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.
Sound Bite Fiction 
Wonderfully poetic.
LikeLike
Thank you, Lisa, wonderfully succinct!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Point of view really means quite a lot
LikeLike
And what you are viewing means even more.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Interesting perspective. And I love the way it is written; poetic and philosophical.
LikeLike
Thanks, Dawn, I’m a poetic and philosophical kinda guy!
LikeLike
That you are.
LikeLike
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
LikeLike
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.
LikeLike
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.
LikeLike
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
LikeLike
Beauty and fear going hand in hand. There is wisdom in knowing what we sacrifice, when we go for the gold.
LikeLike
Indeed. What we attain we can also lose again.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Seems human nature that we often want to be/have what we already had but gave up 🙂
LikeLike
I think, ma’am, that you are very close to winning a cigar!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Aw, that’s really nice–but I don’t smoke. Could I have a Snickers bar instead? 🙂
LikeLike
That was lovely indeed, Mr. Ayr.
And what makes you say I’ve “apparently spent yet another night on the tiles”?
LikeLike
Thanks, Dale.
You provided a photo of roof tiles, I thought that was a clue, no?
LikeLike
Hmm… it’s what you see… I was just capturing the weak sun… 😎
LikeLike
Very poetic and beautifully written. All that’s lacking is for someone to give the chasm-gazer a small push from behind.
LikeLike
Thank you, Russell, unusually serious and very kind.
And no mountains were hurt in the writing of this story.
LikeLike
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.
LikeLike
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.
LikeLike
Oh no wonder.. I’m experiencing exactly that in my life right now.
LikeLike
Beautiful, especially with your narration. Isn’t it true, that often the highest plateaus have the deepest chasms? And yet, we climb.
LikeLike
You are very kind, Jan, thank you.
Some of us have to keep climbing.
LikeLike
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) 🙂
LikeLike
Thank you, sir, I hope the point was worth the effort
LikeLike
Nicely told…Sometimes it seem like half the worlds population is on the move looking for deliverance, only to find great chasms
LikeLike
Ain’t that the truth!
Thanks, Michael
LikeLike
Awesome description of the neverending feeling of unsatisfaction of the human race.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, sir, your kind words are much appreciated.
LikeLiked by 1 person
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!
LikeLike
Gotta shake it up sometimes, Keith.
Enjoy your trip.
LikeLiked by 1 person
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.
LikeLike
Thank you, Neel, and your view is as valid as any other.
I appreciate your thoughts.
LikeLike
The grass is always greener, in a much more stylish way. Nicely done.
LikeLike
Thanks, Iain, but I meant slightly more, not easy to squeeze into 100 words!
LikeLiked by 1 person
La montagne ! Ta vision du paradis ?
LikeLike
Je suis déja en paradis, je cherche encore plus.
LikeLike
Simply put, the grass is not always greener on the other side of the fence. You describe that adage more beautifully however. I’m
LikeLike
Thank you, Susan, but I meant slightly more than that.
LikeLike
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
LikeLiked by 1 person
From what I hear, even getting in a hairdresser’s chair gives her a nosebleed.
LikeLike
She goes to a hairdresser?!?
LikeLike
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.
LikeLike
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!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m a philosophical kind of dude, Penny!
Glad you enjoyed it, I liked your interpretation, thank you.
LikeLike
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
LikeLike
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.
LikeLiked by 1 person