PHOTO PROMPT © David Stewart
OSTRICH
Fourteen years ago, old Mr. Miller closed that gate, went in the house, and no-one’s seen him since.
He had a well drilled, and a hand water-pump installed. The power and phone companies cut him off. The County has tried to evict him for taxes, but he ignores the notices they leave on the gate.
The bank transfers his pension money to the grocery store. He leaves lists, and they deliver boxes of food which disappear overnight.
He’s got no radio, TV, cell phone, internet or social media. Doesn’t he know about all the great things there are out here.
***
Go to Rochelle’s Addicted to Purple site and use her Wednesday photo as a prompt to write a complete 100 word story.
Archon's Den 
You discovered my plan.
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As long as there’s a plan. I won’t breathe a word of it. 😉
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Sometimes ignorance is bliss…
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Sometimes it is, although I think this guy took it just a tad too far. 😳
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Man, that’s creepy! Any children disappear around there lately? 😯
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No, I leave that type of fiction to SightsNBytes. My old hermit just disappeared into a hole, and pulled it in after himself. 😯
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I sometimes wish I didn’t know what was going on. Sometimes.
Visit Keith’s Ramblings!
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By the look of all the different flash fiction links on your site, it seems you’re well informed. Very impressive. (I did question your usage of ‘pared’.) 🙂
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The irony is not lost on your reader, though both great things and horrible are lost on the troglodyte.
I hope his diet is healthier than his social life. Ha.
Randy
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I modeled this character on my father’s father, who abandoned 4 kids when his wife died delivering the last, and moved two miles off the highway, up a concession road, and into a tiny woodcutter’s cabin. I only saw him a dozen times in my life, and have no idea how he survived. 😯
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Now that adds a whole other sad side to the story. Sorry to hear it. Randy
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My cynical side says he is not missing much. Wonder if watching all that happy news inspired him on his present course to begin with.
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Yes, with the ‘fourteen years’ reference, and cheating by using the Twin Towers photo to pad out the narrative, this is the story of an old turtle who just pulled his head into his shell, and stayed there. Perhaps he didn’t think he’d last this long. There were so many back-story branches, that it was difficult to keep this tale down to 100 words. Thanx for stopping by and reading. 🙂
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Another hermit feeling kinda crabby?
Good piece.
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Hermit?? Crab?? I’m only mad because I didn’t think to say that.
Thanx for the read. Stop by any time I’m not in therapy. 😉
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Good story. Very sad. To live in self-inflicted imprisonment is not my idea of freedom.
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Nor my idea of freedom either. People like this don’t work on ‘No Pain – No Gain’. They’re so emotionally tender that it’s more ‘No Risk – No Pain’. 😳
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I don’t know about the great things but he’s certainly missing out on Friday Fictioneers 🙂
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If he knew about the Friday Fictioneers, there’d be an extra chain on that gate. 😆
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LOL. It isn’t funny but I couldn’t help but laugh. I wonder why we want to know all this stuff too. Good on him for shunning the lot and probably living very happily on his own. The world at the moment is a truly sad place.
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It is indeed. Terrorists and spree killers at least are real, if sad, news. I know just enough about Justin Bieber and the Kardashians to poke a bit of fun at occasionally. Too many people need to know every detail of their lives, because they have no real lives of their own to lead. 😦
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Wonderful story! It sure makes one think.
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Ow! Ow! Now I have a headache. 😉
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