'What is it?' Pip asks. She's a curious little tyke, as kids of that age are. Bindy lets her touch it, conscious of how many times she shouts no, slapping her hand away from things that are dangerous, or that cause a tantrum when she is not allowed to bring them home. Pip, as young as she is, knows that some things upset her Mum, which has usually to do with a past that Pip is fascinated by.
'It's a television.' Bindy says. She can't help the reverence in her voice. It's been a long time since she's seen one. It's much easier out in the mountains, with no debris from the world that was. They have been able to create their own, however, on the edge of a lake, in a pretty little shack they would never have been able to afford in '23. Now, anyone could set up home wherever they like, and not pay a penny. The joys of the apocalypse.
'But what's it for?' Pip asks, curious. She doesn't look at her mother, but is mesmerised by the black glass and sharp corners. She runs her tiny hand over the screen, leaving smears on the dust. Bindy's instinct is to reprimand her, but since there's no power to turn it on, it doesn't matter much about the fingerprints.
'People would watch it. It'd show pictures. You'd watch people, people you didn't know...' Bindy was out of her depth. How do you explain this to a child? 'And sometimes it'd show people's fake lives, and they'd manipulate the audience into - '
'Babe. you're losing her.' Of course Joe always found the right words, like he did when her dog died in the winter of '24. A lot of things died that winter. It was the year they built a huge pyre and threw all the remnants of the old world upon it. The air filled with the smell of burning plastic. She watched her phone melt and cried. Her mind searched for Tik Tok and Instagram reels that no longer existed. It hurt.
There was only the endless snow.
But bit by bit, the old world fell away. The need to compete. The need to be someone. The feelings of inadequacy. The bank account, always in the red, and the train to work, every day. Now a day was about keeping alive. It took a long time to realise that was better than the kind of surviving they used to do. Eventually, she stopped looking for the screen. Her scrolling thumb became just a phantom, and then disappeared entirely.
Joe took off his backpack and knelt in front of the TV with his daughter. 'Reality TV is like a make-believe game that grown-ups used to play. They lived in a house or go on an adventure, and cameras follow them around all the time to see what they do and say.'
'Cameras, daddy?' Bindy thought it'd be easier if her daughter wasn't so curious. It made everything take longer. She hated going on supply runs as it was. She had to remember the things they threw on the fire. She looked at the door, checked her escape routes. It wasn't good to linger in town. She looked to the television again, and beautiful green velvet sofa. She imagined sinking into the cushions with a red wine and finding the remote. The bliss of nothingness, the appeal of other people's fucked up lives that were somehow worse than your own pitiful existence. The searching for the dresses the prettiest women wore, and ordering them on Amazon, where they would arrive a few days later by a buzzing drone. She would squeeze into the soft fabrics and look critically at herself in the mirror, and reach for the wine. It helped some. Oh, she missed wine.
'They make pictures you can watch again and again. Like drawings of stories, but real. Sometimes they compete with each other to win a prize, or they just try to get along and have fun. It's not our plays, not make believe. It was real life back then, but they would only show certain bits to make it more interesting to watch.' He stood up, wiped the screen free of dust. It reflected the truth of the decaying house - reflections of damp, and lichens clinging to rotting walls. Things green, growing. Before long it would house a forest.
'Like watching a big game of pretend with real people instead of toys?' Pip asks. 'Oh, fishcakes, I'd love to see that!'
'Oh, little Pip.' Bindy says, taking her little one's hand and leading her toward the door, Joe following behind with one of the velvet cushions. It will make a lovely seat by the fire. They had also scored eight tins of baked beans, a half jar of dried porcini, a jar of crystallised honey, and a jaffle iron they found in the garage. It pokes painfully pokes into her back where it has been hastily shoved into her backpack, and she is reassured by the weight of it, it's usefulness. If this were reality TV she would the darling of the show. Resourceful, strong, resilient, capable. Having survived the end of the world, she would be one to watch, to be admired. But that did not matter now. Only Pip and Joe, and the cabin by the lake.
She turns to Pip and ruffles her daughters hair. She affirms it for herself and Joe as much as Pip, the desire to leave all thought of such things behind. This was their reality, here.
'No you wouldn't, honey. No you wouldn't.'
This is written in response to 'The Ink Well' community prompt of the week, Reality TV. The image is co-created by Midjourney at the behest of my prompt manipulation.
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Great link with the prompt, little Pip is a good girl
Wow! It's a great story. I am excited on the next chapter of this. Thanks for sharing this one. God bless.
Thanks.
You're welcome
The end of the world without social media.
You make seem peaceful in your story even though deep down Bindy would like to relax in front of a television one day.
Pip's curiosity is adorable too.
Your story is wonderful, I enjoyed it.
I read this book once where there was an EMP. All the people were pretty much 'hooked' up to the internet all the time - not with devices, but their brains, prob via implants, I can't recall. After the 'apocalypse', that is, the system entirely crashing, people's brains would just search blindly for information - maps, facts, how to's - and it would drive some of them crazy, because they couldn't access it anymore. And most people HAD NO IDEA how to do the simplest things, like light a fire, or grow food - they had to learn again to survive. I can't recall the name of the book, but I think that concept has always stuck with me. I like the idea of a world without technology, or manipulative media.
I'm don't usually read sci-fi, but this book has an intriguing storyline.
I'd really love to read how they all had to start from the scratch without technology.
You pick us up and charge us like an emotional-battery. We view this dystopian world your protagonists’ have found themselves in with wary eyes; we view it through the eyes of a child who has never known the “old” world and through the eyes of adults who have. How you managed to change this “view”, in a few sentences of scintillating dialogue, from dystopia into utopia is a measure of your inordinate skill.
Ah, you are far too kind, @theinkwell xxx It is a fine line, utopia/dystopia, isn't it? I imagine her thinking about it would shift back and forth.
Is this post-apocolypse fiction or riverflows run away and live off the grid dream? 🤔 Nice story 👍 you should look me up post-apocolypse because I will be making home made wine 🙂
@steven-patrick , you've been reading too much of my blogs - you know me too well, haha!!!
Oh fantastic, I'll make a boat and sail over immediately!
PS Why they didn't think to make wine is beyond me... I mean, it'd be the first thing I'd do, even if it was out of old potatoes or something haha. Oh that's vodka. Yep that's fine...
Nice! Unlike the other (post-)apocalyptic scenario you wrote at the height of the pandemic, this scenario doesn't sound too bad all in all. Of course, the details are not revealed, only the lack of media tech, and from what I piece together, the protagonists are doing pretty okay. Kinda reminds me of Earth Abides by George R. Stewart. Of course that book is from 1949, way before social media, the internet, or television for that matter. Still, the only "problem" in that story was a shortage of people, which in my opinion is the least serious scenario.
Gosh you remember that? In this story the world is pretty empty I think - and they are far enough away for people not to impact on them much. The shortage of people sounds like bliss to me.
Oh, I've heard of the Earth Abides but I haven't read it! I must do!!! Have you read EM Forster's short story from 1901 'The Machine Stops'?
By the way, have you watched 'The Last of Us' yet? Id be interested to know what you think. It's quite HBO, quite American - but it's got a depth to it that suprised me, though I had to wait til Episode 5 for it to all fall into place. And I do love Pablo Pascal - I actually am beginning to quite rate him as an actor.
What else have you been watching, my friend?
I most certainly do. That's what my impression of you as a skilled fiction writer is based on - which Iḿ about to amend to skilled post-apocalyptic fiction writer!
The Machine Stops by EM Forster, gotta check it out. The name rings a bell, but I can't associate it with anything. Though I may realize I've read it already, hehehe!
I was not going to bother with The Last of Us until they either finished their final season or decided that they wouldn't bother renewing it. (You never know with streaming these days). But my last WS guest mentioned at, and so we talked about it, and as a results I have six episodes on my machine now.
As for other series, we've been doing the whole Sex and the City saga. Now we've arrived at The Carrie Diaries, a two-season teen series, a prequel to the show set in the '80s, which surprisingly I enjoy quite a bit.
Little Pip touches me with her sweet thoughts on what all this must have meant. Something is deeply soothing about picturing a generation that does not know about these things, I feel that it would healing to watch how they no longer exist until we speak about them, in some small way... Brilliant as always, thank you for the fantastic read! 😁💚
As @steve-patrick astutely said above, it's definitely wishful thinking on my part. I honestly long for the early '90s. The computer would be in a corner of hte room and you'd have to fire it up and you'd actually find some cool stuff, but not enough to consume your whole life. I remember talking to a guy in Yucatan and it was the most amazing thing ever. I don't know - it sounds so blissful, and real. Thanks gorgeous xx
Oh and @grindan, I'm so sorry for not commenting on your other posts in the last week - things have got away from me! And I just opened your profile then and got ONE read before hubs rang and said he'll be home in ten, so I gotta get off HIVE and quickly tidy up and pretend I've been more productive than I have been this arvo, bhahahahah! I'll get to you next week, I promise - the weekend is kinda down time as I give hubs the attention that men seem to need sometimes (I don't mind, it's part of love, right?)
GOSH, you are totally good haha! I feel like I am great at commenting... but only in in waves! 😂 Life happens :) Husbands, and silly sinks of dishes, and... blessings though, for sure 💚
That made me laugh, every day I quickly clean up for 10 -15 minutes before my Hubs gets home... it's not like he expects it, it's just a nice thing to do. I like how you phrased that, love is... well freaking LOVELY 😍! I hope you are enjoying the weekend together 😁😘💕
Oh yes last minute tidying is about LOVE not fear around here 😂💗💗💗💗
Good use of science fiction to structure this brilliant story that puts us from the perspective of a curious little girl.
Thanks! It's more from the perspective of the mother, looking at the girl x 💚
I'm so impressed by your descriptions ⬇️
I love how you give hints of the time they're in ⬇️
You do such an amazing job with showing vs. telling, and I love your realistic dialogue, too. Excellent story!
So glad I dropped in on this one! What little Pip never got to experience; a world of dichotomy. In some ways she is lucky, in others, maybe not so much. She is filled with wonder for a life she has never known or had the opportunity or misfortune to experience. Perhaps as they explore the remnants of the world that once was, she will come to appreciate more of the life her parents once led. I'm not sure though that they will ever be able to demystify it completely for her. There is no substitute for first-hand experience, although perhaps a blessing at her young age that she has been spared the sheer horror of what some corners of humanity had become before it all fell apart ... Perhaps seeking out survival in the aftermath is better than having lived through the experience in the first place. It's all about perspective, right? A thought-provoking story, Riverflows. This was good, really good. !LUV !PIZZA !PIMP
You must be killin' it out here!
@samsmith1971 just slapped you with 1.000 PIMP, @riverflows.
You earned 1.000 PIMP for the strong hand.
They're getting a workout and slapped 1/1 possible people today.
Read about some PIMP Shit or Look for the PIMP District
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Thanks so much! I am fascinated by the kids that grow up in new worlds...they don't know what to miss if they have never known it...
I gifted $PIZZA slices here:
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