The dude in the photo below was camped out on my last remaining tomato plant, and as I was removing basil to make room for garlic, I spotted him snoozing in the sun. I ran inside and grabbed my camera. Luckily he was still there when I returned.
Today it is raining. Tomorrow it will be raining. Sunday too. So, planting garlic will have to wait. Until then, there’s homework. Among the many things I have learned so far this semester, it is safe to say that I am not going to become a forensic scientist. I will probably never even play one on TV, but I have learned a thing or twenty about human evolution (or lack thereof). More on that in a future post. Until then, here are 100 words of total fiction.
Copyright Dale Rogerson
Cultural Artifacts
“A highly developed mechanical species once dominated this entire planet,” said the interstellar tour guide.
Skeptical, I asked, “How do you know?”
“We know this because remains found in shallow pools at the Swamp of Enlightenment show forms with variable height adjustment. This, of course, was a response to rising water levels during the Exxonozoic Era. A wider wheel base evolved as larger quantities of fossil fuels were consumed.”
I raised my hand. “Why didn’t the species adapt?”
“It is unknown. However, the widely accepted hypothesis is that an uncontrollable demand for power ushered in the Age of Arctic Fires.”
*****
Thanks to Dale Rogerson for this week’s prompt.
Check out more Friday Fictioneers here.
Honie Briggs 
MAD love for little frogs, so mad love for the start of this. Mad love for your writing, and mad love for Arctic Fire (the band), so while that’s not what you were referring to… Mad love.
Excellent writing here 🙂
Good story. Love the frogs.
Oh, man, am I brain dead. I couldn’t figure out for the life of me why everyone was commenting on office chairs! It took repeated viewing of the photograph to pick out what they were talking about. I’m going to blame my density on post-Halloween sugar crash.
Too many “fun size” treats?
A most ironically named candy. There’s nothing fun about the size I have gained after eating a bag’s worth of those deliciously tricky, little treats.
just curious, in what year did this story happened? 2016? 🙂
2053, the year of the Pepsi Center Peace Accord.
I like the idea of the office chair being used to escape rising waters from the Age of Arctic Fires! Study on.
Study on I will, because the twenty things I have learned were not on the test!
Gee, I didn’t know any of that! I’m never going to sit on my bicycle again with his approval
I mean “without” his approval!
Perry! So glad you stopped by and commented. The bicycle – one of those man made objects – no need to worry about approval. Balance is key though, seriously. :p
Nice one Honie! If we leave these objects around the landscape then its not surprising the future historians misinterpret them.
Yes, God help the future trying to interpret what we’ve done.
Agreed. I’m not sure we in the present can interpret much of what happens
I personally think you would be a brilliant forensic scientist, that is just me though.
The frog pictures, especially the one in the comments…gad love them. Wonderfully done. Perfectly done even. I have had garden spiders and wolf spiders this year. The wolves, they are shy and I haven’t gotten a single shot of them. The garden spiders, they are brilliant, they have been spinning in my lavender and each of them are wonderful, two as big as my palm and their orange against the purple of the lavender, simply beautiful.
Your flash, as always perfectly done. Smiling and giggling. Who knew?
Val, what in the world is a wolf spider?Wait, I will google it.
I’ll leave the science to the professionals. I do appreciate your vote of confidence though. 🙂
Dear StepHonie,
I never knew about the evolution of office chairs. I guess they hadn’t discovered that when I was in school back in the dark ages. Once more your writing and story are filled with knowledge and subtle humor.
Love the frog pics.
Shalom,
Rochelle
Dear Rochelle,
Sometimes they get it right, and sometimes, well, not so much.
Blinded with science,
Honie
Frogs and forensics in the same post. Wonderful.
We aim to please here at Honie’s house of amphibian madness.
This is great, I laughed out loud about the dominant species fossils in the swamp of Enlightenment. And the frog pictures are great.
Office chair fossils made you laugh out loud, that’s funny. 🙂
Your comment made me smile. Thanks.
Oh, I think you could play a forensic scientist on TV. Maybe Kermit could be the detective and you, his cute assistant in “Who killed Miss Piggy?”
Spoiler alert, someone has BBQ sauce on their chin.
Enjoyed your story and your intro.
No need to return the comment…back to work with ya!
Thanks, Dawn. I mean, task master. 🙂
LOL
How high’s the water, Froggie? I love the “Exxonozoic Era”. It is good to see another flash fiction post from you, Stephanie. Study hard and enjoy the quiet times.
Ω
We may have some tree sized mushrooms by the end of the week, Allan. Flash is the key word. It has to be quick. This is why I sometimes pass on posting FF. I don’t have time to read many of the others’ stories or comment or reply to comments. So, sometimes the bus leaves without me, but I steal a moment here and there.
Perhaps the frogs can use the mushrooms as a bus stop (sounds like that’s not your bus…).
You put a new spin on “stealing’ time”.
Ω
Hi Honie. Glad the frog was still there when you returned with your camera. Beautiful shot.
Hi Helen. He was happy to be left alone. He let me know just how he felt about being disturbed.
Love the frog and love the story too. 🙂
Thanks, Meeks. I love frogs.
We have a whole frog habitat in the fish pond. Only see them once in a while, but we hear them all the time. And of course we see the results of frog romance floating like fairy bubbles on the water in the morning. 😀
There’s nothing like frog romance. 🙂 We have a chorus of frog love songs every spring.
I can hear one calling to his lady-love right now. 🙂
You’re in a forensics science class? Cool. That’s something I’d love. But it appears you don’t feel the same. 😉
Nice story!
I do love it. The prof is brilliant. Seriously brilliant. The class is difficult. Not so much that I’m totally lost, but I overloaded my wagon a little, you know, like ya do, and well, I’m feelin’ it. Seriously. 🙂
A heavy load can definitely sour things a bit.