Julia has offered us another 100-word challenge this week with the following prompt:
“… looking back, I remember …”
I have to confess that I’ve cheated a tad. I’m about 19 words over, but I just didn’t have any more time to spend cutting it down further.
STARTING OVER
“Looking back, I remember how easy everything was – especially communication.”
“Tell me, Grandpa.”
“Computers ran everything, including phones and automobiles.”
“Really!”
“And almost everyone could be reached by Internet.”
“I’ve heard about Internet.”
“It’s been twenty-two years since the grids went down.”
“And that shut everything down?”
“Yep. Nothing could be manufactured, vehicles couldn’t run, almost all communication shut down. Our nation had been attacked by E-bombs, and our irresponsible government had no back-ups.”
“Did we fight back?”
“Couldn’t. No way to fire missiles, no planes. And once we were down, other free nations were attacked. The whole free world reduced to walking, writing with wooden pencils, and bartering goods for food and water. Grandson … your generation has a big job ahead of it.”
~~~
That’s a brilliant punchline – sad that I know people who wouldn’t get it 🙂
Yes, I do too.
This is something I often wonder about, it really could happen couldn’t it?
Some of the people who have studied the situation over here insist that it could very well happen, and that the U.S. government, specifically, is lacking in the maintenance of our grid.
Well done -nice take on the prompt 🙂 x
Thank you.
This has made m y morning Sandra! What a fabulous piece and a dire warning to us all. I think when the millennium came this was what was foretold!
Thank you. It was interesting to write.