#101 fiction (101 words exactly)

Outside the peaceful village, the progressive creep of a barbed wire fence and smart signage announcing chic bungalows had apparently gone unnoticed!

The old shepherd had noticed, however! He saw what was happening: a slow takeover of the area by slick city builders. To his wife, in private, he predicted that land costs would soar, that families would be torn apart when sons fought over inheritances!

She smiled slowly, then showed him a sheaf of title deeds to 25 acres of land along the road she had bought quietly over years, telling each seller she needed protection from her ‘insane husband!’ (101 words)

Initially, there was a hubbub of excitement. My companions were picked up, dragged off the growling conveyor belt and reunited with their owners. Then, they were either wheeled away or slam-dunked onto baggage trolleys. I finished one circuit of the long track. And another. Eventually, I realized, I was the lone traveller on the belt. I was now ‘unclaimed baggage’. Abandoned. Soon, rough hands grabbed me and gingerly placed me on a baggage trolley. I barely had time to register the stencilled BOMB DISPOSAL UNIT on one uniform before everything went dark! A heavy lid was slammed shut over my head.

It was a simple oil lamp, too small to be seen in the well-lit room! The flame danced around as he swung the lamp, placed on a traditional ornamental salver, round and round, in front of the deity’s face. His stereo system belted out Sanskrit hymns. Adding to the serenity, incense sticks wafted wreaths of smoke and perfume in equal measure.

He folded his hands, closed his eyes! He remembered his grandmother! “The day you reclaim your own heritage in the distant land you are going to,” she had said, “you will have made your adopted country your own! Never forget!”