A drabble is a very short story of exactly 100 words. Feel free to join in and write your own drabbles on Fridays and tag them with “friday drabble” and on Twitter with the hashtag #fridaydrabble.
11:49 p.m.
He stopped pacing and looked out the window over the broad lawn towards the fence. To the left, he could see dozens of candle flames, floating like embers in the dark. On the right, a group marched, holding signs amid jaundiced floods. Between them, state troopers milled. He was sure there was shouting and chanting and maybe even singing, but he couldn’t hear it.
Events rolled through his memory. The bomb. The bus. The dead. The trial. The appeal.
The governor looked to the sky for answers, but saw only his reflection.
The warden awaited his call.
If he called.
Stevil 
Wow. I am at a loss for words. Powerful. One of your best.
Thanks LD, I liked the “moment” feel of it.
Woot.
:)
This one makes my brain go off on all kinds of tangents. What did he do? Why did he do it? Lots of wandering thoughts…
I tried to see if I could leave this one with a lot of “fill in the blanks” for the reader, but still make it coherent.
This gave me chills! Awesome. So when are you going to expand to 400 pages. You know you want to.
Thanks Bec! Maybe when I become independently wealthy enough to retire! :)
No midnight call. No reprieve. The marchers moved into a morass of solidarity. Amid bullets and gas, they fell as one. Inside a family, friends and lawyers waited for the curtain to rise. Not even the storm which raged outside could have kept them from this performance. Was it justice or revenge?
What’s Chief Brody doing there!??!
That’s Hollywood for ya.
You’re really talented with these, Steve. This one could easily be modern times but the first single sentence brought my mind to the ’70s.
By the way I had to take about ten minutes to focus on this story because of the title. That song’s gonna be in my head now all night. Thank ‘salot. ;)
There’s a song with that title?? See how out of touch I am!
I think I’m probably the one out of date. Change the :49 to :59 and you’ll see what I mean. Unless you aren’t a Blondie fan. ;)
Ahhhh — now I get it! We’re big Blondie fans at The Aerie… :)
You are putting me to shame. It’s been (fill in the blank) weeks since my last drabble.
The one got me and maybe it will help get my butt in gear for this Friday. Maybe. Maybe I should make you a promise and then I’ll feel like I HAVE to do a Friday Drabble. But you’re not the kind of guy to hold me to a promise. :-) Right?
Leave this confessional and write three snarky haikus.
I wouldn’t hold you to a promise, unless it included buying me a drink.
This was awesome! You are so good at this…of course, when I got to the end and had the “aha!” moment, I went back and read it several more times. Just 100 words…you’d think I’d be able to get it the first time! Keep up the good work!
It took me twice to fully grasp the situation. I don’t want to ever be in that governor’s situation (although life has already thrown me into similar ones where everything rests on my decisions). After making a personal connection with this drabble, I’m tense, too. Great job!
Gracias — it wasn’t quite what I was shooting for when I started, but I ended up liking this one.
De nada!
It looks like this is a case of starting a story that took on a life of its own. Doesn’t take anything away from your brilliance. :D