Normal kids die in school.”
NobbinBlog 
“Normal kids die in school.” funny. Unfortunately, those who live off the grid also die. It’s a nasty habit.
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It wasn’t supposed to be funny, but I can see the joke from the right angle. Thanks.
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Sorry didn’t mean to belittle.
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Not at all. I can take a joke. In the worst of times, humor can keep us sane. You opened up a different way to look at the story that I didn’t see. I appreciate that.
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That’s why I like beta readers for my stories. They see something that inspires me and my story.
I can see by your bio that you have a great sense of humor. Here’s to a good laugh.
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Skillful way to get to current events. Every time I hear another report about TX the death toll rises. I heard earlier that the shooter was bullied in school. Do you shoot 9 year-olds because you were bullied by your peers years earlier? I don’t blame anyone for going off the grid and keeping their child out of school these days. I will advocate my baby granddaughter not go to school when she gets to that age.
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I didn’t want to write that story. It just wouldn’t leave my head. I wrote this in the oddest way. It was just a few lines at a time without a clear ending, or even an idea of what the story was, and that’s where it went.
Sadly, yes. This is the society we’ve created. Where people are so sensitive they can’t deal with things. There has to be retaliation for any slight or perceived slight. These shootings have become so common that a warped mind could see it as a fitting retaliation.
And how sad is that? That we’ve failed so miserably as a society that we’re scared to send our kids to school.
Thank you, Lisa
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Not sure if you get netflix or not, but I watched Ricky Gervais’ new special, “Super Nature,” last night. Worth a watch if you get a chance.
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I love Ricky Gervais. I will have to watch it.
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She wants to go to school? There’s the problem right there…
On a serious note — sad world we live in.
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The grass is always greener on the other side. “You get to stay home?” “You get to go to school?”
Humanity needs serious help.
Thanks, T.
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Humanity does need help… pockets do, no argument there.
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That made me smile, despite the present-day resonances
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That’s an odd reaction. I guess any reaction is a good reaction. I laugh at sad things sometimes, so no judgement from me.
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Two interesting social topics. Neither hold much appeal for me. But a well told story.
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You’re not interested in living off the grid? Or shooting school children? I can see that. Thanks.
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Very sad and depressing ending.
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Yeah, it was. I wasn’t going for that, but that’s where the story went.
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Yeah…you get an “Oh Nobbin” for this one. That last line is a sucker punch to the gut. Not sure Dad has the right solution but I get it.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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I’m not going to celebrate this “Oh Nobbin.” The cost is too high. I wasn’t writing that story. It was supposed to be something goofy about a family that lives off the grid. I wrote it over an hour or two, a couple of lines at a time, and that’s where it ended up.
Thank you, Rochelle.
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Given current events the last sentence rings true.
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Yeah. I didn’t mean to go there, but it was eating away at my subconscious.
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Can’t argue with his reasoning – unfortunately.
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Agreed. It’s far from a solution, but one can empathize with his paranoia.
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A timely piece you’ve written for the prompt.
A very sad sign of the times. I can’t say I blame
him for craving normalcy. Off the grid is primitive
for the youth of today. Powerful …
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It’s an impossible situation all the way around. There’s no easy fix, way to keep everybody safe, or keep everybody happy. If only there were. Thank you.
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Well, there’s no refuting the truth of the final line, sadly.
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We see it all too often, and it’s still hard to believe.
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No such thing as a safe place these days,
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Sadly, it seems that way. The right to bare arms was intended to protect us, but how do we protect us from us?
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If only those last few words weren’t true.
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If only. We have a lot of work to do to repair this mess we’ve made.
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Sadly dad is correct, but most kids need to be with other children.
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That was a big concern during the height of COVID, as well. The safety versus socialization debate. It’s a tough tightrope to walk.
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Where living off grid means being afraid to live among others. Not an easy subject to deal with.
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It’s not, and I assume it’s much worse to be in that situation where one is so paranoid that feels like the only option.
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Ouch, that was a punch at the end. Very well done! What an awful time in history.
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It is. Let’s hope it’s just a moment in time that proves to be relatively short-lived. It’s already outlived any acceptable duration. It’s the unthinkable made reality. Thank you.
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I see your comments about your writing process for this story and I’m intrigued. I’ll have to try that approach; it sure worked for you here. Heartbreaking twist at the end.
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It wasn’t intentional. I didn’t know what came next, so I did other things, and my subconscious took over. Thank you.
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