Once again, the lovely Mistress of Fiction, Rochelle, has orchestrated the launch of a photo prompt to inspire my story telling muse into a frenzy of guns and guitars, of love recalled, of romantic tension.
Click on the Bradly Harris photo to jet on over to Rochelle’s place for the big picture. My one-hundred-word micro-story, inspired by an old Abba song, follows.

Genre: Literary Fiction
Title: Better Worlds
Word Count: 100
Maria whispered, “Do you remember, Fernando, when we last stood here? That night, long ago; a night of guns and guitars, of dreams and distant drums, of freedom, love, and fear?”
“Oh, Maria. We were so young and full of life. Revolution held many promises for a better world. I deeply miss it all: the guns, cannons, and cries of our love for liberty; for our people. I miss us, then. I want to go back. To that night, to make those feelings forever.”
“No regrets, Fernando. Let’s return to that night.”
Holding hands, they took their final steps back.
Look both ways, back to that night.
Seek the love of hopeless romantics, the glamor of disco days,
and never let your memories die.
Mind the gaps while turning pages in the book of life.
***

***
Enjoy this rendition of ‘Fernando’ by Cher and Andy Garcia from the movie, Mama Mia.
I was intrigued by missing the cannon. I wanted to know more about that feeling
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I read a lot of wartime memoir (history and novels, also). As much as soldiers hate war, when they (we) get away from it, they often miss it. Humans? What can we do? 🙂
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Dear Bill,
I want to know where that one final step led. Quite the picture you paint. Well done and left me wanting to know more.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Hi Rochelle,
My vision of the prompt was that it was taken from the top or edge of a cliff. But, maybe they just spent the rest of their lives together. 🙂
Peace,
Bill
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Way to leave us hanging, Bill! Beautifully done. Turning the pages to the book of life, indeed.
And watching that clip reminded me I never got around to seeing Mama Mia 2…
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Oh, Mama Mia, Dale.
I confess to being a closet Abba (and disco) freak. 🙂 I envisioned the two lovers, reunited at the edge of a cliff. But maybe they just spend the rest of their lives together, eh? 🙂
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Mama Mia! Is there something wrong about being a fan? Nay, I say. Nay!
I also envisioned the two lovers, reunited at the edge of a cliff… and hopefully not jumping to their doom 😉
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Yes, Dale. It kind of leaves the drama of the end up to the reader.
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An excellent writer does that 🙂
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I know. I copied from one. 🙂
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Who’d ya copy from? LOL!
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I probably read it somewhere.
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No doubt. We pick stuff up from all sorts of sources.
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🙂
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You certainly orchestrated a cliff hanger there.
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Thanks for the complimentary pun, Sandra. 🙂
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That final step sounds ominous!
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I agree. Thanks, Liz. 🙂
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Revolution held many promises for a better world.–A cry in the dark through centuries.
You have captured the romantic sense of freedom fighters. Nicely done.
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Thank you, James.
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At least they took a step back from the edge not forward. An Intriguing tale indeed.
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Thank you, Keith.
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Nice one Bill, although I can get onboard with Che and a revolution, I’d struggle a bit if Abba was the soundtrack to it! 😉
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Thanks, Iain.
I agree Che would not buy into the glam band of the 70s or much of their music.
I never gave mixing the two any thought, until now. The antithetical juxtaposition of Abba and Che’s Marxism makes your point of a struggle pointed.
Now I am wondering about the movie. 🙂
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I like how you have taken the story of the song and turned it into your own. I hope your characters made the right decision at the end.
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I like that, “the right decision in the end.” Thanks. 🙂
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you just put flesh and blood to that familiar song. well done.
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Thanks. 🙂
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Now all I can see in my head is flares and body suits — “Mamma Mia”. Time for same disco music…
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🙂
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Very Abba. I love that song. Never saw Mamma Mia though!
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I wasn’t an Abba fan in my youth but they’ve grown on me. And I love the first movie.
You captured the spirit of the song so well. And over time we move from Che to Cher… Too bad that we can’t keep up the energy and passion of youth.
And if there is nothing there to replace it, the last step is… 😦
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🙂
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like going back to future
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I like that idea.
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Nicely done
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We all do that, look back and pine for days gone by. I doubt those final steps will take them there though.
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Why not? 🙂
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Fun rendition! I like what you did with this! 🙂
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Good. I’m chuffed you liked it, Na’ama.
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Lovely story, Bill. We need romantics with a sense of social justice to inspire the next generation to do better than we did (although I doubt that guns are the way to achieve it!) I think Maria and Fernando would perhaps have found it fitting to bow out of this world together in one final act of revolutionary defiance.
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I like how you saw this. Thanks, Penny.
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The way back. Lovely.
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🙂
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These two were never going to be happy and contented running a cliff-top meditation retreat! Two passionate lives and the state of our world conjured up in 100 words.
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I like your explanation. Thanks.
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Beautiful to find the happiness in such a tumultuous times. Sometimes that is when true love shows, when it survives life going on around it.
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🙂
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I love Maria and Fernando – two vivid characters!
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🙂
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Many hopeless romantics become hopeless cynics with age, but not these two!
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May I remain romantically hopeless.
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A lovely, nostalgic piece that captures the feel of a moment. I don’t need to know where exactly “there” is to be there. Well told.
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Thank you. I am chuffed that you liked it.
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