PHOTO PROMPT © Mr. Binks
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“You’re going to love this. Uncle Chun serves the best chicken with oyster sauce.” Mike and his wife had retired and left San Francisco years ago. Now he was helping his daughter Liz move into the City.
“Mikey.” The older man felt a hand on his shoulder and Chun’s voice sounded all too worried. “You and Liz come with me to the back. Hurry, please.”
The two men had known each other for a long time and Mike took Liz’s hand to follow him.
“Daddy, what…?”
They barely made it into the kitchen when the two rival gangs started shooting.
It’s Wednesday and time once again to participate in Rochelle Wisoff-Fields’ 16 August 2024 edition of Friday Fictioneers. The idea is to use the image above as a prompt for crafting a poem or short story no more than 100 words long. My word count is exactly 100.
The first thing I thought of when I saw the photo was Chinese rotisserie chicken. That led my imagination back to Chinatown in San Francisco. I really did live in and around the City in the late 1970s and early ’80s.
I was a resident and still remember the Golden Dragon massacre of September 4, 1977 when two rival gangs, the Joe Boys and Wah Ching “had it out” killing five people and wounding eleven.
My daughter did move back to California as a young adult and while she doesn’t live in San Francisco, she’s close enough to visit on the weekends.
To the best of my memory, I never ate at the Golden Dragon and my use of the proprietor “Uncle Chun” is purely fictional.
To read other stories based on the prompt, go to inlinkz.
My 16-part science fiction serial Our Legacy, The Stars: A Tom Corbett Adventure is now completely published. You can read the entire saga chapter by chapter, just like how the old pulp novels first appeared serialized in magazines. Now that the full story is available, readers (hint, hint) can leave a review as well.
My pulp fiction, steampunk, pirates-in-space short story The Last Oasis of Mars: From the Tales of the Razzle Dazzle has been getting a lot of praise lately, mainly on Facebook. If you like a good old fashion adventure, give the link a click and read it for FREE!
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James, I really like how you pulled this together from bits and pieces of your life. Thank goodness Uncle Chun was friends with Mikey and managed to get him and Mikey’s daughter out of harm’s way.
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Indeed. In real life, the hoods entering the restaurant fired at the ceiling causing everyone to duck for cover. Then they decided who they were going to shoot. Being in the kitchen and getting out the back would have been an excellent alternative.
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thanks to uncle chun, they survived to tell the story.
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Indeed. Thanks.
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Dear James,
A grizly bit of history. Well told.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Thanks, Rochelle.
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Thank goodness Uncle Chun knew what was coming and they were spared. Nicely done, James.
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Thanks, Dale.
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Fascinating history behind your story. What a dreadful thing. I like that you rescued the key characters in your version.
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Thanks, Margaret.
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That turned dark really fast. I liked that you included the backstory because it put everything in perspective. I’ve always wanted to visit SF and I think it’s purely because of 60’s nostalgia.
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I have a lot of 1970s and 80s nostalgia because that’s when I lived there. Thanks.
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Historical fiction at its finest. Thanks for the notes.
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Wow. A harrowing experience and narrow escape!
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It was indeed, Angela. Thanks.
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My first thing that came to my mind when I read your story, James, was the scene in the Godfather where Michael shoots McCluskey and Sollozzo in Louie’s restaurant.
Terrific story, James, and being compared to the Godfather isn’t too shabby. Nicely done!
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I’m honored. Thank you.
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It is fascinating how our memory unravels and takes us back to some long-forgotten past incident. I read up from the link about the actual incident. Great read.
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Thank you, Meha.
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