pixabay images modified by author

The Carrot Ranch Literary Community ran a Flash Fiction Rodeo during October. The variety of prompts were loads of fun.  As the competition closes and the winners are announced, I’m delighted to share my contributions.

Challenge #1: Cast yourself back to six years of age, knowing what you do of life in the present; what would you want to be when you grow up and how would you go about achieving that goal? Tell us in 100 words, no more no less. It can be real or imaginary, serious or light-hearted.

I will dig a well

When I grow up, I want to dig a well as deep as the Baobab is tall. With my hands, I’ll fill buckets and pass them up a ladder to my sisters’ eager fingers. Water will rise, turning the dry dirt to mud, and I’ll hold my breath and labor in the earth’s wet coolness. And on the day my well draws pure and clear, the village will sing, but praise is not what will lift my song. That day, my mother won’t walk to the ditch to reap sickness with our water, and my sisters will dance to school.

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To read Hugh Robert’s winning submission click here: Carrot Ranch