Flash Friday Fiction: Crossroads

Mill Creek Watershed 1949. Public domain photo by Helmut Buechner.
Mill Creek Watershed 1949. Public domain photo by Helmut Buechner.

Crossroads – 165 words

“My wife was right. We should have asked for directions.”

“The devil is in the doubting, my man.”

“But we’re not dressed for this.”

“You have gloves on. What’s the problem?”

“I…I…I was supposed to be home hours ago to help my son with his algebra.”

“Oh, come on. Where’s your sense of adventure? It’s not like opportunities like this come along every day.”

“You call wading around in the snow without food, water, or proper outerwear opportunity? I can’t even feel my ears anymore.”

“Good God. You’re such a baby.”

“Fine. What do you see? Are we close?”

“Just over that mountain.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m sure moving forward beats going backward. The devil is in the doubting.”

He paused for a moment, settling his weight onto his left leg as he squinted into the distance, trying to see the promise his companion saw. He thought of his disapproving wife, his whiny children, his monotonous dead-end job.

“Lead on, Beezlebub. Lead on.”

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Ever have one of those moments where you think you know what you’re doing, only to realize a split second too late that you don’t? Yeah, that’s what happened to me this week – for some reason I was thinking I could go up to 165 words. Nope. The limit is 150, +/- 10. Can you tell I wasn’t a math major?

Well, even though I disqualified myself from the competition before it even began, I hope you enjoy the story. Perhaps you can hop on over to Flash Friday Fiction and show you’re more with it today than I am by submitting your own tale. Within the proper word limit, of course.

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