Copyright Rich Voza
Back home in the UK now, and still haven’t got over the luxury of wall-to-wall broadband. Sometimes I wonder what I used to do without it.
My offering for this week’s Friday Fictioneers can perhaps be described as a cautionary tale, therefore.
Thanks once again to Rochelle for hosting this weekly get-together.
Flight from Wonder
“What are they?”
“Just doors in a field.”
“How’d they get there?”
“Photo-shop probably.”
“Are we supposed to go through them?”
“Dunno. Do you want to?”
“Nah.”
“What you got there?”
“My new iphone.”
“Can I have a go?”
“Careful! I queued three days to get my hands on this bad boy.”
“Hey cool man!”
They wander off, heads together, punching at the keys.
A voice whispers behind the red door. “Have they gone?”
The white door shifts slightly.
“Yes.”
A silver spiral shimmers through the blue door.
“What are they?”
The first voice sighs.
“The future, I guess.”
castelsarrasin 
Dear Sandra,
This one kind of snuck up on me through the back door. Quite a statement that we are more intent on our devices than our loved ones. Even my two-year-old granddaughter has her own iPad and when we’ve gone out to eat with the kids, she’s pacified with Mommy’s phone.
Evocative story.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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sounds like my house too Rochelle. My girls received their first iPad when they were 3 and 5. Now each girl has her own (ages 5 and 7) and previously to this they played with my iPod! Times are so different
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Thanks Rochelle. I worry that our kids are defined by their technology. 😦
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Dear Sandra,
They are singularly unaware, is what they are. Three killer apps standing there in the field and they walk by engrossed in an iPhone. A warning to me to remember to keep my eyes open, up and on the real world.
Aloha,
Doug
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Technology – both a bane and a blessing. Like much in life… 😉 Thanks for dropping by Doug.
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This one is brilliant
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Thanks Nightlake. 🙂
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I pity today’s generation…
Pity myself…
Life was much better without such making-your-life-easy gadgets!
Loved this!
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The key is moderation. I sometimes wonder if, with all the access we have to Google the facts, are we really that much wiser? Thanks for dropping by.
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To bake a wisdom cake we need more ingredients than facts.
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Its crazy that people are still queing up for the iphone
glad you are home safe
Delightful tale I enjoyed life from the doors’ vantage point
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It’s hard to think of anything I’d queue more than 15 minutes for.
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Loved your post! Nice to be back home I guess!
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Thank you! I’m always glad to leave, always glad to return. Can’t ask for more than that. 🙂
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I agree!
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Oh that was great, well done 🙂
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Thanks Helen!
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It seems that there are so many layers in this story, if I keep rereading it, I’ll find new depths. 🙂 Great job.
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Thanks David. This prompt offered a myriad of opportunities for story-telling.
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Good giggle, thanks Sandra.
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Thanks Dawn!
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We bemoan the phone and its soul sucking clone, the tablet. Funny how we crave analog dialogue in this digital existence. The future is here, isn’t it? From phone book to face book!
Nicely done, Sandra.
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A very profound observation Honie! 🙂 Thanks for reading.
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I really like that the doors are both considered to be photoshopped as well as also actual doors that could be walked through.
Imaginative work.
Thanks for sharing.
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I’m not sure the ‘ability to distinguish between image and reality’ is alive and well JK. 😦
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But… but… if I don’t have my phone on me all the time, I can pretend I’m sending very important messages, and someone might try to TALK to me…
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Absolutely! the new security blanket… Thanks for dropping by.
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A great story, with an instant message!
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Thanks Steve! Hope you enjoyed your first foray with FF.
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Ha that was a great story…
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Thanks Bjorn!
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Great story Sandra. So many possible ways to take it, interpretations you could make 🙂
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Thanks Carrie!
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Oh how I do love this! 😀
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Thanks Lynda!
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Wonderful dialogue! The final twist was very unexpected, and fun. Nice!
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Thank you. 🙂
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Just goes to show that technology is turning us into zombies. The zombie apocalypse has already begun and most people don’t even realize it.
Sidenote: not sure about the UK, but in the states Photoshop is one word, no hyphen.
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You’re probably right Adam! On both counts. 🙂
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Cool story. Us older generation ‘techies’ can learn a lot from the younger techie nerds in the younger generation, and our grandchildren. Oh, what awaits us in the future. 🙂
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Thanks for reading Joyce. 🙂
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I love the switch around with people on the other side looking through instead of on this side, and also the assumption that everything weird these days must be photoshopped, even when seen in a field!
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It’s getting to be a conditioned response, I think. Thanks for dropping by.
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Flight from wonder indeed… amazing that they said the doors in a field were Photoshopped when the doors weren’t on a screen! Ugh, the chains we have to our devices.
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I suppose it’s only a small step to suspend one’s logical rationalising facilities. 🙂
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It’s so cool to hear the perspective of the doors. That’s definitely original. And it seems our future is easily distracted. I hope we can do better than that.
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I hope we don’t ever lose the ability to stop, look and wonder. Thanks for dropping by.
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Intriguing tale. Bet those doors are about to materialize in another dimension next to see if things are better. Very creative use of the prompt, Sandra!
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Thanks Perry!
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I printed a poster for my wall yesterday that reads, “Sure, I’d love to come over and hang out with you while you talk and text with other people on your phone the entire time.” I swear, some people worship their hand-held technology like it’s a god.
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I’m amazed how many people, even of my own age, constantly break off personal communication to consult/communicate via their hand-helds. Perhaps I’m just not a multi-tasker. 😉
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What we think of as “the future” will soon be the past.– good write, Sandra.
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Thanks vb!
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This makes me feel sad. It’s a little depressing how times are changing. My 9-year old son has withdrawal when he can’t use his iPhone. I’m keeping my daughter (3-years old) away as long as I possibly can. But even I love my iPhone. Maybe they used to feel this way about television and it’s not all that bad. I’m an optimist 🙂
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When I look at some of the ‘reality’ shows festering away on our TV screens, I might beg to differ on that point Janine. 🙂 Thanks for dropping by and commenting, hope you’re enjoying the FF experience.
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Oh this was good. It makes me think that our technology distracts us so utterly we don’t even have time to be curious. Who cares? What’s next? –seems to be the underlying mantra.
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I think you’re right Linda. Sadly. 😦 Thanks for dropping by.
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As always, a good one to read.
Scott
Mine: http://kindredspirit23.wordpress.com/2013/09/25/friday-fictioneers-door-number-two-horror-pg13-92713/
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Thanks for reading Scott.
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I love this story. precise and impactful. Left a lot of questions in mind though.
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Thank you Charles!
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Wonderful, Sandra 🙂 Love the shimmering silver spiral – that could have been in my field! 😀
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Thanks for commenting Joanna. 🙂
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great story, it’s very true. and family meals are no longer what they used to be. among the first words that my cousin spoke was “iPhone”
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That’s sad, kz! Thanks for commenting.
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I passed by an Apple store yesterday. There was a queue outside and I’ve no idea why. It hadn’t moved when I came back past, 40 minutes later. I like the reminder conveyed here, and your title in particular!
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When I read about the queues forming for the latest release I started to think about what I would be willing to stand in line for, over three days as some of them did. I’m still thinking… 🙂 Thanks for commenting Jen.
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Welcome back to the wonderful world of technology, Sandra. I’m more of a Luddite myself, spending time on a canal boat with no broadband sounds idyllic to me. Nice piece.
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I had to read this a good few times before I got it. Still not quite sure I got it all. But I think it’s because you’ve done a good job at describing what the future of ‘reality’ is going to be and that I’m dragging behind in the definition. Ann
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I think I was just trying to point out that nobody stops to wonder or explore any more, so tied up in the latest ‘fad’ as they are. Thanks for reading Ann.
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Yep!
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Such a true story I’m afraid. I mean that, I am afraid. For the future. Sometimes I wish I could come back in 100 years and see what happened. Then I figure, nah, why make myself sad. I love technology, to a point. I love imagination more.
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I’m like a bear with a sore head when my internet access is limited, but I’m not sure, when I’ve got it, that I use it wisely or in moderation. Thanks for reading and commenting Jackie.
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That was a beautiful story. Just beautiful to me. Of course, I read it two ways. One in which the doors were the sentient beings and surprised by the foolish humans in the field, the other was the reasoning consciousness behind the doors dismayed at what the future holds. But lovely just the same.
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That is SO cool, Sandra. Works great with the photo. Very realistically done (if there can be such a thing … and there IS!). I LIKE this.
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Great story, and judging by all your comments, you are certainly not talking to yourself! Thanks for dropping by my blog.. 🙂
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Sandra, this is wonderful. I really enjoyed reading it. Actually it could have been much much longer too! 🙂
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We are spoiled with our wall-to-wall broadband, arent’ we? Enjoyed your take on the story. I’m not one to wait in line for days, either.
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