Friday Fictioneers is hosted by the wonderful Rochelle, the undisputed master of what I call Sound Bite Fiction.
She sets the weekly challenge, and the standard.
This week’s photo prompt comes from her Canuck cohort, Dale Rogerson, who has apparently spent yet another night on the tiles.
The idea, as always, is to write a story of around 100 words based on this picture, below.
© Dale Rogerson
Click here to hear the writer read his words:
The Plateau
I was happy on the high plateau.
The sun shone every day in a blue and cloudless sky.
There were wild flowers and butterflies and rabbits, and birds that sweetly sang.
I had found Paradise.
Then one day I saw the mountain.
I was enchanted by its possibilities, and started to climb.
The views grew ever more beautiful until I reached the top.
From there I could see the whole world, magnificent beyond words.
My senses reeled, and I was afraid.
I saw beneath me a gigantic chasm, deeper and darker than death.
And I yearned for the high plateau.
Wonderfully poetic.
Thank you, Lisa, wonderfully succinct!
Point of view really means quite a lot
And what you are viewing means even more.
Interesting perspective. And I love the way it is written; poetic and philosophical.
Thanks, Dawn, I’m a poetic and philosophical kinda guy!
That you are.
Beautifully written, CE and you capture the disappointment of coming down from a mountain top experience so well. This last week, I was watching my kids perform and it was amazing seeing them on stage and now we’re just back to every day life. Indeed, I’ve been so busy lately, I’m not even sure what it is. I thought I’d catch up on FF and get myself back into some kind of head space. I get a bit out of kilter with so much stimulation all at once.
Hope you have a great week.
Best wishes,
Rowena
Thank you, Rowena, for your lovely comment, but I think I should tell you there is slightly more in this than just coming down from the mountain.
Congratulations on your children’s achievements.
I recall a song “Ain’t no mountain high enough”, I guess it turns out there may be. But then again, perhaps not. As always your ability to sharpen the relationship between man and earth for the purpose of expressing thoughts and feelings is on point.
I am smiling just to see you here, Penny.
You understand the feeling, when the highest pinnacle has been reached, to realise that it will not always be so.
That the most important things in life can be lost, all too easily.
Thank you for visiting again.
Love to all
Beauty and fear going hand in hand. There is wisdom in knowing what we sacrifice, when we go for the gold.
Indeed. What we attain we can also lose again.
Seems human nature that we often want to be/have what we already had but gave up 🙂
I think, ma’am, that you are very close to winning a cigar!
Aw, that’s really nice–but I don’t smoke. Could I have a Snickers bar instead? 🙂
That was lovely indeed, Mr. Ayr.
And what makes you say I’ve “apparently spent yet another night on the tiles”?
Thanks, Dale.
You provided a photo of roof tiles, I thought that was a clue, no?
Hmm… it’s what you see… I was just capturing the weak sun… 😎
Very poetic and beautifully written. All that’s lacking is for someone to give the chasm-gazer a small push from behind.
Thank you, Russell, unusually serious and very kind.
And no mountains were hurt in the writing of this story.
I feel there’s more to it than just the grass is not always greener on the other side. Something about having reached the top, then afraid to lose it all. As he found beauty at the top too, then reeled from the sight of the chasm which is his new fear. All the same, whatever the message, beautiful to read.
I think, dear Fatima, that you are closest to understanding what I tried to write.
The mountain is love and, once found, it can be lost again.
Oh no wonder.. I’m experiencing exactly that in my life right now.
Beautiful, especially with your narration. Isn’t it true, that often the highest plateaus have the deepest chasms? And yet, we climb.
You are very kind, Jan, thank you.
Some of us have to keep climbing.
Deeply philosophical Sir, I kept looking for the twist, and realized that I’d missed the entire point in my anticipation (See, I can be philosophical too) 🙂
Thank you, sir, I hope the point was worth the effort
Nicely told…Sometimes it seem like half the worlds population is on the move looking for deliverance, only to find great chasms
Ain’t that the truth!
Thanks, Michael
Awesome description of the neverending feeling of unsatisfaction of the human race.
Thank you, sir, your kind words are much appreciated.
How often do we strive for something then realise things were better as they were? A somewhat different piece from you this time round C.E!
Gotta shake it up sometimes, Keith.
Enjoy your trip.
I look at this excellent story as a David versus Goliath thing. Or, am i the only one who’s thinking such. Anyways, very beautifully written, dear Ceayr.
Thank you, Neel, and your view is as valid as any other.
I appreciate your thoughts.
The grass is always greener, in a much more stylish way. Nicely done.
Thanks, Iain, but I meant slightly more, not easy to squeeze into 100 words!
La montagne ! Ta vision du paradis ?
Je suis déja en paradis, je cherche encore plus.
Simply put, the grass is not always greener on the other side of the fence. You describe that adage more beautifully however. I’m
Thank you, Susan, but I meant slightly more than that.
Dear CE,
Lovely and vivid descriptions. I, for one, would’ve stayed on the plateau for I have a fear of heights. Nicely done.
Shalom,
Rochelle
From what I hear, even getting in a hairdresser’s chair gives her a nosebleed.
She goes to a hairdresser?!?
Fear of heights, like many of our phobias, are in the mind, m’lady.
We can face them and risk failure, as here, or hide from the world.
Unusually philosophical for you, CE! Rather good, too. We humans are rarely satisfied with what we have, however much it resembles paradise. We greedily strive for more of the same until we become aware of the fragility of our precarious position. The description in your story is lovely; top stuff!
I’m a philosophical kind of dude, Penny!
Glad you enjoyed it, I liked your interpretation, thank you.
The high plateau is another mountain, yes? Or have I got it wrong? I take this to be about the restlessness of the human spirit, and the chasing of the next dream
The mountain is higher than the plateau.
There is no right and wrong, Neil, in reading an allegorical tale, it is open to many interpretations.