The old man reached into his backpack.
“See these?” he said, holding up a fistful of spikes. “Caltrops. They stop road equipment in its tracks.”
His daughter looked at him. “Can we go soon?”
“Yes,” he said.
He walked out into the road, splashing through a muddy trickle swirled with diesel. He glanced down. Cobalt, pink, green; a metal rainbow.
He shook his head and started walking back and forth, scattering fistfuls of caltrops.
“Down with the Empire!” he shouted.
“Up with Spring!” she called back.
After that, they picked their way home through the quiet dripping trees.
———-
What’s more fun, trying to prove random properties of the dirac delta (which I’m not sure I believe in anyway) or writing fiction? Anyway…Every Friday, writers from all around the world write 100 word (or thereabouts) flash fiction based on a photo posted that Wednesday on Rochelle Wisoff-Fields’ blog.
I welcome constructive criticism; without it I cannot grow as a writer. The weekly photo that inspired this story is below:
glossarch 
Oh the Dirac dealt would be infinitely good if you could pinpoint its exact position.. Seems like father and daughter has quite a rebellion going on
“How could I lose something that’s infinitely tall?” Yes, I think the father’s hoping to inculcate some rebellion in his daughter; a little ironic, don’t you think?
If the photo is a caltrop, I can definitive see them stopping traffic. And what is the state of the father’s hand like after spreading them.
I think he had to be extra careful when reaching into the bag.
a metal rainbow – Wow!!! a beautiful way to describe diesel in water.
Thanks – petroleum sheens are weirdly beautiful, aren’t they?
Dear Glossarch of Angosey, Love you story and you are so smart to have made up an entirely new language. Very clever story indeed! Thanks, Nan 🙂
Thank you!
Danny, Creative take on the prompt. I kind of sympathize with people trying to preserve nature, even if it’s a fictional bit. Well written. 🙂 —Susan
Thanks!
Edward Abbey in old age, perhaps? I like the way they have the two different, yet compatible outlooks (down with this, up with that) and the contrast between the muddy and the bright.
janet
Thank you! Yes, “Down with the Empire/Up with Spring” is right out of Ed Abbey’s book “Hayduke Lives!” I have not read it in a while but I think it’s one of the chants during an environmentalist rally.
I liked the description of the rainbow colors in the pool of diesel fuel.