Wanderlust & Wordplay | Life Abroad & Indie Storytelling

Wanderlust & Wordplay | Life Abroad & Indie Storytelling

Flash Fiction 📓

Sea of Intolerance

Exile on the Moon, Freedom on Earth

Gillian Fletcher
Feb 03, 2025
∙ Paid
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This piece exposes the paradox of tolerance, a challenging notion. How do you rationalize the seeming contradiction?

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“The man in the moon is a felon - he’s naught but a felon in chains,” my aunt’s reedy voice carried across the kitchen. Aunt Linda was clearly in one of her silly moods.

“Have you taken your pills today?”

“Be careful Derrick, you keep talking that way and they’ll send you to the moon!”

This wasn’t out of the ordinary for her. When I was bored, she would suggest things like going outside to bark at rabbits. If I were hungry, she’d offer a me glass of water and a toothpick, occasionally with a slice of lemon.

“No one lives on the moon, Aunt Lin.”

“Of course they do! Thousands of them. What do they teach you in those schools?”

“Science and mathematics. What are you talking about?”

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