Pooh-Sticks, by Gordon Lawrie

28/6/2019

"Ever played Pooh-sticks?" said Jay to his equally bored border guard Mike.

"Pooh-sticks? What the – ?" Mike asked.

"That game English kids play. From, y'know, Winnie-the-Pooh, Christopher Robin and so on."

Mike was unimpressed. "Never heard of it. So?"

"The bear and the pig watch sticks floating down river, guessing which one reaches the other side first."

"That's it?"

Jay shrugged. "Passes the time."

Jay chose a big one floating in the water; Mike, a smaller one nearby. They reached the bank simultaneously.

"Dead heat!" Mike said, animated.

"OK, showtime," Jay said. "I'll fish them out, you fetch the body-bags."

(Photo: AP/Julia le Duc)

Mary Wallace

28/6/2019 02:13:05 pm

This made me cry.

Jim link

28/6/2019 03:42:59 pm

If only this were just some twisted tale from the imagination of a creative writer.
Instead, we must place it in the Friday Flash Non-Fiction section.
I just don't understand how we've become so callous
Thanks
Jim

phyllis

28/6/2019 04:05:08 pm

I agree. This makes me sick!

Gordon Lawrie

28/6/2019 05:44:03 pm

As a society it does us good to be reminded occasionally that the thousands who die making desperate journeys in search of a better life are real people. But I still thought it a good idea to turn the scene into a blurred drawing.

There are callous people everywhere, of course, Jim, and the guards in the story are simply metaphors. In real life, guards are in the front line and are subjected to daily horrors. Here are 2 much-shared images from four years ago, together with a song I wrote about it.

https://www.fridayflashfiction.com/poetry/the-shore-of-shame-by-gordon-lawrie

My grandson was exactly the same age as that wee boy.

Phyllis

28/6/2019 06:14:21 pm

This is a very upsetting photograph. And I believe that that wee boy was a girl.

Gordon Lawrie

28/6/2019 07:04:34 pm

Correct, Phyllis. The other story is about a boy and the pictures, though different, are equally harrowing.

Jim link

28/6/2019 07:11:01 pm

I read your song and it reminded me how through the ages, we've turned to music and song to express how we feel about things that may be going on at the time, and how too often those lonely notes fall upon deaf ears.

Pink Floyd's "On the Turning Away" says it best - here are a few lines -

On the turning away
From the pale and downtrodden
And the words they say
Which we won't understand
"Don't accept that what's happening
Is just a case of others' suffering
Or you'll find that you're joining in
The turning away
It's a sin that somehow
Light is changing to shadow
And casting it's shroud
Over all we have known

Thanks
Jim

Gordon Lawrie

29/6/2019 07:11:43 pm

Indeed, Jim. There's a story somewhere from long ago that suggests we should not pass by on the other side of the street. First, though, we have to be looking in the right direction.

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