This flash piece was written for the 4 July2014 Flash! Friday competition. The painting and “include a woman” was the prompt.
Old World, New World
“Who cares what happened on Earth? And, Ferris, I think your painting sucks.” James muted the robotic voice of the museum guide.
“What are you going to take?” Carla asked.
“Nothing. I just want to go live on the new world. Sudden system failures killing half the population wouldn’t happen there.”
“You still have to choose something. There’s not enough space for us to take everything.”
“You act like these aren’t replicas of replicas. Earth is long dead.”
They wandered through the galleries. “Worthless detritus of past civilizations” his father called it. By now some walls were completely empty. You still needed something to hang on to.
“Just choose something so we can get on the ship.”
James rushed to the La Scapigliata. “I can’t believe it’s still here!”
“A Da Vinci sketch? At least take something with a bit of colour.”
James beamed as he took it off the wall. “My mum made it. Before the system failure.”
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| Writing the Declaration of Independence. Painting by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris (1863 – 1930). Public domain photo. |
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