Priorities – Friday Fictioneers

This work of fiction, inspired by actual events, is my submission for Friday Fictioneers that is ably hosted by Rochelle Wisoff-Fields.

You can read about Friday Fictioneers at the end of this post.

Join us.

Below is the picture prompt for this week and below that is my story.

Picture copyright Janet Webb

Priorities

Peter and his daughter Janice queued patiently at the supermarket till, finally buying the toy that Janice had long agitated for.

“Daddy,” Janice said “I want to go for the cooking event upstairs.”

“I’m sorry, not today. We’re going visiting. We’ll plan and go another day.”

Janice kept silent.

Just as they left the till, there were some loud sounds. It seemed everyone froze, then realisation hit.

Gunshots.

Reactions were varied but all dramatic. Some people screamed, some dropped to the floor.

More gunshots.

Peter grabbed Janice and made a crouching run for the exit.

Their purchase no longer mattered.

—-

100 words

You can read pieces by other participants here:

I read all your comments and I appreciate them, even if I take long to respond and even if I do not respond to each comment individually.

Comments

This story is inspired by actual events here in Nairobi. I am yet to write a longer blog post about that, but for now, here are a few links.

(If I don’t get lazy, I may write a longer fictional piece on that terrorist attack).

http://www.theguardian.com/world/interactive/2013/oct/04/westgate-mall-attacks-kenya-terror

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Westgate_shopping_mall_attack

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/kenya/10337908/Revealed-American-family-rescued-by-hero-of-attack-on-Nairobis-Westgate-mall.html

Photo credit: Goran Tomasevic/Reuters

About Friday Fictioneers

Friday Fictioneers is a group that works as follows:

Every week you get a picture.

Prompted by that picture, you write a piece of fiction that is 100 words long (or as close as you can get).

You add a link to your story on the Fictioneers page, and read the (awesome) stories by the other Friday Fictioneers.

Feel free to join us! Everyone is welcome.

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028 – Various

Last week, a friend invited us to her birthday celebration at the (Golden?) Spur Steak Restaurant at the Holiday Inn, Nairobi. On Thursdays, they have all-you-can-eat pork ribs for KShs 1,500/= (about US$18) per person. For those not familiar with Nairobi food prices, that would be the price of maybe 30 wholemeal loaves of bread. Or you could buy five meals at regular eating places. All the same, all-you-can-eat still sounded good.

So we went, ordered and the meat came. It comes with fries or potatoes or something else that I can’t remember, and salad. The meat was del.i.c.i.o.u.s! It was tender, tasty and peeled of the bone with ease. I think it was well worth the money. Now I hope to try out other places offering similar deals.

This was several servings after arrival

In other news, a follow-up to this story, I went again to Nakumatt Westgate to look for a scissor jack for the car. no luck. I walked over to Nakumatt Ukay and behold! They had scissor car jacks! I think out car weighs about a ton, and the jack for a ton costs slightly less (KShs. 1,295/=) than the one for 1.5 tons (1,595/=). I decided to play it safe and bought the bigger(?) one. I also bought a fire extinguisher and First Aid kit to have in the car as required by law. (Yes, my salary had come in 🙂 ).

Now I need not fear a puncture. Speaking of punctures and related, my dad taught me how to change a car tyre when I was quite young. Maybe 8 or 10 or so, I really can’t remember. I intend to pass that on when the time is right.

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