Ok, this is my second attempt to return to Friday Fictioneers. With the kids back at school I hope to have plenty of time to read everybody’s stories! My own story is below the picture.
The prompt for this week’s 100-word story is a photo by group host ©Rochelle Wisoff-Fields
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Friday Fictioneers prompt for September 5, 2014 ©Rochelle Wisoff-Fields
Dust to Dust
I learned Esperanto in a dusty attic classroom. There were eight of us and we believed our optimism could change the world.
Three were lost in the rubble when the bomb hit our building. I was saved from that horror by my preference for a seat in the back corner, clambering out while walls crumbled.
The others tried to run. Two were shot in the back, another two dragged into the soldiers’ truck.
I kicked my book of Esperanto into the flames and fled the agonising cries as my people, my town and my hope turned to dust.
©Siobhán McNamara
siobhanmcnamara 
Dear Siobhán,
Well-written and tragic.
Shalom,
Rochelle
PS I admire anyone who finds the time to write with growing children. 😉
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Thanks Rochelle 🙂
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All too real a tale, well told.
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Thank you Hamish 🙂
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Alas .. this is all too true.. I could see this happening actually
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Thank you Björn, I was going to set it in the past by naming the city but changed my mind because I felt it had a lot of relevance to current conflicts
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Very well done Siobhan, You painted the picture so well, I could imagine the horror.
I remember Esperanto once being touted as the ‘ one International language’ wonder what happened to it
Dee
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Thank you Dee 🙂
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Esperanto. Who knew?
Good take on the prompt this week, Siobhan! I saw a lot of good thing in this one. It put me in the story.
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Thank you 🙂
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Siobhán, kudos on a story well told. On a completely different topic, where did you get the “Make tea, not war.” Love it.
janet
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Thank you Janet:)
The ‘Make tea, not war’ is a photograph I took in Derry, Northern Ireland a few years ago. It was a small hand-painted sign that was screwed onto a wall in the City Centre, I had passed it loads of times and it always made me smile, so one day I made a point of bringing a camera and took a picture of it. I’m glad I took the photo as I don’t think the sign is there anymore.
It has particularly significance in Derry/Londonderry due to the horrors of the sectarian conflict in Northern Ireland, Though life is not perfect there yet, it has come a long way and there is now a generation of young adults (the first ‘peace babies’) that never knew that conflict.
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Very tragic tale, universal in time and place. So sad we didn’t learn from past mistakes.
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Sadly it does seem we are doomed to repeating the same mistakes only with more sophisticated weaponry. Thanks for reading 🙂
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Really powerful story. Good job.
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Thank you 🙂
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Wonderfully thought out tale. I could feel dust in my throat, panic and loss.
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Thank you 🙂
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Wow! Your writing is very good, so sad this story. Only imaging that in some parts of the world this can be happening right now.
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Thank you for you kind comment 🙂
Sad to think there is still so much conflict going on
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Dear Siobhan, Such a wonderfully told story – you capture the horror of an ordinary thing like going to class and then BAM! war hits. Excellent told story. I’m glad there are new babies that have grown up and called “peace babies”. Wonderful that – at least for a time – there has been peace and calm! Wow – you are a good writer! Nan 🙂
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Thank you Nan, I am deeply touched by your kind comment!
🙂
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Siobhan, It’s nice to know that peace is holding somewhere. Good and realistic story. It could happen in so many places. Well written. —Susan
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Thank you Susan 🙂
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A really powerful story – well done.
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Thanks Claire 🙂
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Welcome back Siobhan! Clearly you’re back with a bang! Powerful, vivid story that is all too commonly played out around the world.
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Thank you 🙂
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Tragic and well captured 🙂
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Thank you 🙂
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Great story! The irony of learning the international language, designed to help people communicate, while the nations are killing each other.
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That’s so true, I have been mulling over that idea for a while and this week’s prompt helped my get it to the surface and into a story.
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I know how that feels – I’ve often had a great idea and have waited for the ideal photo!
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Great message, and delivered with subtlety.
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Thank you 🙂
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powerful, tragic, horrific… well done.
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Thank you KZ
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Very powerfully written, capturing the terror of the moment. And welcome to FF – certainly seem like an “old hand” at this. Great story. 🙂
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Thank you Pat 🙂
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Good story and tragic – it’s happening all over the world right now.
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Thanks Liz, and yes, sadly this is happening a lot, The idealistic hopes of the young so often get lost in the dust
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Great use of 100 words, especially with kids in the house!
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Thank you Dawn. It can be a challenge with the kids but they have got to the point where the ‘help’ – my eight year-old daughter has the makings of a very good editor!
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That is so fun. My oldest one had a talent for drawing but for the most part he was my only creative child. I’m working on my grandson; if not the writing thing I think he has the potential for “developing an eye”.
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Esperanto..had never heard of this.Great!:)
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You can learn it online nowadays! I think I might give it a go.
Thanks for reading 🙂
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There is hope since he/she escaped. Good take on the prompt.
Lily
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Thank you 🙂
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a tragic story where optimism was dashed by reality. well done.
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