This week Pegman takes us to the Amazon…not Amazon.com…but the original one in Brazil.
To enjoy stories inspired by the What Pegman Saw prompt or to submit your own 150-word story, visit the inLinkz button:
For guidelines and rules for the What Pegman Saw weekly writing prompt, visit the home page.
Here’s the photo I chose from the Google Buffet.
Thanks to K Rawson for hosting this challenge!
Ah the joy of 50 extra words! I’ve taken one of my older Friday Fictioneers pieces and given it a make-over.
Genre: Fiction
Word Count: 150
THE MEASURE OF CIVILIZATION
Half naked Himba people in Nambia, a sweaty camera crew and millions of TV viewers witnessed our marriage vows.
I followed Trevor up the Himalayas and drank sun-scorched canteen water instead of Cabernet.
In Nepal he slipped on animal feces and narrowly escaped being trampled by a choleric elephant.
After Trevor’s ankle mended, his next assignment was the Amazon. There we lived in a grass hut. Mosquitos and humidity made it impossible to sleep.
Trevor kissed my eight-month belly. “You should go home.”
“You are my home.”
Before the words left my mouth, my water broke.
Twelve hours of spine-crunching labor later, a Waurá midwife helped deliver our daughter. We named her Kauné in her honor.
_______
Back in the states, safe from cheetah attacks and hippo stampedes, Trevor’s mangled body lies on a cold steel table. The driver, texting on her cell phone, never saw him cross the street.
*
*
*
In many ways the advance of technology does place our lives in irresponsible hands.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear James,
My point exactly. As the death toll rises from irresponsible cell phone users I have to ask which ones are the savages? Thank you for reading and commenting.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLiked by 2 people
Dear Rochelle,
You have very clearly brought forth the perils of modern day technology with this heart wrenching story.
I remain an everlasting fan of your storytelling skills.
Neel
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Neel,
People who text and drive irritate me to no end. What makes them think they can do both at the same time???
Thank you for your sweet comments.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLiked by 1 person
I was about to write what a lovely life tale, and then I caught the last lines… A tragic end. Some are not made to adapt to the modern technology of the world and are best left in the habitat that they thrive in, just like the indigenous tribes in the rainforests themselves. Wonderful writing.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Iain,
Progress is sometimes regress I think. Thank you for your kind words.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLiked by 1 person
I should know better by now, but you caught me by surprise with this twist. Didn’t see that coming. Great story of the perils of modern culture that should not happen.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Jan,
How many times do we see this…someone texting with one hand on the wheel and no eyes on the road? Glad you have caught you off guard.
Love,
Rochelle
LikeLike
May we be saved from idiots. It’s been said if sense was common we’d all have some. Good writing as always, Rochelle. —- Suzanne
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Suzanne,
That’s one of my favorite sayings. I used to have it posted on my sign shop at work. Sadly it’s true. Thank you for a lovely comment. Glad to see you here and hope you’re doing well.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLike
Oh man. The irony. I hear of things like this. A guy survives combat and dies in a freak accident. Death by Skype.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear J Hardy,
That’s what he got for Skype Diving. Yeah, that was terrible. But those freak accidents do happen. My husband’s cousin survived Viet Nam and died in a car accident a week after he got home.
Thank you for reading and commenting.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Rochelle,
I often see people using mobile phones in their cars in the UK, despite the recently doubled fine for getting caught. It makes my blood boil every time I spot one of those idiots (and I don’t care if that word “idiot” is politically correct or not!).
Your story said it all. What is civilised? Certainly not extinguishing someone’s life for the sake of a conversation which doubtless can wait.
For some reason, your story brought to mind T.E. Lawrence (best known as Lawrence of Arabia), who, after surviving many heroic and amazing adventures abroad, returned home and died in a motorcycle accident.
An excellent piece of writing. I sense your anger behind those last two sentences D:
All best wishes,
Sarah
LikeLike
Dear Sarah,
You sense my anger correctly. I’ll admit to having phone conversations in the car, I only do it with bluetooth…hands free. I know there’s some controversy over that. But texting and driving??? Give me a break. Idiot is the proper term. The same people probably can’t walk and chew bubble gum at the same time.
At any rate, I’m glad you liked my story and took the time to say so.
Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLiked by 1 person
The jarring contrast really makes your message a powerful one. Great story as always. I missed the 100-word version of this one, but I think the extra 50 serve it well.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Karen,
Honestly, I didn’t change a lot of the original…merely added a short portion. I think it does add to the impact and it was fun to revisit. The ending stayed exactly the same and so does my outrage at drivers who text.
Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLiked by 1 person
I share your outrage!
LikeLiked by 1 person
An absolutely delightful story. And a great find of the photo that really added to the story. Thanks for sharing it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Dave,
Thank you for such a lovely comment.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLike
Well, ouch! In a very good way, my dear. I find driving on the freeway terrifying anymore because I don’t know what other’s are doing besides driving. You caught that beautifully.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Lish,
No text is so important it can’t wait until the driver has come to a complete stop. Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLiked by 1 person
You’ve got that right!
LikeLike
Dear Rochelle,
People behind the wheel of their mobile phone are a great menace. I see it all the time and have written many rants about the murderous SUVs qualifing for NASCAR on Texas highways. Even the Prius driver so concerned about his carbon footprint has not a care in the world about the carnage he leaves in his wake because he cannot maintain control in a single lane of traffic. Your story is yet another shout in the concrete jungle.
Definitely a good driver,
Stephanie
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Stephanie,
A wonderfully affirming comment for my story. The outrage continues. Whenever I see a driver holding a phone to their ear or, worse, holding the phone out to read a text…one hand on the wheel, the other on the phone and no eyes on the road, I want to bash into them myself. (counterproductive, but…just sayin’)
Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLiked by 1 person
Apart from the awful moral of the story and resulting kick in the guts, I loved all your aboriginal tribal witnesses and the midwife… the world is a fascinating place away from traffic, knuckleheads, petrol fumes and the concrete jungle !
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Valerie,
We do pride ourselves on being civilized in the concrete jungle, don’t we? All the modern conveniences for which some pay too high a price. Yet the aboriginal tribes seem quite content with their simple lives. Hmmm…makes a person wonder.
Thank you for reading and taking the time to leave a comment. I love it when you come by for a visit. Cheers to you and yours. ❤
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLike
I love the way you juxtaposed the dangers of “civilization” with the civilization of “savages.” Great story!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Debra,
One has to wonder who the true savages are. Thank you for your kind words.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLike
Beautifully written, as always. Message oh so clear. You so often hear of people surviving extreme conditions, dangerous territory, only to be killed in a totally avoidable way. Outrage is not a strong enough word.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Dale,
I went to Thesaurus.com. Alas, the synonyms for outrage weren’t much stronger…resentment, anger, choler, acrimony, infuriation were a few. Nothing to joke about. It happens too often and not just teenagers. Not too long ago there was a tragic school bus accident…the driver was texting. Lives lost out of stupidity. Perhaps people should have to have background checks to own a cell phone. Okay…rant over.
Thank you, as always, for reading and commenting. It means a lot.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLiked by 1 person
Rant read and agreed with!
LikeLike
Hi Rochelle! What a tragic end. I always watch with disgust the drivers either phoning or texting, they kill or get killed but no one takes a lesson from that. You write so beautifully dear. Message loud and clear.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Indira,
So true…it seems where there are cars, cell phones and so-called civilization, there are these senseless tragedies. We see the news stories and think we’re skilled enough to be above that. Sad. Thank you for such a lovely comment.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLiked by 1 person
The tragic irony of it – surviving all of that and being killed in such a mundane way. Wonderfully written, but a terribly sad tale. Great story, Rochelle 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Lynn,
There are so may similar stories of such irony. Thank you for your generous comments.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLiked by 1 person
My pleasure always, Rochelle
LikeLike
So sad. I wish that all types of vehicles had a black box that recorded phone use. Followed up by any accident when the driver is on the phone, resulting in them being banned from driving for life.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Michael,
I agree. I’ll bet if cars did come equipped with a black box we’d learn just how inane was the conversation that someone killed him or herself over. Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLiked by 1 person
And then you killed him. Oy.
By the way, beautiful photo at the end of your tale. History?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear James,
Some stories are like that. As for the photo, I just found it on Google. I thought it would be nice to have an example of the indigenous. A bit of research for this one, but not history.
Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLike
What a tragic story. It’s scary and infuriating that so many drivers don’t pay attention to the road when they’re behind the wheel!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Margarisa,
We see it every day. How did we ever drive before cell phones? Thank you for reading and commenting.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLiked by 1 person
You’re welcome, Rochelle.
Shalom shalom,
Magarisa
LikeLike
Loved the story and then the twist was something else. Hard hitting and bang on – I see it so often and wonder. A tragedy waiting to happen.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Dahlia,
It appears that this is a problem everywhere. Did we all just take stupid pills? Thank you for your kind words.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLiked by 1 person
What a seriously tragic tale there, Rochelle. Saying I enjoyed the read seems just so wrong, but I did.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Dear Jelli,
It’s okay to enjoy the writing but own the sadness at the same time. Both are compliments that say I delivered the desired message. Thank you.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLiked by 1 person