© Dale Rogerson
Humphrey wished he’d said no. Being the oldest he knew he knew better. The consequences flashed through his mind as he pushed his team-mate up the hill. His parents would issue reprimand and remove his privileges, he’d get a fine from court. A jail sentence was unlikely. Anyway, having started he’d finish. Being fitter than Jack, the other pusher, he’d taken a good lead and descended the hill running, finding himself unable to negotiate the bend. John flew from the shopping trolley into the pond and the trolley followed. Desperately Humphrey searched the reeds seeing his crime upgraded to murder.
In response to the photo prompt provided by Dale Rogerson and the hosting by Rochelle who invites us to write a flash of no more than 100 words and link up via the blue frog on her site. If you don’t want to write have a read as there is always a varied talented selection to read.
About Irene Waters 19 Writer Memoirist
I began my working career as a reluctant potato peeler whilst waiting to commence my training as a student nurse. On completion I worked mainly in intensive care/coronary care; finishing my hospital career as clinical nurse educator in intensive care. A life changing period as a resort owner/manager on the island of Tanna in Vanuatu was followed by recovery time as a farmer at Bucca Wauka. Having discovered I was no farmer and vowing never again to own an animal bigger than myself I took on the Barrington General Store. Here we also ran a five star restaurant. Working the shop of a day 7am - 6pm followed by the restaurant until late was surprisingly more stressful than Tanna. On the sale we decided to retire and renovate our house with the help of a builder friend. Now believing we knew everything about building we set to constructing our own house. Just finished a coal mine decided to set up in our backyard. Definitely time to retire we moved to Queensland. I had been writing a manuscript for some time. In the desire to complete this I enrolled in a post grad certificate in creative Industries which I completed 2013. I followed this by doing a Master of Arts by research graduating in 2017. Now I live to write and write to live.
Reflections and Nightmares- Irene A Waters (writer and memoirist) 
Gah!
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Dear Irene,
I hope this is only boyish panic here and not how it ends. Kids do the craziest things, don’t they? I raised three sons…I know. k 😉 Well done.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Thanks Rochelle. Yes. Boys will be boys. Cheers Irene
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Well done, clever interpretation. I once took a ride in a shopping cart with my husband pushing – took a mighty spill!
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Now that I would have liked to see Noelle. Not the spill but you in the trolley.
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Oh dear, Irene! Boys do the dumbest things, don’t they?
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Indeed they do.
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I do hope he survived! Ah, the craziness that can happen with shopping carts!
Good story!
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Thanks. He may be under the trolley. Hopefully they move quickly.
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It sounds like the beginning to a good YA novel. The fun turned sour fast and somewhere a grocery store is missing its cart.
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YA – thanks Charli. Yes it turned sour quicly.
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Oh dear! Hindsight! If only we had it in foresight! I hope his friend is safe. Great flash.
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Thanks Norah.
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Kids are so maddeningly impulsive. We have to go back in our memories a far distance to remember how much nonsense we created then that we can’t anticipate now. Great story, Irene.
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Thanks Sharon. Yes every generation has its moments of stupidity. The problem with now is that it all seems much more dangerous either because of the increased speed, or numbers of cars. Even shopping trolleys. I don’t recall them being around when I was a kid. You took what you could carry or put in your little shopping bag on wheels.
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Boys will be boys. I’ve been there (albeit many years ago). I still don’t understand the motivation.
Good piece.
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Flouting authority maybe. The challenge of it. No fear at that age helps.
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How to up-grade culpability. Well done.
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It can happen easily.
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Oh my, this escalated quickly! Good work.
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Thank you.
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Breathlessly entertaining, well done.
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Many thanks.
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Why do they love pushing the boundaries so much? Boys will be boys.
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All youngsters do I guess. Just about to get a puppy. I think I will see quite a few boundaries pushed in the next few weeks.
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Definitely!
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Oh dear. Humphrey is in a lot of trouble. Great flash! I looked at the photo and right away I thought, oh, Irene will have a good one for this and I was right 😀
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I fear he will feel guilt for the rest of his life as he knew what he was doing was wrong to start with. Thanks for reading and enjoying. 🙂
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We can only hope John gets into the swim of things. 😳
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LOL
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Everyone is saying boys will be boys, but I add: kids will be kids. I’ve done similar stupid things eons ago, with my friends, all girls. Racing down a steep hill on a bike, not able to negotiate the bend, off I flew into the ditch, could have broken my neck, but I only had a slight crack in the wrist and a very angry father. And I wasn’t a particularly wild kid. Kids think they are invulnerable. It’s a horrible burden when it ends tragic. Great story, poor lad, I hope John is found alive.
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I did the same but I was older and should have known better. It let me know though that I was vulnerable and I tended to then walk down steep hills and I had to walk up them also as the bike had no gears. I would have been better off being a walker than a biker.:)
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Ah.. I hope it works out in the end… why do we think we are invincible at that age?
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You think only old people die. That may be changing in todays youth with more exposure to televison than I had.
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Good story! I love young people!
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Thanks Dawn.I think they frighten me but that is because I’m so out of touch.
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I have a 23 y/o still at home and work the night shift where the average age is 28.
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They probably keep you young and up to date on their generation. 🙂
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Yes they do! Sometimes disturbingly so lol
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Panic brings up the worst case scenarios running your mind. Hopefully he finds that John’s only dented his pride (and maybe a few bones).
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I hope so. That would be a good outcome.
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