© A Mixed Bag 2013
Marco felt creepy whenever he made a delivery to the resort in the Sierra Nevada’s. Scenery changed from alpines and mountains to high desert and a salty lake.
He got a bonus for doing the run every month. He never knew what he was hauling. Once he arrived, he was paid to get drunk and play with barmaids. Next morning he drove his empty rig back to L.A.
The resort and wasn’t on any map. Whenever he got close to the place, his GPS went nuts.
One night after making a delivery, he tried talking to the local girl he’d had sex with.
“Say girl, what goes on here?”
“We’re just visitors, refugees starting a new life.”
“You look more Swedish than Syrian. Who you kidding?”
“Just go to sleep and don’t worry, boyfriend.”
When she was sleeping, Marco got up and looked out toward the lake. People swimming even at this hour in a glow under the water, but they weren’t exactly people. The light got brighter, then it broke the surface and sailed up into the heavens.
Marco muttered, “Refugees, but from up there.”
He turned around. Marion was standing behind him, nictitating membranes fluttering across ichthyic eyes.
I wrote this for the Sunday Photo Fiction Challenge for December 3rd 2017. The idea is to use the photo above as the inspiration for crafting a piece of flash fiction no more than 200 words long. My word count is 200.
The image reminded me of a high desert lake and Mono Lake, CA is about the strangest lake I’ve ever seen. This doesn’t look like Mono Lake, but I wondered if I could somehow make this place not as it appears.
I saw that the truck to the left hand side of the frame said “Thermo-Express,” and a quick Google search turned up a trucking company from Los Angeles by that name. I doubt it’s related to the truck in the photo but I decided to use it anyway.
A salty lake with no inlet or outlet, a place that should be in the Sierra Nevada Mountains but then the terrain abruptly changes. A resort not on any map and that doesn’t register on GPS.
If alien refugees needed a safe and isolated place to settle and make a life for themselves, maybe it would be like this. They’d still need supplies from outside though, but for the right price and certain other incentives, maybe a driver could be convinced not to pay too much attention to what he was delivering.
To read other stories based on the prompt, go to InLinkz.com.
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That is some twist on a refugee story!
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I don’t like to write stories about the “ordinary,” Steve. When I look at one of these photos, I ask myself what can be intriguing, bizarre, or macabre here? Thanks.
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Liked the bizarre inventiveness of your story, James.
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Thanks, Neel.
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Defintely a good twust on that. I like it James.
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Thank you. “Twust?” Just kidding. I know what you meant. 😉
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Oh dear. I didn’t check my spelling before sending it. Whoops.
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Refugees coming from every direction! I trust this is fiction, not prediction James!
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You never can tell, Keith. They might already be living among us.
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I will be more mindful now of the 18-wheelers trucking down I-40. No telling what they may be hauling. Good job!
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True. Who knows what the aliens need?
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This reminds me of the film cocoon – the water and alien connection anyway. There’s such a wonderful sense of possibility with this – a holiday resort for aliens 🙂 Nicely done!
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Hi Anna. I haven’t seen “Cocoon” since the 1980s. Just remember an aging Don Ameche break dancing. Thanks for the complement and the reminder.
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This is awesome James dont know how you come up with this super natural stuff
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Technically it’s science fiction since it’s about aliens. I guess too much “Twilight Zone” and “Outer Limits” when I was a kid. Thanks.
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Great take on the story.
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Thank you.
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A very creative story, James. You made the aliens seem right at home. Good writing. 🙂 — Suzanne
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Yep. That’s there new home or colony now, Suzanne. Wonder how Marco is going to take it all now that he knows?
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