This is my 100th Friday Fictioneers story, which means that I’ve written 10,000 words since I’ve started the Friday Fictioneers. Here’s to 10,000 more. Also, those of you who got here through the Friday Fictioneers portal saw that I have a new icon, different from my normal Delta Sigma one. This signals new things to come. More details to come later.
copyright Melanie Greenwood
Courage at the End
The couple sat with the vaccine lying between them.
“You take it,” the woman said.
“Then you and the baby will die. Let the baby have it.”
“But if we die, who will care for him?”
“We have to do something soon.”
They sat there silently, as time slipped away.
* * *
“That’s it?” the professor asked.
“It’s up to the reader how it ends,” the student said.
“Are you kidding me? You can’t be timid as a writer! Choose an ending and stand behind it.”
“Fine, they give it to the baby.”
“The baby? That was the stupidest choice! You fail.”
The Green-Walled Tower 
October 29th, 2014 at 3:15 pm
That ending is the scariest thing I’ve read all day!
Good work, David. This is a plot I would never have considered taking on in so few words, but you make it work.
Congratulations on your 100th response to FF prompts! And on the new logo too (I like it).
All my best,
Marie Gail
October 29th, 2014 at 9:52 pm
Thanks, MG! It took a bit of manipulation to fit it all into 100 words but I squeezed it in. 🙂
October 29th, 2014 at 3:53 pm
Congrats on your 100th FF! Wow, that’s great. I wonder how many I have now. I love the new logo. That ending to your story would definitely be the hardest choice. How could you not give it the baby? Then again, giving it to the baby isn’t any easier? Well done.
October 29th, 2014 at 9:51 pm
Thanks, Amy. I guess I cheated on the ending as well by framing with another story. 🙂 I like those type of dilemma story but it is always hard to end them in a satisfying way.
October 29th, 2014 at 4:50 pm
Geez, poor student can’t win!
October 29th, 2014 at 9:50 pm
Yep, that’s kind of the point. You can’t please everyone. 🙂
October 29th, 2014 at 9:50 pm
I think the baby was the best possible choice because children are the future and the teacher is nuts! How dare she take on someone who’s written 100 friday fictioneers stories? And congratulations, David!
October 29th, 2014 at 9:57 pm
I guess there can be several morals to this story, one being don’t always listen to everything that writing professors tell you. 🙂
October 30th, 2014 at 3:04 am
That sounds like most writing tutors I’ve met. 🙂 A simple story but it actually left me rationalising the decision for a few minutes. 🙂 Well done.
October 30th, 2014 at 8:25 pm
As a writing teacher myself, I think they are good for mechanics and avoiding bad writing, but writing, especially fiction is an art form and I don’t think that good, effective writing is something you can really teach.
October 31st, 2014 at 2:06 am
Ooops! 😦 Actually, it’s the tendency to the blanket application of ‘rules’ that irritates me, particularly when they can, on occasions, be quite effectively broken. Which I think is what you’re saying here. Stops digging…
October 31st, 2014 at 11:21 pm
Yeah, I think that’s what I was saying. It’s what I believe anyway. 🙂
October 30th, 2014 at 3:43 am
I don’t agree with the tutor – there’s nothing timid about his ending. Let the reader decide! Nice story, that got us all thinking.
Claire
October 30th, 2014 at 8:21 pm
I’m happy you said that since a lot of my stories have endings like that. 🙂 Writing teachers are great to a point, but at some point, the writer knows best.
October 30th, 2014 at 4:00 am
Thank God that it was a story only 🙂
October 30th, 2014 at 8:17 pm
Yeah, really. I like thinking of intractable dilemmas, but I wouldn’t want to be in one in real life. That’s the good thing about fiction, it’s just that.
October 30th, 2014 at 5:49 am
David, Congratulations on your 100th FF story! I think your new icon looks great. I also think the professor was just plain wrong. They could have found someone suitable to look after the baby. 🙂 — Susan
October 30th, 2014 at 8:17 pm
The professors hypocrisy about taking a stand (as long as it’s the right one) was one of the points of it, so I’m not surprised you disagree. Thanks for the comment.
October 30th, 2014 at 1:42 pm
Congratulations on your centenary FF. Clever one too.
October 30th, 2014 at 8:14 pm
Thanks. 🙂
October 30th, 2014 at 3:43 pm
I totally love the professors question, “That’s it?” I laughed. Good story about tough decisions.
October 30th, 2014 at 8:04 pm
Thanks. I didn’t know how to end it either. 🙂
October 30th, 2014 at 9:05 pm
I had a couple English teachers like that. Never satisfied. Congrats on your 100th FF post!
November 1st, 2014 at 3:33 pm
Dear David,
A lot has been said about the English teacher so I’ll just leave him out of it. I love the way you managed to tell a story within a story. A little like holding a mirror up to a mirror. Nicely done…as always.
Three chairs on writing 10,000 words. And I can’t tell you how pleased I am that you wrote them for Friday Fictioneers.
L’chaim and shalom,
Rochelle
PS Yeah, I’m capitalizing on Doug’s three chairs. 😉
November 1st, 2014 at 10:33 pm
Thanks, Rochelle. Glad to be here. Three chairs indeed. 🙂
November 1st, 2014 at 6:44 pm
What a challenge: Writers can’t be timid. Your characters have a moral dilemma – the terrible dilemma of the writer is whether to take a story in one direction or some other; whether to end it here, or here, or further on. It’s almost as bad as what to do with the last available vaccine. Loved this.
November 1st, 2014 at 10:34 pm
Thanks, Margaret. I find myself drawn to dilemmas in stories, maybe because they don’t have any easy answers. I’m the type, like the student here, to leave the question open, because I think the question is more interesting than the answer. Not everyone feels that way, of course. 🙂
November 2nd, 2014 at 3:08 am
Congratulations on being Freshly Pressed! And on the 10,000 words too! 🙂
November 2nd, 2014 at 9:40 pm
Thanks! The Freshly Pressed post was a while ago, but yes, it was cool. 🙂
November 11th, 2014 at 5:07 am
Oh! I missed the action by a few days. Still, that’s awesome! 🙂
November 3rd, 2014 at 1:56 pm
Stupid professor. Surely there are more than just the parents and baby left – someone will take care of the baby. Letting the reader decide gives them so much to think about and prolongs the life of the story – it isn’t one you’ll forget in a hurry.
November 4th, 2014 at 4:33 pm
That was tightly focused, and beautifully told. Love the story within a story idea. Great dilemma!
November 5th, 2014 at 4:53 am
That’s a hard one! I would have failed too 🙂 Great job David. Congratulations on the 10000 word milestone!