
PHOTO PROMPT © Dale Rogerson
Ours was an out of the way town. We never learned to “duck and cover” knowing nobody would be so silly as to bomb us.
You know what? they were right.
I remember the night when over 4,000 fireballs, each hotter than the sun, grew over most of the northern hemisphere’s cities and military instillation with an equivalent of over four billion tons of TNT.
But our town was spared. Not a kiloton exploded within 100 miles.
A few weeks of hiding in the cellar when the sky rained death, and everything looked fine.
Until the snow came in July.
***
Yes, a nice, happy little tale ;) I recently watched “The Day After” and “Threads”. I read an article that the danger of an accidental nuclear war is now higher than it has ever been, even during the cold war. When people talk nuclear weapons, they talk about the 60 kt bombs used in WWII, not the 1 or 2 mt thermonuclear devices that would hit our cities. Anyway, with that cheerful thought…
***
Word count = 100
Friday Fictioneers is hosted by Rochelle Wisoff-Fields. This week’s prompt is here and uses a photo © Dale Rogerson. Read more or join in by following the InLinkz “linky“.
Cheerful….
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Sometimes you have to look on the bleak side….
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The Day After! Now that’s an oldie… but very upsetting. I remember that we were all warned that it might in fact cause emotional breakdowns. Now, I imagine, it looks a bit dated… like your story, it’s a sobering reminder that the world is full of risks. World peace is something I dreamed of, only as a child. Nice job, Trent.
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Sorry, I somehow missed your comment from a month ago. In some ways The Day After was very dated. Besides the clothes and language, it had that odd late ’70s made for TV vibe to it. In ways it is still relevant – we decreased the numbers of weapons slightly, but there are still more than enough to destroy every city in the northern hemisphere.
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I remember when it came out in the 80s, and everyone said it would be so traumatic to view… it just didn’t live up to that, though it was relevant at the time.
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There were things that I caught as an adult that I missed as a kid which made it a little “scarier”. As far as the attack, although part of it was well done, in ways the British version, Threads, was “better” since it took place much closer to were the bombs actually struck. Of course, at the end of The Day After, they went to Kansas City and there was nothing – a metro area of over a million people gone, nothing, not a building, a few bare walls, no people. I missed that as a kid.
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Snow in July really does switch things up a bit! I didn’t realise accidental nuclear threats loomed over us. Thanks for giving me something to worry about in those moments just before I close my eyes at night and my brain offers up random paranoid scenarios ;)
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I mean, we don’t have enough to worry about in he modern world, do we? ;)
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A grim story. I like how you had the people believing that no-one would take any notice of their little town. Illustrates the point well – everyone would be involved in such a scenario.
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It is a no-win situation, I point I hope never has to be proved… Thanks.
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I remember seeing that movie the Day After in high school. And reading a lovely photo book with scenes from Hiroshima and Nagasaki years before that. Its weird that it took two world wars to come up with a weapon we dare not use. Most of us, anyway. Nice tale, maybe a bit too real.
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Thanks. I hope we dare not use it forever more…. Back in the day we stayed a little more on top of what these weapons could do while most people today have no idea. We don’t need to be paranoid like we were but a little knowledge is good.
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Lovely, happy little story you wrote there. :) And you’re absolutely right. ‘They’ tried to tell us that nuclear winter was an exaggerated threat but not so, it’ll be a lot worse than originally estimated, with the kinds of weapons that exist now. Not a great way to counteract global warming…
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Some FF stories can have a high body count, so I wanted to win that contest ;) Yeah, I think there are better ways to tackle global warming…
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Oh dear. There is a lesson here I think. If one cares to listen
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Yes, but I don’t think there are many listening…
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For snow in July, make your way west to Calgary…
That said, great take. No, they weren’t bombed but they sure felt the aftershocks!
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I love mountains, but I also love the end of winter ;) I don’t think there are too many winners in the game of nuclear war, even if your country is spared… Thanks.
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Nope. Not too many at all…
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Spared from direct attack, but not from indirect effect on climate one million tons of TNT brought about. We know but never learn.
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That is the problem with nuclear war, you can’t isolate it…. No, we never learn, but I hope it never happens
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Oddly, I had the same line of thought when I first saw this picture… but then, I’ve been watching Dr. Who for the first time…
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There is something about the photo that does look like nuclear winter… Just dropped by to see your Dr. Who reference.
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I just watched the episode with the stone angels… ohh, shivers.
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Truthfully I haven’t watched Dr. Who in many ages, but I do know that one. Don’t blink….
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Food for thought. I grew up during the Cold War in the US and I can remember feeling a very real fear of nuclear war.
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I grew up during the cold war as well and, yes, we all knew that it was possible. I don’t think we need to be as paranoid about it, but I think people should think about more than they do…
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As you mentioned, we did both go for a nuclear winter, and yours is darker than mine! Great piece.
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Yeah, a bit darker ;) It is funny that we both went nuclear winter. Thanks.
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Good story though very dark, Trent. I remember when they used to build bomb shelters. They didn’t tell us where we would escape the year of radiation afterward. Bomb shelters are for regular bombs, not the big ones. Good luck on surviving after a big one. :( — Suzanne
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I remember in my college days reading that the temperature in any bomb shelters in the city where I was living, Columbus, Ohio, would be above boiling if a 1 megaton bomb went off over center city. Nope, not for the big bombs…. Thanks.
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Good thing I read this right before bed. It’s going to sit there in my brain. Until the snows come.
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Yep, something for nice, pleasant dreams ;) Not that the stable genius in the White House would ever think of starting a nuclear war (OK, now you won’t sleep for a month….)
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Great post. Well written.
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Thanks. Letting my dark side out…
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There is no period in history in which war and/or the threat of war somewhere in the world does not exist. . I believe the only thing that keeps world leaders from unleashing the dreaded nuclear weapons is the fear of retaliation that could destroy
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Everything. Sorry :)
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Got it :)
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You are right that there are always wars and I agree about why they restrain from using nuclear weapons. The article I read went into great depth about why accidents are so likely today and it all made sense when I read it, but of course I forget now…
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Ha! Do I ever understand that :)
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lol. I never do well in arguments because I have to have the facts, but I read this article once, if I could only remember it ;) Oh well, part of the human condition…
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I knew something was coming. Great ending, yet horrific to think about. Well-written piece, Trent!
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Thanks. Yeah, watching those old cold war movies brings back times when we all knew the end could be any day….
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Great take and very scary in this day and age.
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Thanks. it is scary and something world leaders minimize, talking about breaking treaties to limit them instead of trying to create stronger ones…
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Like summer snow…
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I like summer and don’t want it to go away for a few years ;)
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Oooo that would be nice!
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But what quality of life if everything surrounding them had been bombed out? Excellent tale Trent.
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Yeah, I think I’d want to be at ground zero and just get it over with… thanks.
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If I survive the nuclear apocalypse, I will live with a bit of unseasonal snow. It won’t get any worse than that will it?!
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After a few years without a growing season things should start looking up! No more worries about single use plastics or anything else like that…Higher rates of cancer, infertility, etc., oh well, goes with the territory ;)
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It’s s scary world we live in Trent 💜
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It is a scary world. We’ve lived with a variation of this threat for so many decades that we rarely think about it any more.
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Yes sadly that is true 💜
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Actually, this made me laugh.
Lots of elements of black humour, it worked for me.
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lol – How I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb…. Yeah, nuclear war has spawned some of the darkest humor ever.
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There’s no escape
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Nope. Sometimes I thinking living at ground zero is the best approach to nuclear war – just get it over with up front.
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Something about a winter scene when winter has just retreated seems to put people in mind of war, death, murder, starvation, and homelessness. Go figure. Well done on the story, though. I’m going back to bed.
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I’m not sure why this photo seems to have brought up a lot of dark images. perhaps, as you said, we just left winter and now this… Yeah, I think going back to bed and pulling the covers over my head is called for…
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Dear Trent,
Cheerful little tale there. ;) Actually very well done. That nuclear threat still looms over us, doesn’t it?
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Yeah, a nice, happy theme ;) It does still loom over us, and some of the world’s leaders seem almost eager to use them these days.
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