Each week I wonder: Does Friday Fictioneers need an introduction and an explanation? It’s really rather simple: riff off the photo prompt with 100 words that make a more-or-less whole tale. Go to Hostess Twinkie Rochelle’s site, link up and start reading like mad to see what everyone else has created. It’s an addiction, but there are many worse. So join in or just read, it’s all up to you. The linky guy can be found after my story. Grab a cup of your favorite brew, sit back and enjoy the ride. But be sure to expect the Spanish Inquisition, because nothing in FF is certain except death, lots of death. Very few taxes, though.
Copyright Sean Fallon
Homecoming
The sirens wailed again as Annabel hurried through the darkness toward the air raid shelter at the children’s school. Common sense dictated staying in a shelter near work, but she wanted to be with her family. The harsh sound of the Junkers grew louder. London glowed with fires, smoke drifting through the bomb-lit air, but the hellish picture was somehow imbued with a strange, terrible beauty.
Reaching the school, she slipped through the doorway with a sigh of relief, moving around people in the semi-dark, heading toward “their spot.”
Overhead, the whine of the bomb grew louder, piercing the air.
……………………………………….
The London blitz was a terrible time, but Londoners stood resolute against everything Hitler threw at them (or dropped on them). The worst single incident was the bombing of a school being used as a shelter, where 450 were killed. An episode of “Foyle’s War”, one of the best programs on television, called “The Funk Hole”, shows through a heart-rending story, a tiny bit of what that time was like and when I watched it again for the ??-th time, I knew I had to use that idea in a FF story and the photo of the mannikin in parts brought this scenario inexorably to mind. My attempt is but feeble compared to reality, but then 100 words can be somewhat limiting. 🙂 A bit of description of the Blitz can be found here: http://www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/blitz.htm and I urge you to look up “Foyle’s War” at the library or Netflix or wherever and watch every episode you can.
This, that and the other thing 