PHOTO PROMPT © Rochelle Wisoff-Fields
Two seal pups were enjoying basking in the sun. They swapped idle chatter; sometimes so idle sentences trailed off mid-meaning and they dozed. Gorged on their mothers’ milk they dreamed their bodies were expanding visibly; film of their growth speeded up by a benevolent projectionist.
Over the horizon came the advance of Civilization again!
Slipping and sliding in a frantic fracas of flippers, desperate for the sanctuary of the sea, they lumbered towards the water’s edge.
Seals are not quick over land. 18lbs wielded and swung by 230lbs smashed their heads; their lives froze in bloody trickles on the ice.
Written for Friday Fictioneers – a 100 words story based on a photo prompt. Hosted by Rochelle. Read the other entries here.
Michael Wynn 
This was making me feel all warm until civilisation came on the scene! Humans can be so cruel and usually greed is the motive.
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Thanks Clare
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The nasty Civilization! Lol, neat take on the prompt 🙂
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Thanks
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Thank you for reading and liking it
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You destroyed the picture Mike.
Awesome take!
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Thank you
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I just knew when I read the first line how you were going to end it and I wanted to stop reading but I love the way you write and I couldn’t! I am pushing the like button with reluctance. Very well done with the emotion you will evoke with this story.
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Thanks Louise, but it’s such a barbaric thing to do it needs writing like this to expose it. Glad you sort of liked it.
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Very grim – I guessed what was going to happen from your title so at least it didn’t come as too much of a shock! I liked the way you “humanised” the seals in your first paragraph.
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I humamised them to try to emphasise the horrific nature of clubbing seals, and pups at that. Thanks for commenting.
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i liked the way you visualised the pups view of life, then sadly evil arrived on the scene. Well penned.
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Thank you. I think showing they have a life too highlights the disgusting brutality and arrogance of taking it from them when so young especially.
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Hard to believe what we can do in the name of intelligent (so-called) life.
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It is indeed. The great match of civilisation.
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Oh, that ending made me shudder. I HATE that people smash seal pups on the head and kill them. It makes me want to vomit.
Moving story, Michael – your piece had a sense of serenity, and it made me identify with the seals in the first half – and then you made the human move in for the kill.
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Thanks glad the contrast was vivid enough to do the job
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You’re welcome, and it did!
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Dear Michael,
Such a horrid ending. Well done.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Thanks Rochelle. It had to be horrible.
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I expected that end already from the title… We have really become civilized in the worst of ways.
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Exactly. Presumably they were part of a great technological advance
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Such a peaceful scene until civilization came along. That always seems to ruin things. Nice piece.
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Thank-you. Civilisation is not always as civilised as we like to think we are.
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