‘Promise you’ll leave, Mum. The water’s coming.’
I remember my disbelief at Lena’s words even as I promised her.
I still cannot believe it. Lena used to ride her tricycle round the bandstand for hours. Later, I took her here to practice the tuba. It doesn’t seem so long ago.
The water is swallowing the first step of the bandstand.
‘It’ll flood half of London,’ Lena said.
She didn’t say where she’d gone.
‘I’m safe. I want you to be safe, too.’
But I don’t believe anywhere is safe anymore. Here, at least, I’ve got memories to keep me distracted.
***
What a lovely photo for Friday Fictioneers this week, and look at all the stories it’s inspired.
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Oh dear! She’s going to stay there and die in the flood?? Excellent story!!
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I think she’d rather stay where she is than face the unknown… Thank you, PJ!
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A lot of older people are that way. This shines a light on that problem. Very nice!
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I hope she doesn’t die in the flood. Hopefully someone will be along to rescue her and she’ll find there is still some safety in the world. 🙂
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Wouldn’t that be nice? Thank you 🙂
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But maybe she doesn’t want to be saved if the world’s disappearing under the waves…
Hope you don’t mind, but I nominated you for the Five Photos, Five Stories challenge. You have to post pics for five consecutive days and write a piece for each. Each day you can nominate someone else to continue the challenge. Do not feel you have to take it up at all- just a bit of fun.
I’m on the third day of mine- see what you think.
https://lynnmlovewords.wordpress.com/
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Thank you for nominating me, Lynn! That’s the kind of challenge I like, so I’m more than happy to join 🙂
And yes, I think she doesn’t want to be saved because she’s afraid of the chaos…
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It sounds as though the rising floodwaters will show no mercy. We could speculate that this is what could happen with rising sea levels and much of the UK disappearing. Perhaps it’s just another Thames flood, too great for the Barrier to hold back. The mother’s attitude to it all is interesting. She seems resigned to her fate and drawing comfort from her memories. Let’s hope there’ll be rescue craft about. 🙂
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I had a look at a map the other day that shows which areas will be flooded if the sea level rises. I live in Tower Hamlets, which will be pretty much gone…
Thank you, Millie!
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Yes, I’ve seen maps of areas in the UK likely to disappear if sea levels rise as predicted. I did a little exercise with some of my classes, picking out the best future UK capital – i.e. the city furthest away from ‘danger’ zones. Of course, Birmingham always won out on that one. Poor old Tower Hamlets, eh? Thanks for gettting back to me, Sonya.
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I have also seen the map of what the UK will look like in 2050 and 2100. It is a very scary prospect that our island will one day disappear.
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It is very scary indeed…
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Dear Sonya,
A flood of emotion in this piece. Chilling and well done.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Thank you, Rochelle!
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Dear Sonya,
There is a flood coming and we are all in the bandstand waiting for something to stop it. A good story for the prompt and for our times. Well done.
Aloha,
Doug
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Thank you, Doug!
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A very interesting and original take on the prompt. Nice!
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Thank you!
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