flash fiction
It was another beautiful day in the small town of Pleasantville. As Harry walked briskly out the front door of his small cottage on Elm Street, he noticed that the sun was shining brightly. It was warm and sunny–not a cloud in the sky. As he walked toward the sidewalk, he noticed that his next door neighbor on his right was walking briskly in the same direction
At this, Tom slowed his pace a bit to allow Harry to catch up. When Harry had done so, Tom smiled and said, “Hey Harry, how’ve you been!”
“Just great! replied Harry. “Things are going smoothly as usual.”
“I’m glad to hear it,” said Tom. “Same here, I’m happy to report.” The two neighbors continued to converse in amiable small talk as they reached the point on Elm Street where it converged with the main street of the small town. Both Harry and Tom noticed the throngs of dozens of others who were converging on Main Street as well, all headed in the same direction as Tom and Harry. After about a half hour the crowd was approaching the town limits, where Main Street gave way to the country roads of the fertile farmland that lay beyond the town’s boundaries.
There the people stopped and raised their heads at the sky as if they were looking for something particular. Within a few minutes, there came the expected single blast of the airhorn and the mechanical sounding voice which told him: Exercise period is over. Return to your homes immediately and log back on.
A collective soft sigh came from the group as they turned around and walked back in the direction they had come, but not quite as briskly.
As Tom and Harry walked back toward Elm Street, they continued to converse but neither was as talkative as they had been before. Soon they reached Elm Street and were nearing their respective cottages.
“Well, Tom,” Harry remarked, “see you again tomorrow. I hope it will be warm and sunny as it was today.”
“Sure thing,” said Tom. “I expect it will be. It always is.”
©2023 Michael Matheny
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