NPR All Things Considered Flash Fiction Contest
TELL ME
This time the rules are simple: 600 words or less and it has to be about an American President, real or imagined. The judge of this round is author, Brad Meltzer.
“Tell me.”
“Sir, we can wait…”
“No. Now.”
“Yes, Sir. There have been three more explosions reported since…
well… Paris.”
“Good God.” He sighed heavily.
“Details are spotty, as yet, but it appears there was one at
a train station in Barcelona, another at an apartment block in Riga and a third
in Venice. Combined with the hotel in Paris and Trafalgar Square, that’s five
separate explosions. In each case an international political figure or diplomat
appears to have been the target.“
“Where is the Secretary of Defense?”
“In the air over the Atlantic. He will land in less than an
hour.”
“Call the Cabinet together. We’ll meet in one hour.”
“Sir, under the circumstances...”
“Call the Cabinet. And we will not talk about Alice except
as a casualty.”
“Yes, Sir.”
Benjamin Daniels turned and walked slowly, purposefully,
toward the bedroom he had shared for three years with his wife, Alice.
