© A Mixed Bag 2013
There are always a few cars left overnight in any parking garage. Some had battery trouble and couldn’t be towed before the end of business while others belonged to people who’d have one too many at a local pub. It was a Sunday morning and the gates were shut and locked so no entry and no exit.
Smith (not her real name) let herself out of the boot of a gray Audi and took the service stairs up to street level. Her victim Medina came into his shop Sunday mornings ostensibly to catch up on paperwork, but in reality he was her competition. There was only room for one assassin in southern England.
Smith looked at her antique analog watch. He should be in the back of his shop by now getting ready for his next assignment. Wait. The shop is dark. He locks the front door but keeps the light on. What the devil?
She hears the silenced shot the same instant the impact strikes her lower spine and she collapses onto the floor. A shoe slips under and rolls her over. Smith looks up at Medina. “Stupid. Did you forget about Daylight Savings Time? You’re early.”
I wrote this for the Sunday Photo Fiction Challenge of March 11th 2018. The idea is to use the image above as the inspiration for crafting a piece of flash fiction no more than 200 words long. My word count is 198.
I hate Daylight Savings Time, especially in the Spring when I lose an hour’s worth of sleep. It was made worse today because last night I stayed up late and this morning, I had to be at the gym by eight so I could claim the one and only squat rack they have. It sucked.
I decided to vent my ire by writing this tale. Poor Smith’s analog watch didn’t automatically update as so many digital watches do these days. Oh, before someone mentions it, I know the time change doesn’t occur in the UK until March 25th.
To read other stories based on the prompt, go to InLinkz.com.
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Haha. An irate DST tale? First time am reading one. 🙂 nicely done
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Thanks, Lavanya.
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Ah yes. Timing is everything, isn’t it?
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Sure is although in real life, I doubt a professional assassin would make such a rookie mistake.
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What an inconvenient detail to get wrong. Nice piece of dark humour James.
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Thanks, Iain.
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What a mistake to make! Thanks for reminding me when I have to change all my clocks – I have been known to miss it!
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Sunday’s I absolutely have to be at the gym when it opens at eight to make sure I grab the squat rack before anyone else gets to it, otherwise, I’d have curled up in bed and caught a few more winks.
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That was funny…think I will repost.
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Thanks for that and the reblog.
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You are welcome
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Reblogged this on Kindredspirit23's Blog and commented:
I thought this was a wonderful refreshing breath.
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Ha ha ha, we suffered a panic attack last year in Spain because our analog watches told us one time while the mobiles another, and we had a plane to catch, and had lost one hour as per our watches. Wrote a little tale of my own inspired by that incident: https://jagahdilmein.wordpress.com/2017/10/31/the-punctual-pilot/
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Thanks. I’ll have a look.
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Two states don’t change… I lived in one, had relatives live in another. I think other states are trying to get rid of it too.
Spring ahead Fall behind… looks like your gal literally fell behind.
Thanks for stopping my my mash up. I have fun doing that, especially when I think I’m pressed for time. I put all the prompts I want to use on a page and print it out. Then I wait for the light bulb to go off and let the imagination flow.
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