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Say a Little Prayer, by Gordon Lawrie

18/4/2025

 
She hunkers down, clutching her children near as the missiles strike in the distance: first one, then another, a little closer. She gave up running for the shelters long ago – there’s too little warning now and there are drones overhead picking them off. Naturally, there are no military personnel nearby; she and her neighbours are the targets.

She has no idea if the children’s father is alive or dead.

​It’s Good Friday. She says a little prayer. He dug himself out of His hole in 48 hours. Let’s see Him get out of this one that quick, she thinks wryly.
Christa Loughrey
18/4/2025 08:47:35 am

It took me a moment to get the allusion here. Despite the dreadful situation, she seems to have found a little streak of humour - albeit a bit irreverent..

Sandra Falconer
18/4/2025 06:17:49 pm

A timely reminder of how faith often has to struggle alongside reality.

Louise Arnott
19/4/2025 03:30:56 pm

You’ve shown the horror of the situation they find themselves in, the need to save themselves because it’s doubtful there will be a savior able to push the rock aside in time, this time.Well done.

Paul A. Freeman
19/4/2025 10:26:24 pm

Gordon,

I've noticed that you've put up a profile of me that is unsanctioned by me, nor is it sanctioned by the members of Friday Flash Fiction whom you claim (by using words like 'we' and 'our' in the text) are in full support of your continued vindictiveness towards me.

You claim that you cannot remove my work from your website (as I requested, and as your website indicates you can do), yet you removed my legitimate profile and replaced it with your own version to ridicule me.

https://www.fridayflashfiction.com/paul-freeman.html

Furthermore, by doxing me and giving out my email address (I've made a record of this and all your other correspondence mocking and threatening me, by the way) and a link to my website, you have crossed a red line.

You are a bully. None know this better than I, which makes some of the stories you post on your site most ironic.

It's time to do the right thing instead of using your position as the owner of the FFF site to harass, taunt and cyberstalk me.

P.S. Asking people to pay you to find out why they are banned or discover why you have decided not to publish their work, is reprehensible in my eyes, no matter if it’s a token amount.

Gordon Lawrie
19/4/2025 11:13:53 pm

Thanks for those kind words, Paul, which I note that you copied and pasted 31 times in total to other writers' comments.

For anyone else coming to this for the first time, Paul objected to paying the nominal fee to ask why his story hadn't been published (see our T&Cs for the answer).

Paul asked that we cease contact, which triggers the automatic removal of his Author Profile (again, see our T&Cs). Despite that, he's continued to bombard this site with abuse.

For reasons I won't bore you with here, it's not possible to remove all references to his work out of 30,000 stories.

Sue Clayton
20/4/2025 04:12:50 am

Time He listened to her, and other, prayers.

Malvina Perova
24/4/2025 02:02:57 pm

Oh, this sounds so true. This is our Good Friday (we call it Great Friday) all right. Feels like home (😥) And the emotions the woman expresses so vividly are basically what we live through every bombing. What will You do now? What? Or if not to God, then we address the world, what are you waiting for? Till we all die? Do something! (Not you in particular, just world in general, governments) Because we already know that addressing the aggressor, expecting Russians to come to senses is useless. It's really incredible how you caught this situation, framed this emotion and made it universal. Thank you for a minute of compassion!

Gordon Lawrie
24/4/2025 10:18:17 pm

I think of all of us say a little prayer for you personally, Malvina. You've helped all of us – well me, at least – understand the reality of life in a war zone.


Comments are closed.

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