For the last three years (apart from a break of a few weeks) one of my photos has been used as a prompt for Sunday Photo Fiction, but with changes to my circumstances, I am now taking donations for the challenge.
This week’s photo is the first of the donated ones.
If you want to have a go yourself, then click on the Sunday Photo Fiction image. If you want to read what others have written, then click on the blue frog image, and if you want to donate a photo for the challenge, click on the photo submission image.
Perry And The Boat
© C.E.Ayr
Perry looked out at the boat anchored in the centre of the lake He eyed it as he had for the last seven days. The little boat behind it intrigued him. It was always in a different place even though there seemed to be nobody on the bigger boat.
He hired a small boat and prepared to row out to it and look for himself. The boat custodian tried to advise him against it, telling him he regularly told people not to go, but nobody listened to him.
Perry chuckled and started rowing out when he noticed the smaller boat seemed to be missing. Thinking it sat on the other side of the boat, he moored the little one on the near side. He climbed aboard, glanced over the other side, and frowned when he saw no other vessel.
He walked to the wheelhouse and found the key in the ignition. He turned it and a bright flash blinded him for a few seconds. Shielding his eyes, Perry walked out onto the deck and looked for his boat, now moored to the rear. Looking to the shore, he saw a different landscape. A very much older landscape.
That’s really cool, so many unanswered questions and just why the guy with the boat hadn’t called the police or anything makes me wonder if he is perhaps facilitating something more sinister…
I’m afraid we will never know.
Now that is a shame!
Al – you are an awesome writer. You can produce a book of your blog posts and sell on Amazon if you wanted too. Never put yourself down. Flash fiction is huge!
so… a nautical Tardis… cool
Wow, a time machine. I’d like to hear more about that. Good writing, Al. 🙂 — Suzanne
Very neat, it teleported him into the past. Will he be able to return to his own time?
I wonder. And will any of the other people he warned be there, or did they go to different timelines?
Good questions lol.
Who would guess an otherwise inconspicuous boat on a lake could be a portal to an alternate universe? Ingenious, Alastair! You already have a great story line, so please expound on it.
Thanks Alejandro. I have tried expanding on other stories, but I am not that good at writing anything longer than about 2-300 words.
Al–What you do (exceedingly well) is called “Flash Fiction.” Check out all the links (especially the first one, the Wikipedia definition).
You’re too kind. I had a look at the first link. Six word story. I can write a story in under ten words.. “Parachute for sale. Used once. Never opened. Slight stain” Made me decide to create a twitter account for Sunday Photo Fiction so I can share the brilliant stories everybody else writes.
Ooh, very intriguing! The boat custodian did warn him not to go. I’m thinking he’s the kind of guy who does whatever he wants to no matter what the rules are — and it finally caught up with him.
As far as donating photos goes, have you tried looking for free photos online, e.g. on Flickr or Pixabay? For the photos I use on my blog, I usually start at Creative Commons (https://search.creativecommons.org/) to be sure that all the images that pop up are free to use. But there are many other sites too. There are some amazing photos to be found out there!
Thanks Joy. I will definitely look there 🙂
I will warn you, if you haven’t explored those sites before, that it is very easy to get caught up in all the interesting photos and in choosing which ones to save for later… and then suddenly realize the whole morning has slipped away!
I get like that with youtube videos as well 🙂
Me too!