Greetings, 50-worders and readers. This is my entry to @jayna's #fiftywords challenge. This week’s prompt is “water.” You can see the details of the challenge here: https://steemit.com/challenge/@jayna/fifty-wordshortstorychallenge-storyround-upandnewprompt-prd2sbjrvl
Fast (a 5o-Word Story for @jayna)
I woke up late again. No bags on the table or kitchen. Maybe Dad was still in the market.
Tried to be fast. Brushed, swept, wiped.
Noticed the front door was still locked.
In his room Dad was staring at his laptop.
Anything for breakfast?
Water, he said, without turning.
I guess the story is self-explanatory. For some people around the world food is taken for granted. It is a given. It comes with being a citizen of a given country. Even though there is poverty even in the most prosperous countries, not having enough to eat tends to be the exception to the rule. For some countries, though, poverty became the rule. At least the parent in the story shows the kind of shame that comes with not being able to provide for those who depend on you. But when politicians look at you in the face through the TV screens and categorically affirm, on your behalf, that no help is needed, then we have the personification of shamelessness.
Ayuno
Me desperté tarde otra vez. Ninguna bolsa en la mesa o en la cocina. Quizás Papá todavía estaba en el Mercado.
Traté de ser rápida. Me cepillé, barrí, pasé un trapito.
Noté que la puerta de la calle todavía tenía seguro.
En su cuarto Papá contemplaba su laptop.
¿Algo de desayunar?
Agua, me respondió, sin voltear.
Thanks for your reading. Looking forward to your comments.
Nice work, @hlezama. It's heartbreaking in this world when there really is enough food to go around, but with war and famine and political unrest, the food does not get to everyone who needs it. I'm glad you provided the explanation, actually. I did not know why the father would suggest water for breakfast, until I read the backstory and realized it was because there was no food. So sad.
Thanks, @jayna. It is indeed. Conversations like that of the story are now ubiquitous among Venezuelans.
Heartbreaking situation . Too familiar. Too close.
Yep, it is. Thanks for stopping by.
I really liked your story @hlezama. At first I thought it was the aging process that caused him not to go to the market. But after reading the backstory, I understood the complexities that we all face at one time or another. Good job.
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Thanks, @pyemoney. I tried to keep it ambiguous enough. I think it is better when it is left to interpretations. New meanings emerge, some we did not even think about. Even though age was not directly involved, tireness (physical and mental exhaustion) played a role in this character's defeat.
I recently had a knee injury and my daughter came over to take care of me and I thought about all the times that I had taken care of her when she was younger. So that’s why I immediately thought about the aging process.
Reading this I thought of two scenarios before reading your after thoughts.. the first that sprung to mind was the plight of the gambling addict who has lost all his money without even leaving his house, doing the damage on his/her laptop.. it can be such a terrible vice. It's the equivalent of a alcoholic living in a brewery... this always online world is no friend of the gambling addict.
The other scenario us the sadness of someone who's bills etc have gotten on top of them for one reason or another. This is a plight for many people all around the world and for some the next step is homelessness. So sad..
Greetings, @ablaze. All scenarios fit into the ambiguous setup. I'm glad it allowed you to consider them. Homelessness and despair can be induced in so many ways; amid of it children pay.
Always sad to see when kids are affected by such things..
Great story, @hlezama. It is a shame that in this century some people have to struggle to survive. And this while others are wasting food. I'm always amazed to notice how much food restaurants are throwing away.
This is a shared guilt, both politicians and people are wrong. If we stop wasting resources and help those in need, world would be a better place. Politicians...what can I say? I suppose they exist as we needed someone to blame for our lack of action. Power is given and it surely can be taken away before is too late.
True.We (as a culture) used to throw food away; times of abundance can do that to people if their values are not where they should. But what we used to do was nothing compared to what I saw in the states while I was in grad school. It was as if they were incapable of calculating correctly the amount of food needed for x number of people. At parties and get-togethers/cookouts I was always shocked at the amount of food that ended up in the dumpsters. Not even the pets benefited form it (they had plenty of pets food already).
We, foreigners always carried entire trays of salads, chicken, etc. because Americans would not overheat; a food from the day before, which was touched by other people (not even by their bare hands, that's for sure) was not good for the next day. I think of them every time I find people eating from the trash, and we are talking nasty maggot infested trash, and I see this every single day now.
Ironically, they don’t seem to get sick. If i don't wash the vegetables well enough, with vinegar, I get E.coli.
I hope it's not TOO personal a story for you. i've been impoverished, but never on the level I hear out of Venezuela.
We're getting there, and I'm a college professor; you can imagine what life is like for most.