Micro story challenge from Lyra Viola:
Theme: Time travel
Mandatory words: pig abandoned ability, monocle
Limit: minimum of 50 words, maximum 100
Alternate challenge version for long winded people like me: maximum of 5000 words, ad the words Sunday and swap.
Bucky's visit to 2045
Bucky Pig adjusted his monocle as he checked the gauges in front of him. Once
he had determined he had transported himself twenty five years into the future,
he reached up and pulled the lever to shut the time machine down.
He opened the hatch and saw he was surrounded by white buildings. Every building was the same rectangle shape, about three stories tall, with no windows. They went on for as far as his eyes could see.
He got out and began to walk through the narrow roads
between the buildings. He then saw that every building had a small recessed entry
way with four black doors.
He was beginning to think the place had been abandoned. It was as quiet as a Sunday Morning. As he walked past one entry way, a
buzzing sound broke the silence. A small drone dropped from the sky and
delivered a package to one of the doors. As soon as it flew away a black man
opened the door, bent down and picked up the package. When he stood back up his
eyes landed on Bucky. And stared at him like he had seen a yellow two headed Zebra.
Bucky waved and said “Hi”
The man raised his hand automatically to return the gesture,
but seemed to lose his ability to move as he stopped
midway and said “You’re not from around here, are you? You should be in Pig
Town”
“Pig Town?” Bucky asked.
“Yeah, I think it is in Wisconsin. This is black town.”
Bucky admitted he was not from around here by explaining the
time machine.
“Oh well,” the black man said. “Let me bring you up to date.
Then you need to get moving.”
“After the Covid 19 pandemic hit in 2020, everyone had too much
time on their hands and started getting offended by, well, everything. At first
it was statues, then flags. Soon
advertising signs were banned and then TV shows and movies. The list went on
and on and by 2025 the Butthurt revolution hit in full force.
Soon everything that offended anyone was destroyed, even the
police force. There was a lot of violence for the first year, then the federal
forces were formed. They eliminated any threat to the powers in force. The government took over everything.
All housing was to be exactly the same. Everything was to be
painted neutral white with no windows so nobody could complain about having a
better view than anyone else. Every city was segregated by race so no one would
be offended by their neighbors’ skin color.
Even cars were eliminated because no one could agree on a style that
would not offend someone”
“But how to you get around?” Bucky asked.
“There is no reason to get around. After everything closed
for the pandemic, people got used to being at home. What didn’t go out of
business got closed because it offended someone. Churches, Museums and every
kind of attraction imaginable got destroyed during the Butthurt revolution.
There is no where to go or see anymore. Everything we need is delivered by
drones, and even that has to be approved by the government to make sure that
what we order doesn’t offend us.”
The man looked up and down the narrow, empty street. “We don’t
even have news anymore, but I know you need to get to your people.”
Bucky Pig agreed and headed back to the time machine, trying to remember a time he could go back to where things weren’t so crazy. He couldn’t believe that America would agree to swap out their individuality for this reality.
