The crane landed easily in the shallow water. He watched the bird strut along, after every few steps it bobbed it’s head in the water, plucking an unsuspecting fish into it’s mouth.

Lying on the deck of his yacht, Scott breathed in the warm air. A breeze coming across the bay gave a pleasant counterbalance to the heat of the morning sun.

Around him the detritus of the previous night lay: empty glasses, half-eaten plates of food, unfinished champagne bottles. Given how much he had consumed to welcome in the New Year, he felt surprisingly buoyant this morning.

Below deck he pictured her tanned legs lying above the covers, her mussed up hair and sleeping eyes. Life had turned out pretty good.

Could he get away with it for another year? How long before the authorities, or worse one of his clients, looked too closely at the numbers?

The crane made a stab under the water and came up empty-beaked. In the clear water the reprieved fish dart away.

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Copyright JS Brand

Written as part of Flash Fiction for Aspiring Writers. The challenge is to write a flash fiction story in around 150 – 175 words, based on the weekly photo prompt. Thanks as always to the challenge host Priceless Joy. For more information visit HERE.

To read other stories based on this week’s prompt, visit HERE.

31 thoughts on “CIRCUMVENTING”

  11. Good story as always Iain. Although Scott was probably like the fish that got away, I wondered whether the bird was an omen that his luck was running out and if he took another dip he’d come up empty-handed. I like to be left wondering.

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  12. Well done. Beautiful rhythm to the words and images. I stumbled a bit over the first two lines. Switching from the crane to ‘he’ threw me until I got through the rest of the second sentence and realized the ‘he’ was the person watching the crane. I love the correlation of his future to the fish swimming away.

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  13. Well done metaphor/symbolism here. It seems for awhile Scott will Escape the authoriteries like the little fish eluded the bird, but for how long. Perhaps he needs to come up with an escape plan?

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