George Washington stood at the bow of the liner as the port came into view.
He was aware of the cameras and people around him, the helicopters above, the military ships alongside.
He thought about his parents. This was their homeland. They had left before he was born, as part of the evacuation. They had named their son after the 1st President. If only they had lived long enough to return.
Now, by virtue of his name, he was to be the first person to set foot back on that land. The radiation had dispersed. The climate was deemed habitable.
Americans sheltered around the world could finally return home.

Written as part of the Friday Fictioneers challenge hosted by Rochelle Wisoff-Fields (more details HERE). The idea is to write a short story of 100 words based on the photo prompt (above).
To read more stories based on this week’s prompt, visit HERE.
I hope that’s not a prescient story
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Hey … thanks Neil for the new word of the day.😎
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Dear Iain,
That sent shivers through me.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Thanks Rochelle, I’m glad it had an impact.
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Good story, Iain, but I felt the last line was unnecessary, you had already said it all.
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Thanks. I had in mind to hammer home, in the current climate, that it was Americans who were refugees and relied on others to take them in.
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Your story, your rules!
I thought you had already made the point concisely and expertly, that’s all.
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Appropriate that it was him to set foot on the land again.
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Thanks Al.
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🙂
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By the waters of Babylon! Nice.
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Ha, many thanks 🙂
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Dear Iain,
That homecoming was a long time coming. Good story and nice use of GW’s name and the returning of Americans to America. We have not had to weather a storm like that. I wonder how we’d fare should that time come?
Yours,
Doug
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Would certainly be an interesting time. Thanks Doug.
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I also hope your story isn’t prophetic!
As far as the last line is concerned, in someways it is redundant but I’m Australian. So, for me the story is about America having problems but other parts of the world being okay. Don’t know whether that was your intention.
Great story though.
xx Rowena
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Partly about that, also about how America and the rest of the world would react if it was Americans who suddenly became refugees, and how attitudes might change in that case. Thanks Rowena 🙂
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In response to the above comment I thought about how our President-elect expressed a flippant attitude towards nukes. I hope he doesn’t start WWIII!
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“Americans sheltered around the world could finally return home.”
This presupposes the U.S. (current) unfriendliness towards refugees reverses itself. Cuz why would the world shelter the U.S. given current history in the making. I’d laugh, but it’s kinda sad…
Another stellar write, Ian.
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Thanks Liz, that was the intention of that last line. If positions were reversed I’m sure American (politicians) would think again about their treatment of refugees – and other Western countries too. Many thanks.
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Yep. Thanks for that gentle reminder!
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Interesting comment: among Fundamentalist Christians there’s a prophecy that people in the West will be refugees, and will get treated the same way they treated refugees. (The very people who played the prophecy were praising God that many state governors said, “Refugees not welcome!” — shortly after playing the prophecy!)
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Well done for cramming so much of a post apocalyptic world into so few words! just the right amount of info to let us know what’s happened without it feeling forced. Great stuff Iain
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Thanks Lynn, much appreciated.
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My pleasure 🙂
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You are a twister, Sir. Love it. What a great take on this weeks prompt. May it be fiction forever.
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I hope so too. Thanks, much appreciated.
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A great telling story. One could change Americans for several other nations.
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Thanks Mike
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And yet…. history has a way of repeating itself. Perhaps the new world will be different.
Tracey
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Maybe we’ll do it better this time 🙂
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Oh my gosh love this! I loved the story you packed in there, how you left most of it untold but showed us a completely different world regardless. I agree with a previous comment that the very last line is superfluous. You packed enough of a punch up until then 🙂
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At first glance, the name George Washington took me back to the “good old days” then – what? cameras and helicopters? So, I began again and read the piece beginning to end. The name worked perfectly in this scary little scenario.
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Thanks Alicia, sounds like it had the desired effect.
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“Good old days”: Make America Great Again!?
THAT makes it chilling!
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There is a destiny in a name… great thought…
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Thanks, I do think a memorable or meaningful name can help a person shape their life.
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Nice take Iain. It’s a scenario you’re tempted to say will never happen but worry that perhaps it actually will.
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Thanks Michael. Hopefully not but you never know…
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So much story in so few words, well done. As the others said, I hope it’s not prescient, and I appreciate the turn-around-is-fair-play nature of the situation. I find it totally believable that someone in charge would choose the person who happened to have that historic name to be the first one to return; but what an odd coincidence, to be that person, in that horrible time.
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Thanks for your comments Joy. I agree, I don’t think I would want to be that person thrust into that position.
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I’ve nothing to add that hasn’t already been said except, great take on the prompt… goes to show that a name is not just a name…
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Thanks Dale, appreciate your comment.
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You saw the disastrous in the photo, too. Good play on the climate here towards refuge and refugees. Would others be so good as to take all of us in — great response, great name choice.
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Many thanks, glad you saw the point I was making.
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it was quite a departure from your usual. very creative and nice.
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Thanks, nice to mix it up now and then, glad you liked it.
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Ooh, really interesting take on the picture. There’s a whole novel in this one.
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Thanks Claire, it certainly does have potential for a much longer story.
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Chilling stuff. At least by implication some of the rest of the world survived nuke-free…
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Great job; like I said in other comments, quite chilling!
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Many thanks. I’m not religious myself but agree that treating others how you would wished to be treated is a good guiding principle too often ignored.
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Brilliant with a capital B, Iain. Put that in as one of your best.
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Thanks very much, I’m certainly happy with it, glad you are too!
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I have goosebumps!
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In a good way I hope 🙂 many thanks
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Yes!
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A bit of a warning here, but I like the happiness of this moment too.
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Thanks Laurie. I do think we will always manage to survive somehow, no matter how wrong we get it sometimes.
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A very moving story. In spite of everything going on around him there is a terrible sense of isolation and the paragraph about his parents is particularly poignant. The last sentence made me go cold. To me, it describes a momentous occasion but with nothing to celebrate. Great writing, Iain.
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Thanks Edith, much appreciated and happy it made an impression on you.
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All you have to do is to change the word America to Russia or Japan to be current.
Or even to the word Palestine!
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True for many groups of people.
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Oh my … let’s hope this stays in the world of fiction. So many nuclear talks and threats lately. This is a timely write. Well done, Iain.
Have a good weekend.
Isadora
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Very creative. I saw some hope in the last line.
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Thanks, always good to leave some hope.
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‘The degree of civilization in a society can be judged by entering its prisons,’ is claimed by Dostoyevsky (and others). Perhaps in this day and age we should add how we treat refugees to our measure of civilization.
Clever moving story.
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I agree with that statement. Many thanks.
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Scary and sad. It would be a miracle to restrict such a disaster to the US only, what about Canada, Mexico…? Let’s hope it doesn’t happen. Great and powerful writing.
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That’s true, although perhaps they were evacuated also, or worse, didn’t get away in time… Many thanks.
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That was clever, as I thought you were writing a historical cameo of the real man, then suddenly “bam”, we’re in the future. As others have commented, I hope your story isn’t prophetic, considering these rather strange and unpredictable times we live in D:
Well written.
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Thanks Sally, glad you liked it, much appreciated.
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A thought provoking story.
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Thanks Dawn
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Nice job, Lain. No doubt if Americans had to finally be the refugees, we’d see things a lot clearer. Nicely pointed out!
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Thanks Dawn, if only it was that simple to point this out to everyone round the world!
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Nice work Iain. I wonder how the refugees were treated when they arrived Elsewhere? And how they will fare on their return. Also I am wondering if any couldn’t get away and what happened to them?
So many questions raised by just 100 words, well done
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Thanks. Indeed, such a situation would open up a lot of questions and I’m not sure what some of the answers would be.
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Really lovely. Full of hope and a joy to read in these dark days.
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Thanks Patrick
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There’s great hope in your story, Iain. I hope what causes the evacuation in the first place isn’t prophetic. Good writing. 🙂 — Suzanne
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Thanks Suzanne 🙂
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there’s hope, always
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Many thanks, I agree, there is always hope, even if only a little to cling onto!
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What a dramatic, brilliantly written tale! You’ve expressed so much in few words.
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Thank you!
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You’re welcome.
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