Sunday Photo Fiction is a weekly challenge presented by my old friend Al Forbes.
The idea is to write a short story (200 word max) inspired by what you see in his picture (below).
My first thought this week when I saw Al’s somewhat challenging photo was rain.
I am a Scot, we are genetically programmed to think about rain.
Even this morning, basking in Mediterranean sunshine for the umpteenth successive day, I think about rain.
And no, I do not miss it!
Click on this link to enter your tale, and see what others have written.
Copyright Al Forbes
Rain
It is my first visit to H’Too.
It is reputedly the wettest planet in any solar system.
It rains constantly.
No, not like Scotland, but literally constantly.
It never stops.
It is never torrential, never just a drizzle.
Just a steady downpour, always.
Low heavy dark clouds, always.
Sunshine, never.
But this wretched lump of rock is rich in minerals, so we are building and mining.
Most of the guys do one month on, one month off, and many never return.
I signed up for a year with no leave.
I need the money and there is no one to go home to.
I have been here ten weeks; after six I was going crazy.
The unceasing thrum of rain on roofs, on walls, on windows, is mind-numbing.
I haven’t ventured outside for weeks now.
I have only one regret as I climb on the chair and adjust the rope.
I will never see the sun again.
Sound Bite Fiction 
Sublime. That last line was perfection. A beautifully glum, pluvial write. Loved it. All the best,
smiling toad
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A very nice read sir.. 🙂 I went ‘ewww whhyyy’ with the last line.. 🙂
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Good story, C.E., and well written as always. I’ve read there were a lot of suicides in India among the British in the 19th Century.( Of course, there are a lot of suicides among Indians now). I would guess the monsoon got to them along with homesickness and probably the miserable conditions at the time. It seems depression took over your character and he was alone much of the time. That will often do it. —- Suzanne
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Well, I don’t think your story is just ‘interesting’ – sad, tragic, imaginatively downbeat, yes. 🙂 Utterly believable too. We’re so affected by our environment, how could he not want to leave that place, aynway possible. Your character also says at one point there’s no one at home to go back to, so what does he have to live for? Poor man.
Not happy, but very good 🙂
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If you were not already married, Lynn, there would be a proposal winging its way towards you right now.
Thank you for your thoughtful and perceptive analysis of the situation.
You have put a smile on this wizened old face, not a pretty sight!
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Haha! The second marriage proposal of my entire life – how wonderful 🙂
Always good to smile – it’s good medicine, I’m told. Thank you for a great read.
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Wow, this is truly is a miserable place. I have friends from Vancouver BC, who truly hate the winters there because all it does is rain and you don’t see the sun. Your story is very convincing, too bad he can’t go home for a bit. A terrible place to die, but then perhaps, the constant rain and lack of sun is causing extreme SAD’s – Seasonal Affective Disorder.
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Well, my narrator certainly is disordered, Amanda.
And I spent a month in Vancouver last year in January/February and it was lovely.
So nah nah to you!
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Haha. I think it depends when you go. Have a great week CE.
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Even I feel depressed after reading that! Time to hang out at the pub methinks!
Visit Keith’s Ramblings
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But not too depressed for the bad joke!
Man, there have been a glut of them this week, you people are weird.
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My first response was, Aw, he should have hung in there. Then I realized the pun. But I decided to go for it anyway. 😉
Great portrayal of how rain can be a type of water torture, even to someone from Scotland, apparently!
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Jings, everyone is making with the funnies this week.
And even Scots have lungs, not gills, you know!
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True, although Scots might still be best suited to survive in that world! I don’t mind the gray myself, and given how my skin reacts to the evil white orb in the sky, I probably should be living in Scotland instead of California, myself. But yeah, rain rain rain rain, that can get to you after a while.
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That was definitely an interesting read with a lot of imagery going on. Well done 🙂
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Okay, Angie, you are the third ‘interesting’ this week.
I guess the story didn’t work!
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I wouldn’t say that because you could see everything going on. I definitely would not like to be somewhere that I would never see the sun.
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I was very engaged as I read this! Very good!
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Thank you.
I wish you a long and happy engagement.
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🙂
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“Great story telling as always,” she said. “And, I understand his plight to a degree having once lived through the wettest year on record to date (early 1980s), and the longest stretch without sun to date in an always wet city. (same time frame),” she added. “So depressing. Even zucchini wouldn’t grow,” she 🙂 ‘d.
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Thank you for your kind words.
Your comments always confuse me.
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Sorry. I do my comments as dialogue to be different (long story). I really did spend the wettest year and summer to that date in 1983 in Vancouver, Canada on the west coast.
In Canada, zucchini will grow as you look at it. If it’s too wet and not enough sun for zucchini to grow, then it is really wet and dreary. Even more so than Scotland. Good friend there used to tell me about the weather.
Believe me, in real life, I’m even more confusing. I’ll just say “Great story telling” from now on if that helps,:)
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Wow. Interesting end. I think I would end up like that with no sun and constant rain for one year. After 70 days – yeah, it would get a bit much. On the bright side – he won’t be getting wet any more hehe
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Hehe?
You are not a well man, Al!
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That much is true 😉
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Oh don’t do it! Nice build up. Lovely (unpleasant) mind images. Nobody really wants to live that. Not Graham anyway.
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Glad it communicated the brain-numbing monotony, thanks.
And no one cares what Graham wants, do they?
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He often goes his way while I go mine …
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Dear CE,
My, that was a depressing piece. Not much stamina there if he was only going to be there for a year. But everyone has their breaking point. Well done nonetheless. Guess you could say you roped me in.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Dear R
‘Only’ a year?
Not long if you say it fast, but an eternity if you have toothache, for example.
Thank you for the kind words but, please remember, I do the funnies here!
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Interesting read 🙂 And strangely enough when i first saw the photo I thought of drought!
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Hmm, ‘interesting’ usually means dull!
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Now that’s ‘very interesting’! I wonder IF that would mean….? Any special connotations to ‘hmm’? 😀
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I use ‘hmm’ to indicate a thought, a rare occurrence here.
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I thought – thought was the only thing in abundance here! But then possibly by thought you meant something else.
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Oh my .. a very convincing write!
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Thank you, Georgia, always a pleasure to see you here.
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And for me it’s a pleasure to read your stories.
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