Profit – Friday Fictioneers

Varad, ,

danny-boweman-1

The SUV trundled along the sun-baked mud road. A man in a three piece suit puffed his cigar, oblivious to his companions’ discomfort. He wiped the sweat from his brow with a silk handkerchief.

“So, how far are we from the site?” He glanced at the landscape outside filled with shrubs.

“Few more miles, just underneath the mountain yonder,” His underling stammered in reply.

“What about these lands?”

“These lands have potential, Sir. Soil tests show that drip irrigation is possible.”

“Screw that! These lands are rich in Rhodium. I need these too. The farmers can get stuffed.”

His gold tooth shined through the cigar fumes.

It’s Wednesday and time for yet another edition of Friday Fictioneers, hosted by Rochelle Wisoff – Fields, who celebrated her birthday a couple of days ago. Here’s wishing her (belatedly) a very happy birthday. Many thanks to Danny Bowman for providing the photo prompt. Find other interesting entries to this week’s prompt here.

Published by Varad

Self-published author/ Social media neanderthal.

94 Comments

  6. Varad, you developed the characterization here very well, and the last line was exquisite. I knew that man. Not a nice man either. Well done.
    xx Rowena

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  10. I always hope for a good comeuppance for these greedy, loathsome types.
    Watching their riches fall and be taken away… Sadly, it doesn’t seem to happen often enough

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    1. Even historically, have such bad guys ever got their comeuppance? Wow! That line of thought makes me lose faith in almost everything

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  15. Like the others say, this is *far* too common! The problem is people like that are so short-sighted that they don’t realize that their descendants will have to face the consequences of their actions.

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    1. I’ve met few people who don’t care about their descendants. Their argument is my descendants won’t know me or remember me. So why should I bother about them? It’s the ‘me first’ attitude of our times that’s slowly but surely leading us towards an apocalypse.

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  18. Too many people in this world wanting more and more money – perhaps the underling can find a poisonous snake or two. 😀 Nice take on the prompt.

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  21. Yeah, I had a feeling he wasn’t interested in crops. You defined his character very well. I pegged him to be an oil man. Close enough. Nicely written story!

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  23. Not to make anyone who reads this mad, but it sounds like a stereotypical Republican. No concern about matters beyond wealth. Unfortunately this type of story plays out in the US more times than it should. Well done.

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  26. Nicely crafted story. I was nicely mislead by the companions discomfort. I thought it was going to be a kidnapping story. Well done.

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    1. I have this mental image of the entire topography of earth crumbling into the cavity created by human need and greed. I’m glad we won’t be around to see that happening. Thanks for the comment, Jelli.

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      1. Are you so sure that we aren’t already seeing it, Varad? Just think about it for a sec. Think of all the sink holes created by our greed for water that’s depleting the natural aquaferes, or our strip-mining & deforestation that is decimating our landscapes. or, or, what about the very nature of the recent hurricanes/tornadoes/forest fires, etc. that are destroying the very infrastructures of our cities. Are you really so sure that we aren’t seeing it, now?

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  36. Too true, alas. Afghanistan is the Saudi Arabia of rare earth minerals as well as the producer of 90% of the world’s opium, so there is definitely rationale behind the endless US occupation,

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    1. Absolutely! Greed has no boundaries and funnily enough people are united because of their greed. BTW, Your reply had somehow crept into my spam folder, Iain. Dunno what’s the issue here!

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    1. Such men believe the sun shines from there! Thanks for the nice comment, Rochelle. And a very belated happy birthday to you. 🙂

      Cheers, Varad.

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