Welcome to episode 46 of Flash Fiction Friday with AB Frank.
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The writing prompt for this week:
Object: Database
Action: Strike
Genre: Crime
Object Word Association: Information, knowledge, storage, data collection, analysis.
Action Word Association: Hit, fight, walk out of work to protest, punch, kick, impact.
Enjoy!
Strike Action
Heavy grey clouds bunched overhead. Rain poured into the city, unrelenting. But that didn’t stop thousands of men from lining the streets for the first day of strike action.
Their protests over pay drowned out the ongoing downpour. Caught in the thick of it was a mill owner who forced his chubby frame through the crowded thoroughfare.
A glass shattering startled him, followed by the tinkle as it showered onto the ground. It could have been a window, it could have been a bottle. The thought of a broken bottle as a makeshift weapon filled him with renewed eagerness to escape the confines of the protestors. He angled his hat to hide his face, he was underpaying these men after all. It felt like an age before he left the organised chaos behind.
His mill stood on the bank of the swelling river. He noticed the door was ajar. He entered the building, removed his overcoat and wiped the rain from his face. At the door to his office, he heard voices.
‘Surely not,’ he began. ‘Somebody’s actually turned in for their shift.’
Inside were two men rifling through drawers and papers.
‘This database has my personal information. My staff details.’
‘We know,’ replied a third man from behind him. ‘That’s why we’re here.’
‘It’s private!’
The third man pointed a revolver at waist height with nonchalance. ‘Nobody’s coming to stop us. They’re busy crying over wages.’
‘Got it, Boss,’ one of the men grinned brandishing a piece of paper.
‘Let’s go,’ said the man with the revolver. He turned to the mill owner, ‘Forget our faces.’ He winked and disappeared into the rainstorm.
THE END
Strike Action