The pay phone rang. He jumped.
“Uh, hello?”
“Dude,” said the voice on the other end. “Listen, there’s no time. You got to come to this phone and dial the number by the handset in exactly twenty years. Got it?”
“What? Who is this?”
“No time, man! The gas main’s about to explode! Run!”
He ran, and the world caught fire behind him.
Twenty years later, he returns just as he was told. He slips the coins into the slot and counts one ring before someone answers.
“Uh, hello?”
“Dude,” he says. “Listen, there’s no time…”
———-
I’m excited to have one of my own photos as the prompt! It’s licensed under Creative Commons with Attribution, so anyone can use it so long as they credit me. 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 
Great job son!
Thank you!
Will it ever end?
Technically it only has to happen once – he saves his own life by calling backwards in time.
If I got this story correctly its like a time travel loop ! ?
He’s not quite time traveling – instead, he’s making a phone call back in time. It would not make a loop but it does bring up the possibility of a nasty paradox (specifically, a version of the Grandfather Paradox).
Dear Danny,
Thanks for the use of your photo. It’s garnering quite a gaggle of diverse stories.
I really like your story. Eerie feel to it. Very Twilight Zone-ish.
shalom,
Rochelle
As Will Farrell’s character once memorably put it, “That’s mindbottling!” Makes my mind go around and around just thinking about it.
Thanks for the picture and enjoy your weekend,
janet
Timey-wimey, darling. Very nice.
Oooh, good time travel story! Or…time-spanning communication story. Very intriguing!
Here’s mine: http://mezzojan.wordpress.com/2013/05/24/kip-and-dredge-in-the-22nd-century/
Where would we be without time-dilation 🙂
Sometimes it’s funny the things we take pictures of.