[340] Blue Baby

I started a creative writing class to get back into writing. We have done a series of short exercises, and this piece was the most well-received of mine. I want to improve it to try to submit it to a journal. I've never submitted a piece of flash this short before, and just want to make sure I'm making the most of my few words. The story is supposed to be about Blue-Baby Syndrome and the Green Revolution in India, or at least based on that.

1421

Clear water sprang forth from the edge of the field of golden grain. The wheat was sewn in the spirit of Hercules, for it endured hard trials but was strong enough to hold up a bountiful harvest. The ground smelled of putrid feces, but it was the smell of life. The nitrogen-rich manure was scattered about in newly acquired machines whose power was derived from the long-since dead. This wheat and this fertilizer have brought life to millions of starving farmers, elders, mothers, and children.

At least that’s what Sai reminded himself as his younger sister lay pale and sickly in his mother’s arms. His sister was blue in the face and hadn’t yet felt the benefits of the glorious savior. Sai remembered how it felt to starve, how it felt to go hungry for weeks on end. Now, his sister was going through a different pain. It seemed good things never came without something bad on the horizon. To ease his mind, he walked out from the familial hut to inspect the fields around them.

The fields were now filled with emeralds and luscious greens, far as the eye could see. The wind howled as it danced between the stalks, whistling a tune of new growth. Fauna leaped and sprang forth between the grasses, moving about on the waltz of youth. Sai felt the urge to dance in the fields and leave his worries behind. He skipped along the earthen trail, breathing in the sharp smell of manure, and arrived at the creek that flowed nearby. The creek that his family drank from. He had stopped skipping as reality came back to shatter his short stint of emotional freedom.

The crystal-clear water was clean except for some growths of algae along the edges. These algae struck a chord within Sai, struck him to his very soul. For the slimy mush was not only unappealing to the eye but was the messenger of death. The devil couldn’t have chosen a more disgusting companion to the infanticide happening across the village.