A Little Short Fiction

So, I run a writing group. Every 6 - 8 weeks, I send out writing prompts and we all write something. Then we get together, read and critique what we've written, get drunk and pass out in a pool of our own awesomeness. This time around, a friend of mine came up with the following prompt, in honor of the anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall (9Nov89).

"And there you have it, a historical day for Germany and for Europe as the Berlin Wall has been opened."

Helmut muted the triumphant voice of the television. He turned to his guest with a somewhat quizzical expression and a simple question.

"What now?”

And here's what I came up with. It's short (329 words) so I thought "Hey, put it out there; someone might like it." Enjoy.

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9 November 1989, East Berlin.

"And there you have it, a historical day for Germany and for Europe as the Berlin Wall has been opened."

Helmut muted the triumphant voice of the television. He turned to his guest with a somewhat quizzical expression and a simple question.

"What now?”

The man that Helmut knew only as Dimitri was all smiles. “This is a great moment, comrade. I never thought I’d live to see the day that the West would surrender.”

Helmut understood Dimitri’s feelings. The divide between East and West had seemed permanent. Helmut assumed that future historians would find those moments when the fall of the capitalists was decided. Would it be American defeats in Vietnam, Central America, and Mexico? The failure of the West to recover from the economic collapse in the wake of Israel nuking Syria and Egypt? President Mondale’s decision to unilaterally disarm? The Soviet victory in Afghanistan and the subsequent liberation of the Persian Gulf states? The collapse of NATO following the Green Revolution in West Germany?

Helmut caught himself and smiled. Now just Germany, he thought.

For now, it really didn’t matter. Europe had come to its senses and joined their socialist comrades. America would have to follow suit or disintegrate. Helmut had read reports of socialist movements in New York, California and Michigan that were preparing for secession. The course charted by Marx, Lenin, Stalin, Beria, and Andropov had led to the dawn of a socialist future, he thought. Still, there was one nagging, more personal concern.

“Well, what about us?”

Although it seemed unlikely, Dimitri’s smile actually widened. “They’ll always be work for men like us. As long as there are enemies of the People, the state will need the KGB,” he clapped his hand on Helmut’s shoulder, “and the Stasi. Now, let’s get that bottle of Stolichnaya I know you have in the freezer and go celebrate. It looks like one hell of a party out there.”

Helmut grinned. It sure does, he thought.