When the big rains came, no one could have ever guessed what would become the dominant life form.
Years of being left outside in sudden downpours unreturned to their natural resting place had toughened them. When the big rains came, they were ready and they prevailed.
There was only one problem. Their mouths were used to being filled to the rim with sustenance, but now there was none. There were no cartons of Coca-Cola, boxes of Coco-Puffs, containers of Jello Pudding and Pie Filling, or anything at all.
They were starving.
One by one the incredible race of shopping carts died out.
~~~~~~~~~~~~
So sad! So next time you're caught in a sudden rainstorm on your way out of a supermarket, take a couple of extra seconds, get a little wet for god's sake, and return the shopping cart to the designated collection area. The shopping cart you save could be your own!
That's the moral of my story based on the picture prompt above for this week's Friday Fictioneers. You can shop for many other stories and morals from the other Fictioneers by clicking just a few words back.
Well, I'm off to the supermarket. Gonna buy an extra dozen or so boxes of Hot Pockets to leave in my poor little cart, just in case.
I'm sorry, I almost have to laugh at this, almost. It's such a sad story, but the image of a living shopping cart... Great writing, blame my irreverent response on sleep deprivation and insanity. :)
ReplyDeleteA sad story? This is a Broadway musical! Boy, I'd look into that sleep deprivation and insanity if I were you.
DeleteFunny! I love this POV. I wish I would have thought of it. Well done!
ReplyDeleteYou did think of it. I stole it from you and then hypnotized you to forget it.
DeleteThanks for the great idea!
Your trolleys are wimps! Mine took over the planet!
ReplyDeleteps. Fun POV.
I take it that trolley is the term for shopping cart in the UK. Your story was great, but it isn't over yet. My shopping carts want a rematch.
DeleteSee you on the playing fields of Acme Markets!
I did laugh. So there! Love its quirkiness.
ReplyDeletejanet
Thank you, Janet. That must mean you love my quirk as well.
DeletePut some watermelons and maxi pads in the cart. They can soak up enough moisture to get you through the next drought.
ReplyDeleteI may just put some watermelons .... oh, too easy, not going to go there.
DeleteFun, Perry. No sugar for them. Poor little shopping carts!!
ReplyDeleteYes, I'm putting mine on a strict diet. It will probably wind up a hand cart, but that's the healthier way to be!
DeleteHi Perry,
ReplyDeleteJust wanted to warn you that a clone who looks a lot like you is located at number 20 and is playing mind games with the Friday Fictioneers. Or maybe you're the clone. You might want to have yourself checked out by a geneticist or a tarot reader. So sad about the extinction of shopping carts. Fortunately, I too have a clone I use for menial tasks like hauling foodstuffs. Ron
Yes, I've heard about the clone pretending to be me. I am the evil one of course and will have him destroyed. Thank you for letting me know, Ron, you are now my evil apprentice, please wait for your orders! AH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAAAHHH!!
Deletescared myself
Oh no! Not the shopping cart! Don't tell me they are becoming extinct!! I might have an old can of pork and beans around here some where to donate....
ReplyDeleteAnything will help, but unfortunately my shopping cart is an Orthodox Jew.
DeleteDear Perry,
ReplyDeleteI just spent the last half an hour clicking on a succession of links with your face on them. My computer screen is overflowing with them now. Going to spend the next half an hour deleting them.
Loved you subtle dig at those of us who do not return shopping cart to their respective return areas. of the eighty or so FF'ers, how many do you think are guilty?
Well done.
Aloha,
Doug
And what's wrong with half an hour staring at my face, especially if you need an emetic? Yes, I made a subtle dig, but also at myself if I have to walk two feet out of my way to put them back even when the sun is shining. Thanks, Doug!
DeleteDear Perry,
ReplyDeleteSorry. I haven't had a chance to delete your link back to the link box until now.
A sad social commentary on the mistreatment of shopping carts. I'm sure that Sylvan Goldman is turning over in his grave.
I for one always return the carts to their rightful place. Smiling as I polish my halo.
Nice one.
shalom,
Rochelle
You think you're so good, do you? Well I usually fill them with cardboard, light them on fire, and then send them careening into the bay! And they have fun!
DeleteHand me that halo ...
Okay so maybe my halo is tinged with good ole Jewish guilt. I work in a grocery store and I know some of the people who have to go around the lot gathering the wayward and starving carts.
DeleteOh my god! This has got to be one of the best you have ever written. It is absolutely hilarious and imaginative. I am your fan!
ReplyDeleteIf you check your blog, you will notice that I am your fan now too, Linda!
DeleteHowever, I am afraid that the late Ray Manzarek thinks we both suck.
I did see your sly grin on my blog and was very pleased!
DeleteYes, but be aware that if I don't like what I'm reading I will start making very unpleasant faces!
DeletePerry the extinction of yet another species is at hand. There should be a shopping cart awareness day or something.
ReplyDeleteDelightful story!!!!
I don't know about you, but I stopped eating shopping cart over five years ago. Don't miss it a bit! Thanks,Leslie.
DeleteI always knew they were plotting to be our overlords if given the chance. Shopping carts are crafty like that. No one believed me when I warned them, but the proof is in the pudding, which happens to have no way of getting into the shopping cart now ironically.
ReplyDeleteIf only I had listened to you when I bought that last case of pudding!
DeleteThis has been a public service announcement...
ReplyDeleteYes, that's it. Do not hate your neighbor, he may be a shopping cart!
DeleteThey're not dead, they're pining for the Fjords. Beautiful plumage.
ReplyDeleteFjord Prefect?
DeleteSorry, as if we couldn't get any more low-brow.
Interesting angle, but AnElephant is glad he lives in his world!
ReplyDeleteI'll be happy to join the Elephant, just don't break into any line dancing until after I've left.
Deletelol :) very imaginative tale. it's scared me that they didn't survive considering that they'd eat just about anything from diapers to dog food and lysol
ReplyDeleteWhy, do you like dog food topped with Lysol too?!
DeleteLike cockroaches, but with big appetites. Too bad the shopping carts didn't develop a taste for eating weeds instead of Hot Pockets and Jell-o. Fun story!
ReplyDeleteIf they had learned to eat weeds, they would have conquered the universe! And there'd be no jello for us.
DeleteAt least they didn't assuage their hunger on we humans. And what a treat for archeologists in two millennia's time.
ReplyDeleteI think that viewed our abuse as tough love that had enabled them to survive. "That which doesn't kill them ....."
DeleteA world without shopping carts, is world not worth living in. Say it isn't so! Love the moral, Perry. Saves me from my daily nag. (not actually anonymous. It's me, Dawn at Tales From the Motherland, but your sign in will not accept that... no matter how many times I try!)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Dawn, and yes I've heard from some other people that they've had difficulty posting here. Not sure why, but I hope that explains why outside of the Fictioneers I get a comment about every other Christmas. Thanks for yours!
DeleteI can see the lamenting shopping carts -- where once they roamed in multitude the vast plains of Waalmart and Target only the starved carcasses stand rusting in the wind.
ReplyDeleteYes, and where once the tribes of suburbanites fed upon them and lived upon them, they too have perished!
DeleteWe may have to start a breeding farm for shopping carts, you know so they don't become instinct. They can have those little baby carts that kids push around. ;-)
ReplyDeleteThat's so sweet! I'd love to adopt a little baby cart.
DeleteVery cute. I wonder, though. Did the carts that people actually put in the designated areas make it? I'm bad about that, especially in the winter. Too cold to care.
ReplyDeleteIn a way, they were lucky. They were the first to go. So yes, feel very, very guilty!
DeleteI think you made me dizzy there!
ReplyDeleteScott
Mine: http://kindredspirit23.wordpress.com/2013/10/16/ff-friday-fictioneers-100-words-photo-prompt-10182013-rated-pg13/
Sit down and take a deep breath! There now ...
DeleteI never realized the plight of the poor shopping carts. I'd better go shopping and feed one of them. So, is there a rivalry between the carts and the baskets? I'd like to see that showdown in the store after closing time.
ReplyDeleteNo, there's a father/son kind of relationship. Or mother/daughter. I've seen Jack Hanna with the two of them, it's touching!
DeleteVarious FFers brought those shopping trolleys/carts to life this week. You are the only one who has killed them off. :)
ReplyDeleteAw shucks!
DeleteI always take my cart back because I don't like moving someone else's so I can get my car in the parking space. Expletives deleted.
ReplyDeleteThank you for deleting. I wish I could say I do the same. (I do try to take the carts back.)
Delete