Tuesday, May 30, 2023

“Holding the Fort” • by Gustavo Bondoni


“Mr. Maginot, your cousin is here.”

“Send him in.” Maginot replied. “Claude, have a seat. I’ve decided to leave you all my work.”

“I thought you never liked me.”

“I hope this helps to bring us together. I have decided to retire, but this line against the Germans that my father designed must remain in the family.”

“All these forts? But aren’t you too young to retire?”

“Doctor’s orders.”

“What’s that?”

“My luggage. I’m off to Brazil. For my health.”

“And that sound?”

“Tank engines. Panzers, I believe. Goodbye.”

 

__________________________


 Gustavo Bondoni is novelist and short story writer with over three hundred stories published in fifteen countries, in seven languages.  He is a member of Codex and an Active Member of SFWA.His latest novel is a dark historic fantasy entitled The Swords of Rasna (2022). He has also published five science fiction novels, four monster books and a thriller entitled Timeless. His short fiction is collected in Pale Reflection (2020), Off the Beaten Path (2019), Tenth Orbit and Other Faraway Places (2010) and Virtuoso and Other Stories (2011).
 
In 2019, Gustavo was awarded second place in the Jim Baen Memorial Contest and in 2018 he received a Judges Commendation (and second place) in The James White Award. He was also a 2019 finalist in the Writers of the Future Contest.
 
His website is at www.gustavobondoni.com

Gustavo has become a fairly regular contributor here. Two of his more recent appearances in our virtual pages were “S’mores Therapy” last week and “Warranty Claim” back in November, but he has quite a few more stories on our site. Check them out!

This week’s Pete Wood Challenge was to write a flash fiction story using the prompt, “nepotism.” To see the previous winners of previous challenges, click this link.



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