FF – Crescent Moon
Here is my story for Friday Fictioneers, hosted by Rochelle. This week’s photo was contributed by Ted Strutz.
To read the other stories, click on the blue froggy.
Copyright Ted Strutz
The moon shone, a bright dot in the night sky. Faces upturned, the passengers oohed and aahed. Some took pictures. They’d never seen it so bright.
A small child, astronomy a favourite subject, insisted that the moon was in its crescent phase, but nobody listened. After all, there it was, a shining bright coin in the sky. No, now a shining bright plate. The passengers oohed and aahed.
As the moon grew from dot to coin to plate and more, the passengers grew scared. Some screamed. Some jumped overboard. It didn’t help. Nothing helped.
It wasn’t the moon.
The world burned.
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draliman on life 
Actually, the very first thought I had when I saw the prompt this morning was “That’s no moon,” from the original Star Wars film. However, I decided to take things in a different direction.
Decades ago, science fiction writer Larry Niven wrote a short story called “Inconstant Moon” that you might be interested in. It dealt with a very similar theme.
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Ah yes, their first site of the Death Star! I’ll check out that story, thanks.
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Very scary! Great story!
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Thanks, I’m glad you liked it!
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It’s just the Vogons making place for a galactic highway…
But the answer is 42 anyway
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Ha! As long as I don’t have to listen to any of their poetry, they can build wherever they like 🙂
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How about Paula Nancy Millstone Jennings then:
The dead swans lay in the stagnant pool.
They lay. They rotted. They turned
Around occasionally.
Bits of flesh dropped off them from
Time to time.
And sank into the pool’s mire.
They also smelt a great deal.
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Hey, that’s pretty good!
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Now I’m all wet from jumping in the water and those swans I landed on were gross!!
Great tale Ali.
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I expect the impending doom was a welcome relief from rotting swans. I’m glad you liked it!
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We’ll all go together, it’s probably what we collectively deserve.
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Sadly mostly true.
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Dear Ali,
Imaginative and frightening. You have a knack for going in different directions and this is why I look forward to your quirky stories every week.
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Dear Rochelle,
I’m glad you liked it! Thanks for your lovely comment 🙂
Ali
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I love the intelligent small child trying to tell everyone “It ain’t what you think.” Nicely done.
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No-one listens to the children. I’m glad you liked it!
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Oops. Small mistake, big implications.
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Yep. Isn’t that often then way?
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was it a gift from north korea? i wonder. .
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I nearly mentioned that country but decided to leave it a bit more open. May even be an asteroid collision 🙂
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Was there, appearing simultaneously with this bright light, the sound of a trumpet blast?
Well written, Ali. A nice touch for the full moon coming up tomorrow.
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There could have been… that’s another interpretation of what might be happening (I didn’t decide myself while writing).
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Nobody ever listens to kids when they should…
Great take!
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They don’t, not that it would have made much difference in this instance 😦
I’l glad you liked it!
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I did!
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Awesome.
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Thanks!
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Great build up to the final shocking end.
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Thanks, I took quite a while trying to build it up slowly 🙂
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Yikes! A big cosmic fireball the size of the sun is coming to destroy earth!!!!
I know! I’ll jump in the water! I won’t get burned that way!!!
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Yeah, that’ll do it… phew!
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It was nice to know you, bye bye!
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Toodle pip! (Bang)
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Good and scary tale there. The meteor disquised as the moon, or a piece of space debri…or some weapon yet unknown. Love the mystery. 🙂
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I don’t even know myself, thought I’d leave it entirely open. I’m glad you liked it!
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What a chilling twist at the end! Great story!
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Thanks! It did go downhill rather fast 🙂
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Now that’s scary, Ali. I’ll probably remember this every time I look at the moon now. Good writing. 🙂 — Suzanne
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Ooh noo! I hope I haven’t spoilt the beauty for you, keeping an eye on it to see if its getting bigger…
I’m glad you liked it!
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Not that listening to the child would have given them enough time to do something about it, but I’m still angry that they didn’t. Interesting take on the prompt – and I had the same “that’s no moon” reaction as James when reading it!
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Funnily enough, despite having watched Star Wars a hundred million times and my story featuring a moon which isn’t a moon, it never occurred to me 🙂
No-one ever listens to the children 😦
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Lucky that you have other Star Wars fans among your readers to point out your unconscious reference. 🙂
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Holey Cowkittiness, that was scary, Draliman…never expected anything like that! Pawkisses for a Happy firefree Weekend 🙂 ❤
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It was unexpectedly scary ending given my recent humour stories 🙂
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That was a scary ending, indeed.
Creative writing at its best! 🙂
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Thanks, I’m glad you liked it 🙂
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Ooops! It wasn’t a moon after all. Great story twist, Ali. 🙂
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Nope, impending doom instead. I’m glad you liked it!
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No one ever listens to children.
Great story, may be prophetic. It can happen exactly like you describe 😦
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They don’t. Let’s hope it’s not prophetic 😦
I’m glad you liked it!
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A horror moon. Good story, kept me waiting for more.
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Thanks, I’m glad you liked it!
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Yikes! That story sure did go there!
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Yep!Kaboom.
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That took me by surprise, as I surely thought it was the moon.
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It did look a lot like the moon, to be sure.
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Oh no. Aliens? An asteroid? Or something else. From now on, I’ll check my moon phase calendar!
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I don’t even know myself! Something fatal 😦
At least if you know it’s not the moon you’ll have a few seconds to get your affairs in order 🙂
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A bit like my story with a non-moon, so I can relate to it 🙂
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It is, I just read it 🙂 Both our stories could have been caused by aliens.
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Wow.Awesome read
Click Here to see what Mrs. Dash Says
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Thanks 🙂
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Always listen to the kiddiewinks. They know best when it comes to astronomy. I hope s/he got away safe.
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Sadly everyone on Earth died in a blazing inferno. But at least the kid saw it coming 🙂
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Oh no, that’s even worse, so see your fate. Surely it’s better just to be blasted to smithereens with no foreknowledge.
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I certainly don’t want to see it coming.
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Brilliant ending! (Couldn’t resist the pun. 😜) I can imagine us facing the end of the world and taking lots of pictures of the rapidly approaching asteroid/missile/whatever the heck it is with our smartphones. I mean, what else should we be doing as we await our demise?
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It would be a real shame if the world ended and we didn’t get to put it on Instagram 🙂
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For sure! 😁
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Love the visual imagery you manage to conjure up through your words 👏
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Thanks, I’m glad you liked it!
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