RECCE - a story in less than 100 words

RECCE

Asbed scuttled up the shingle like a crab, terrified at the noise it made, and peeped between the seaweed covered beams of the breakwater.

After the filth and fear of the camp the peaceful town looked like paradise. He imagined clean beds, decent food, and freedom. If only...

From the dinghy Karim hissed, ‘Hurry up!’

Asbed sighed and took a photograph. They returned quickly to the yacht and sailed east again – just two men out on a fishing trip.

Back at the refugee camp Asbed’s photograph sold a hundred cross-Channel tickets.

*****

Sandra Crook's photograph could almost have been taken on my short break last week in Folkestone, where there is a vast shingle beach, empty on the cool and foggy morning of our walk, from which on a clear day you can see France.
That family visit, and the glorious weather over the Easter weekend, are my excuse for my absence from FF last week - I hope you missed me.

UNDER THE WIRE - Flash Fiction for Friday

UNDER THE WIRE

Thousands of souls wait behind the wire, their faces etched with the pain of homes abandoned, lives destroyed, families lost in the frantic flight from conflict.

 In the midst of chaos there is routine. Women turn tents and pallets into homes and gossip in laundry-sheds, men pace the paths watchfully, children make mud pies or chant lessons in small groups. 
A people in suspension.

 Hamet crouches by the wire, solitary and yearning, until the day he finds some pliers. 

Stealthily he snips and rolls under the wire - into the camp  to join the other muddy, anonymous children around the food tent.

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This week's photograph was taken by Madison Woods, and I suspect I will not be the only one of Friday Fictioneers to have thought of refugee camps. To read the others, go to https://rochellewisofffields.wordpress.com/ and follow the Blue Frog link.