‘This is it?’ Hank spat. ‘What the hell is this?’
‘Ain’t no pot of gold, that’s for sure.’ Kurt answered.
‘A goddamn shack in the middle of a goddamn wilderness. I done told you chasing rainbows was an idiot idea.’
‘You’re right, Hank. I should’ve listened.’
They stood kicking loose dirt. The rain stopped, the rainbow faded.
‘Let’s get goin’.’ Hank got back into the truck.
Kurt gave a mournful look across the flat plain, nothing in sight apart from the mountains in the distance.
Hank hit the horn.
‘I’m coming,’ Kurt shouted. ‘Goddamn rainbow.’
Hank spun the wheels as they u-turned on the dirt track and careened back onto the highway.
The dust settled and silence returned.
A low rumble started under the ground. The loose stones began to jump. Bits of the shack fell off as it’s foundations shook. The tremors reached a crescendo.
The shack blew apart as gallons of black liquid erupted from the ground, a dark geyser pouring the most valuable commodity in the world into the clear skies.

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.
Ha, this is great. Also new look for the site Iain? I like it.
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Thanks Chad – yes, spruced it up for the new year 🙂
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Hank and Kurt have a lot to learn. Rainbows are magical.
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They certainly are. Thanks Michael.
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Wonder who has the mineral rights? 😀
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Safe to say not Kurt or Hank.
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Ah yes. Too bad they didn’t look in the rearview mirror.
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Would they even know the value of what they saw? Thanks Janet.
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Then Jed Clampett shows up but he’s not shooting at some food… Nice angle on the Texas country side
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Didn’t realise it was Texas until I read your post – fits in nicely with my tale. Thanks 🙂
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Unless you are born in West Texas, you would never know where the picture was taken.
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Wonderful. Finally there was a pot of gold.
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And in today’s world oil is more valuable. Thank you.
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Neat story, but I have a question. If it had been raining, how was there loose dirt to kick at and dust to settle?
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Thanks Barb. I think even with a little rain there would still be loose dirt and stones to kick and a pickup truck skidding about would still kick up a fair amount of dirt and dust even on wet ground.
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Not a country boy, are ya? 😀 Enough rain to bring a rainbow won’t leave anything but nud.
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We’ll agree to disagree on this one.
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Yep.
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A pot of gold! Great, then who gets the mining rights. Good story, Kelly.
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Thanks Neel – you know it’s not going to be Hank and Kurt.
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Hank and Kurt completely missed the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow! LOL! Great story, as always, Iain!
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Thank you so much PJ
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Oh man, there was gold alright: Black Gold. Too bad they didn’t chase the rainbow hard enough. Great story!
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Yep, if they’d just brought a shovel with them and dug for that pot of gold!
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Great voices. Will they look in the rear view mirror and know what they’ve stumbled on?
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Might be better if they never find out 🙂
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A very enjoyable read Iain. As long as they never found out what they’d missed, they’d get over their apparently wasted trip. If they did find out, it would be many times worse than the experience of abandoning a fruit machine only to hear someone else hit the jackpot a minute later.
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Ha, yep, a large scale fruit machine 🙂
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OIL! Wow, they really found gold. Loved their conversation.
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Thank you 🙂
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Never doubt the magic of a rainbow. They did, and lost out on a fortune.
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Keep believing 🙂
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Wow indeed a fortune alas they dint get to enjoy it
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I remember when I was little and wanted to chase rainbows, great story 😊
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Thank you Kate 🙂
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This is brilliant. Wallie laughed so hard the little fellow was sick! I really love your comic tone–again, brilliant. I have to admit, I was very surprised by the story itself but it’s hilarious!
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Thank you so much Wallie, glad it amused you!
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This has an easy realistic/comical flow.
🙂 During his 20’s, my dad chased the Texas oil dream.
Ellespeth
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Thank you. Did he have any success?
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Now that’s a jackpot. I hope they got into excavating oil 🙂
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Thank you – I fear they are not that lucky!
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