A bit of drabble following a busy holiday weekend here in the United States. We keep making mistakes, but as a species, are we too young to die? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Happy Sunday!

Too Young to Die

“Lined up like ants.” Mordis says, watching a slow-moving procession of specimens surrender their luggage and one-by-one enter the biometrics scanner.

“Such a peculiar species,” Donitra says. “Their planet nosedives, yet they continue burning fossil fuels.” A healthy-looking subject sheds its watch, laptop, and mobile receiver. 

“We can end this, you know.” Mordis’ tone is serious. In the front of the line, one to young to die suckles its thumb. “Gas and goodnight. They won’t feel a thing.”

“Wait! A benign one!” Donitra logs the rarity. At this rate, they might make the quota to keep testing through the holiday weekend.

©2023 | K.F. Hartless


4 responses to “Too Young to Die”

  1. Tom Avatar

    Very poignant commentary – having the characters as separate onlookers works really well 🙂

    Liked by 2 people

    1. Thank you, Tom. 100 words is a tough master. A bit of travel fun as I mused over what those scanners could possibly be collecting on each of us. Cheers.

      Liked by 1 person

  2. the image reminds me of border control in LA asking me 20 years ago ‘why do you come to the US”? (it was her tone that stayed with me; and it was for a conference before you ask)

    Liked by 1 person

    1. Yes, the airport is intense. The scans, the questions. It’s not hard to imagine what it might all look like in the future or what all that data could be used for even now. Thanks for reading this holiday weekend Drabble, Barbara. I appreciate it.

      Liked by 1 person

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