He fumbled with the door, touched the wheel with trembling fingers. He had built it using images from one of the few leafies left. A mechanic’s manual, if he’d known the words. His sisters chanted the precious beads for luck. His brother attached the miraculously pristine foh-toh-grafs of smiling girls – the mind boggled at the idea that women used to look like that.
His long hands with their seven tactile fingers briefly caressed the flaky runes, the – was it a head covering? – and turned the key. The engine fired. He exulted. No more days spent running, gathering life-sustaining fluids… It was going to save the lives of their last.
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Just another day in the life of a RWF Fictioneer. That’s Rochelle Wisoff-Fields for the uninitiated: our leader who instructs us to write a one hundred word story inspired by a different image each week. We are moving towards a fictioneering movement, with 105 amazingly individual stories last week. More, perhaps, this week?
You can find Rochelle’s blog and the link to this week’s contributions here.
This week’s foh-toh-graf courtesy of Beth Carter. Thanks, Beth!
My story is 111 words this week including title. A symbolic number, perhaps?
Now, must go, must run. To test my new oh-to-moh-bil and perhaps save the world…
A gilded yarn 
Brilliant, sounds like the end and beginning from a world in decay.
This sentense is perfect
the mind boggled at the idea that women used to look like that.
Thanks, Björn! The photo sparked an image in my head and I just went with it…
great lines – and pro-nun-see-a-shuns
Thank you 🙂
What an original take on the prompt. Congratulations! Well done
Thank you, Sandra! I am finally getting around to other people’s contributions today…
woah interesting look into the future.. very original
Thanks, kz!
Mas Max 5…..well done! Very original, as befits all read here..I can really imagine their faces..
Thanks, Pirate. Mad Max has a lot to account for, doesn’t he? 😉
That’s a really great interpretation of the picture. It really does look like something you’d see in a post-apocalyptic story.
Thank you. I have always loved H.G. Wells’ take on the future, so I think that must have been behind some of it.
I like the idea and you carried it off very well!
janet
Thanks, Janet!
Creative. You Incorporated most of the picture in your story not an easy feat. Excellent job.
Thank you for the compliment. I think that in a world like that, all of it would have meaning…
Feels like an excerpt from a post-apocalyptic novel. I love it.
Thanks, Sandra. I am wondering if I should expand on some of these stories as I’d love to find out more about them myself…
Some lines I liked… ‘chanted the precious beads’ ‘women used to look like that’ ‘if he’d known the words’… wonderful sci-fi world you put me in…
Thank you, Ted. I like ‘chanted the precious beads’ very much, as well.
I enjoyed this science-fiction piece, and the way the background story is portrayed.
Thank you, Abraham!
Seven tactile fingers? Now there’s a foh-toh-graf. I’m curious to know what the rest of him looks like. Clever take on the prompt, Iris.
shalom,
Rochelle
Thanks, Rochelle. I’m pretty curious about the rest of him and his world as well. Funny, I just got this image of someone tall and thin and the hands. No further details…
Way to go on this prompt. Your post only hints at how different the world could possibly turn out. Great job.
Thanks Atiya
Loves me some post-apocalyptic oh-to-mo-bils. I love the hints at a complex world.
Thanks, C. Good that you picked up on the hints. I’m wondering what world it would turn out to be if I dived into it.
i like the seven fingers. aliens or mutations, either way, that’s cool. well done.
Thank you!
Science fiction has its limits huh? I guess if it is a dystopian society you have to make do with the ruins of society, You have crafted a beautiful tale Iris.
Thank you, Joe. Fortunately our imagination has no boundaries. I was pretty amazed he actually got the engine to run…
Is this a future version of Earth, or perhaps a sudden parallel slide to the side? Well done, Iris.
You know, that second option is very interesting, now that you mention it.
Fabulous story, Iris, I never think to go futuristic with these prompts – maybe I’ll give it a go next time – very interesting. Loved the seven fingers and the phonetic speech.
Oh, do give it a go! I’d love to read what you would do in the future. Thanks!
many nice things about this piece. It carries this reader to the place and puts her right there, seeing and feeling what’s going on. That’s hard to do in 100 words. Nice work.
Thank you, that is a very nice compliment to get.
Wow, that is some imagination!
post-apocalyptic era I am guessing?
Very interesting
I’m not sure if there was an apocalypse or just a long, slow decay…
Iris very cleverly written – spooky, interesting.
Thank you!
This one sucked me right into your future world – nicely done.
Thanks, t, I’m glad it did.
I read this one twice. Nice, interesting take on this prompt.
Thank you, Shirley!
Not zombies, cause they have five fingers, right, so an alien?
No wait, I get it, mutants!
Oh no, not zombies. They scare the living daylights out of me, I would never write about them ;-). Evolution, I think.
good stuff — I would read this story!
Thanks, Bill. I am playing with the idea of expanding on some of these flashes. I just hope I would be able to do them justice…
Curious to know what they are running from and where they are driving to–hope you develop the story.
I like your imaginative story…long hands caressing…sounds a bit icky but makes the story come alive somehow. 🙂