Closing the Door to Nowhere - Answer to a Writer's Challenge
Photo provided by Billybuc as a prompt in answering his challenge
Was it really only Yesterday?
Bill Holland (a.k.a. billybuc,) challenged his fellow writers to write a short story or a free-flow verse, write whatever we feel like writing, but we have to use the picture Bill provided, and we must begin with the sentence he provided.
The sentence: "Was it really only yesterday?"
This is my flash-fiction answer to “The Door to Nowhere”
Closing the Door to Nowhere
Was it really only yesterday? Or did the tragedy of that day make it seem that way?
Lucy had not returned home from going to the store for her mother. The store owner knew Lucy and her parents Clyde and Rosa and told the police that she talked to Lucy and sold her the items on the list, and that Lucy seemed scared and kept looking toward the door as if expecting someone to come in behind her. The store owner knew she should have looked out for Lucy and watched her walk the short distance to her home, but she was distracted and didn’t but, could not remember who or what the distraction was.
Just a year before she disappeared, at age thirteen Lucy had been raped and nine months later gave birth to a beautiful baby girl she named Sarah, it had never occurred to her to have an abortion.
After Lucy disappeared, Clyde and Rosa assumed the parental role of Sarah.
Was it really only yesterday?
Rosa had urged him to go and register to vote. Clyde replied, politicians are all the same, and my vote does not count anyway. It sure won’t if you don’t vote Rosa replied, besides we can’t afford a private school for Sarah, if that candidate from Louisiana becomes president, he wants to close all public schools, I haven’t heard how his closing the public schools in his state turned out when he became Governor of Louisiana.
It had been five years since Lucy disappeared and her daughter 5 year old Sarah’s eyes lit up like sparklers on the 4th of July, as she took in the conversation between her grandparents and the questions overflowed like a shook-up bottle of soda pop.
No school? Sarah piped in
No school? I don’t have to go to school? Vote for that one grandpa, I hate school; I want to stay here with you and grandma. Can I stay here with you and grandma? Please, please, please, can I stay?
Rosa answered her granddaughter’s questions. Child you have been living with me and your grandpa from the day you were born, and you have not started yet so how would you know you hate school?
Sarah: Eddie says the big kids pick on him and they will pick on me. (Eddie is the little six year old next door neighbor and has just started school. But, he would rather be playing outside in a mud puddle then going to school.)
Rosa: Eddie would rather play outside then learn anything, but he will be sorry one day. As she went on to explain the importance of a good education.
Clyde leaned back in the recliner, closing his eyes and listening to the conversation going on between his wife and his granddaughter and the sound of the rickety chair being dragged across the floor, and he wondered how they came to be in this building. This was one of the newer buildings and would be the last ones hit by the wrecking ball.
Was it really only yesterday the door to nowhere closed?
© by Shyron Shenko
Dragging the rickety chair across the floor
To peak out the tiny window in the door
Standing on her tippy toes
Questioned where this door goes?
Child, get down from that rickety chair
That’s the door that goes nowhere
Why is it there?
If it goes nowhere
Once it led to safety
In case of fire, we could reach the ground
But since the last election
The ground cannot be found
They gave our country to a pipeline
Now the toxic tar sand oil is leaking all around
Because the ones who won the last election
Has let our country down
Child I am telling you
If you fall, what will we do if you break a bone or two?
Your grandpa lost his job
And we have no insurance to take care of you
Oh my! What is that goo?
All over the chair, all over the floor, all over you
It broke and it is spilling out Sarah said
It is all around the house
They privatized our Social Security
Medicaid and Medicare too
They said we did not earn it
Though we still pay the dues
They privatized the USPS
That is when I really came unglued
It will cost me twenty dollars to Fed-ex
A payment for a bill or two
They privatized the IRS
They say that it’s been cheating me and you
And they want us to still pay our taxes
But, now we do not know to whom
They have ended food stamps and welfare
That fed the homeless adults and children alike,
Now its against the law to clothe, house or feed
The poor, the weak, the sick, or anyone in need
Rosa is telling Sarah how
The new crop of politicians
Want to change the rules
And why they want to close the public schools
Rosa arose to answer a knocking at the door
And a man began to shout
The wrecking ball is ready
You have just ten minutes more, and then you must get out
You want to throw us out
Into that toxic dirty tar sand oil
The man replied did you not know what you were voting for?
They did what they said they would do
Closing all your social programs
Everything that benefitted you
The rickety chair tilted Sending Sarah tumbling to the floor
Clyde jumped up from the recliner
And right away he knew, it was one horrid dream
And he headed for the door
Where are you going? Rosa asked, what do you intend to do?
Clyde replied, I am going to register to vote
Like you have asked me to!!!
The Golden Rule of the GOP....
He who has the Gold makes the Rules.............
— UnknownOther artists who have risen to the challenge
- The Door to Nowhere, Accepting a challenge from Author William D. Holland
This piece was written in response to a writing challenge presented by Author William D. Holland, to his fellow writers on Hubpages website, where he is known as "billybuc." - Never go Back; My Response to a Writing Challenge By Bill Holland AKA Billybuc: The Door to Nowhere
A poem about the first love we can never really forget, but is it wise to return to the scene of the crime? - The Door to Nowhere Challenge - The Perch
In response to billybuc's writing challenge prompt... - A Door Once Opened: A Response to BillyBuc's Challenge
This is my response to BillyBuc's Challenge: A Door to Nowhere - A Writing Challenge: The Door to Nowhere
Come one, come all, a new test of your writing abilities awaits you. - The Door to Nowhere ----Billybuc Writing Challenge
Sometimes a Door to Nowhere leads back to where we begin. Sometimes we find it has been waiting there all along. - The Door To Nowhere: Billy Buc's Writing Challenge
This hub is a response to Billy Buc's writing challenge to submit our thoughts starting with the sentence, "Was it really only yesterday?" He also posted a picture of a door leading to a fire escape. - The Door to Nowhere - a poem (billybuc's challenge)
This poem is my response to the Hub challenge issued by Bill Holland (billybuc) to write a story, poem, or essay from a photo prompt titled "The Door to Nowhere." - ON THE ROAD TO NOWHERE: Response to billybuc's Challenge
In response to Bill Holland's challenge, this is a story about a criminal's experience which changed his life. Writing challenges push our boundaries and make us think within given dictates. - Was it Only Yesterday - A Challenge from Billybuc
Where did the door to nowhere go? Was it someplace fantastical or someplace bad? The truth saved their lives. - The Door to Nowhere - My Response to billybuc's Writing Challenge
This is my response to Bill Holland's writing challenge. Thank you for the challenge, Bill. - The Door to Nowhere | Answer to billybuc's Writing Challenge
Hub Pages author Billybuc has issued a challenge to fellow authors to create a story based upon a photo he has supplied, with a mandatory beginning sentence.
© 2015 Shyron E Shenko
