Friday Fictioneers — This green and pleasant land

PHOTO PROMPT © J Hardy Carroll

Genre: Political Satire
Word Count: 100

~~THIS GREEN AND PLEASANT LAND~~

April 1st, 2019, farmers across England awoke to a most baffling sight. Identical slate-grey houses had sprouted in the middle of their set-aside fields overnight. To add to the mystery, all the weeds and wildflowers had disappeared, along with the fresh spring foliage from the trees.

High voltage electrified spiked fences surrounded the properties, thwarting any attempts to gain access. On the padlocked main gates to each of the properties hung an upside down Union Jack with a V-sign above it and the words LET THE FUN BEGIN.

Midday passed. The houses stayed put. It was no April fool’s joke.

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Photo Prompt: copyright © J Hardy Carroll
Friday Fictioneers: 100 word stories

Author: Sarah Potter Writes

Sarah is a British eccentric who writes offbeat fiction, haiku and tanka poetry. When stuck for words, she sketches or paints instead. She's into nature conservation, sustainability, gardening, dogs, natural health, and reading. Her sociability is something that happens in short bursts with long breathing spaces in between.

59 thoughts on “Friday Fictioneers — This green and pleasant land”

  3. Dear Sarah,

    So, I’m sitting here, looking at a picture of the Union Jack, wondering how it can be turned upside down. This is a little like putting me in a round room and telling me to stand in a corner.
    Imaginative and quirky…if not a little frightening. A little like falling through a computer and finding yourself in a world where dogs rule. 😉
    You left me wanting to know more.

    Shalom,

    Rochelle

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. Dear Rochelle
      I’m guessing that you’ll know more in two years’ time, after my green and pleasant land has officially left the EU!
      Yes, it is a bit of a mind-bender the upside down Union Jack. Apparently lots of Brits, if presented with their flag, don’t know which way up it goes.
      Perhaps Canis sapiens would do a better job of negotiations, just as long as Percival Poodle isn’t involved 😉
      All best wishes,
      Sarah

      Liked by 4 people

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  5. Ooooh! My kind of story! Let the fun begin for sure. Aliens? What else could it be, right? And we’ll never know???? Terribly cruel of you, Sarah. I didn’t know you had a cruel streak in you. 🙂

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  7. Here I was hoping the ending would be completely different. I read it again to see if they went poof after the second reading. But no. The second reading completely killed the dream that said I was going to wake up in 2019 to discover the US was free of its own dangerous, orange infection. Just like the EU woke up from its nightmare of a scary overnight split. *sigh*

    Um… maybe there is a second part? A nightmare withing a nightmare? I really enjoy layers! No? Are you sure? Oh, okay. *runs away screaming*

    Liked by 2 people

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    2. The best way to counteract chaos is through creativity, so unless we tumble into an equivalent dystopian future as envisioned in Ray Bradbury’s Fahreinheit 451, but with the worldwide net blocked as well, we’ll keep writing and writing and writing, with no time for left for screaming
      … Um, that final statement was an exercise in bravado D:

      Liked by 1 person

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    1. Hee-hee, that’s interesting, Sylvia. When I went to bed last night I was called Sarah, but I seem to have woken up in a new body today and become Jill 😉
      As for the “fun part”, I’m into wry humour, although in this story it might be construed as extreme but justified sarcasm!

      Liked by 1 person

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  14. With all the delight we Americans are having with the new regime, er, administration, I forget that things are just as topsy turvey for our friends across the ocean.

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. As far as I can see, via news channels in the UK, your new administration hasn’t got far yet, as it has had one major thing after another blocked or thrown out! Maybe there are some smaller changes happening that are still galling to many of you Americans but not getting reported here. It is definitely a time of upheaval and uncertainty both sides of the Pond, which makes people feel very insecure. Nobody enjoys unknowns.

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    1. Oooo, I’d love to write a story for Doctor Who. And you’re right, I could just see the Tardis materialising behind one of those fences to investigate what’s going on. I so love the latest Doctor, but a new regeneration is due in the not too distant future (no apologies for the pun on words, here!).

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      1. Yeah, I have to say I’ve enjoyed Mr. Capaldi’s work a lot more than, say, Matt Smith’s. (Not to diss the youngster there.) I liked how he added the ‘rock-n-roll’ attitude/aspect to things with his guitar playing, sunglasses, etc., though I’ve not watched very many of his doctors as of yet. Wonder if they’ll ever choose a woman or person of color for a doctor (I wasn’t particularly fond of River Song, myself)? Aren’t we at the ‘last’ incarnation coming up? Yeah, DW I think would do fabulous new things with a woman doing the writing. 🙂 My opinion, FWIW!

        Liked by 1 person

      2. Yes, I agree about River Song. She’s really irritating. If left in charge of the Doctor’s next incarnation, I wouldn’t make him a woman and would suspect the political motives of the script writers who did. I’ve watched it from the first episode ever screened on telly, so turning him into a woman would cause such a schism in my head, that I would probably have to scrap watching the series. I don’t mind what colour his skin is, just as long as he stays a man! And yes, I would love to write some episodes 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

      3. I can understand that. It would be as if the Hulk or Wonder Woman or even Greatest American Hero (which ‘fantastical’ TV I grew up with) had suddenly changed sex. That would be disconcerting. Yeah, I also see how it could be a political motive rather than a character- or writing-based decision. I suspect they won’t choose a woman, though, nor would they select, for instance, an American for the role. It’s just too jarring for too many people methinks!

        Liked by 1 person

  17. This is a very clever take on the coming of dystopia… it reminds me of Oak Ridge Tennessee where fences literally appeared overnight for the Manhattan project… I spent a few months there once, and a story like this seem plausible in time of war.

    Liked by 1 person

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    1. Creepy D: I hope they’re not building anything as lethal behind those fences in my story, as they were in the Manhattan project, but I wouldn’t put anything past them! I should think it felt really weird being in Oak Ridge, knowing what once went on there.

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      1. It was… I worked behind some of the remaining fences in the research laboratory… and I stayed in what once was a foreman’s dorm.. of course all the vast fencing was gone, but there were areas I that were still purely for defense personal…

        Liked by 1 person

    1. Thank you, Michael. That word “quirky” has been applied to my writing so much that it has become my trademark. It’s no wonder that when I did a personality test, I discovered that I was of the same personality type as Franz Kafka and Neil Gaiman!

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  20. What a wonderful flash fiction…but I do hope you aren’t making a prediction for our future dearest Sarah…or perhaps, do you think this has anything to do with the recent UFO sightings in Somerset? After all, there’s a lot of farm land around here… 😮

    Liked by 1 person

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