FREEDOM AT MIDNIGHT

Can you imagine a world without women? All the women simply vanish one day or diminish gradually. Ultimately not even a single woman remains.

Here's a small 305-word story on the same theme.

image credit: gomerblog.com

‘Dad, a ques…’

‘Not again!’ James interrupted him, irritated with his never ending questions.

'Do I have a Mom?'

'Mom! Now who told you about that, Ryan?' James was exasperated. Damn! the sci-fi movies he's so fond of!

‘’Dad, I was rummaging through the documents in the study for some homework and I found this old photograph. 'Baby's first day out with Mom', it says. What's a Mom, Dad? Why don't we have them now?'’

‘You're too young to know all this, Ryan...go to your room now’, James shouted.

How do I explain to him now what women are? Wish Dad was here but he had to rush to help the brother with the kids. He punched a few buttons angrily. The stench from the washer was nauseating. Dinner was yet to be made. He couldn't let the kid go to bed hungry.

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They stared in disbelief as the spacecraft zoomed out of sight in the fraction of a second. They were gone. All of them. The irritating, annoying, nagging, jabbering women.

Good riddance! Liberty! Freedom! The men erupted in jubilation.

                                         ***********************************

The aliens had been fuming as they watched the earthlings - the lesser mortals - demean, berate, rape and kill their women with impunity. The gentle creatures-the ones with the higher intelligence had to be protected.

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The mightier species manipulated male bodies for procreation. Cells were implanted in the right places. The men squirmed at the intrusion but ultimately complied.

The babies had to be tended, fed, cleaned, put to sleep. House chores to be done. Money to be earned. With half the population suddenly vanishing, consumerism had taken a hit, work opportunities diminished. Intense fights broke out at the slightest provocation.

Men longed for a soothing touch, a gentle caress, a love note.

Freedom was now an ugly word.