Plus Ça Change …
Flash Fiction (and musings on same)
It took three centuries after the third world war to reverse its effects, combined with those of the disastrous climate holocaust. Then after two more centuries of horse-trading and compromise_ or in one word, bickering _ peace and harmony finally prevailed on earth. HQ has now been at an all-time high for half a century. HQ is Happiness Quotient.
People have mourned the disappearance of erstwhile traditional forms of entertainment. Gone are theatres and football stadiums etc, but the GB have devised modern forms of entertainment. GB is governing body. With people only needing to work two hours a day, the remaining twenty-two hours had to be catered for. Which is how the HVO came about: Home Vision Offering. This is available in every home, and people can watch football games played by robots on their three-dimensional screen. Or films, including new ones made by new electronic forms of the once famous actors, like Cary Grant, Sharon Horgan or Steven Graham.
The Social Ministry wisely decided to keep open traditional schools to enable the children as well as parents (come to pick offspring) to socialise with each other. Many would come early so they can catch up with each other. Otherwise there was but little intercourse between adults. That was how Artemys and Creon met, and one day, on a whim the latter asked his new friend if he would like to come with Minerva to watch an old Kurosawa movie on an old-fashioned machine that he had salvaged. This proved a great success, and in a short time, other couples had joined them to watch more old classics. Someone suggested that they should contribute towards the cost of coffee, biscuits and electricity. Creon was pleased that he was actually making a few unis out of this scheme.
As viruses and diseases were mostly eliminated, chemical factories were becoming redundant, and when the film buff found a disused one, he asked the GB for permission to rent it, and started showing old films and hvo’s, charging a few unis. This venture was so successful that within a year he was planning to open new venues with bowling alleys, games room, bars …
The above was an exercise in writinf flash fiction. The reader might wish to check out my piece The Re-Invention of the Wheel on Medium for 14. May.2019, which is about three times longer to see for himself/ herself, to see how a long piece can be considerably shortened without losing the main thrust of the tale by eliminating embellishments, without leaving the writing dry and soulless.
