Field of Dreams

Photo of a tractor in a field used as prompt for flash fiction story
Photo by Emiel Molenaar

The paint crackled and warped, and the wheels were on the verge of exploding as the Matchbox® tractor shot up to full size. Doubting what I had witnessed, I reached out to touch the imposing machine; hot to touch, moments after contact I felt a tingle and smelt something reminiscent of burning hair before I too began to grow and grow. With our scale restored, doubt crept back in, in the absence of some landmark to confirm it as dream or reality, until I shifted my gaze and noticed the ankle height hedge of old growth forest.

 

Story inspired by Sonya’s Three Line Tale Week Twenty-Four. I had a moment while drafting this where I asked myself what the point of it (writing and sharing a story here) is, in light of events of the past 24 hours. Is it frivolous and pointless and shallow? Not to say that in the last 24 hours (let alone the last 40 billion years) there have not been other tragedies, large or small, but I am sure you know exactly what atrocity I am talking about. My conclusion? No, it is not pointless because in sharing something, anything here and connecting with people in even a very small way, it can make a difference to one, two or maybe many more lives- it is in the comments, in the encouragements and in the sharing that we have one of many reminders in our day about our shared humanity, a chance to understand that we are not alone in our life struggles, that others also have their own world of problems but also hopes and dreams and needs and desires. The community here is a very tangible way of creating world peace- I am so glad to be a part of a beautiful world here on WordPress – a microcosm of what is possible, if we let it happen, in the wider world.

 

Postscript: okay, 40 Billion is a lot. I missed the mark by about 34.5 billion years in terms of the age of the world and I was way off when considering the couple of hundred thousand years humans like us have been around, not to mention the much shorter period of ‘civilisation’ (6000 years). But this isn’t about numbers, is it?

16 thoughts on “Field of Dreams”

    1. Thanks Kerfe. That’s the second time I seem to have channelled your younger brother’s younger self! I think Jane Dougherty’s challenge for this week can be moulded into a part 2 for this…maybe 😊

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  3. A bit of Alice in Wonderland here. Personally, I think the post script is unnecessary. The art should speak for itself and why put a question in the reader’s mind that the work might be frivolous when no work of art should be thought of in that way.

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  5. I’ve felt similarly in the past few weeks. We’ve had more than our share of tragedies here in the States; however, I always come to the conclusion that writers, and artists in general, are like lights of hope for society. We either feel called to report what’s happening, react to what’s happening or create a bit of escapism for what’s happening. Either way, it’s necessary. Write On!

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  8. It’s recently come to my attention that there is a movement of people that believe if you are not giving your money away to the poor and disadvantaged, but instead you are making art, then you are wasting your life and failing at being a decent human being.
    Although admirable from one perspective, I don’t believe this, I believe art can be spectacularly healing and awareness raising, and that humans need a wide variety of help that goes much deeper than money. Money can solve some basic things, but there is a lot it cannot help with in the slightest.
    So no, it is not frivolous to create art that inspires in a world of pain and suffering.

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