In the aftermath of the flood the devastation was apparent for all to see.
Cast about like playthings the trolleys usually so stoic and orderly had been thrown haphazardly and left to sink or swim in the torrent the flood generated.
All that remained of the three hundred new trolleys the K Mart had recently procured were three forlorn lost and wet shopping carts standing their ground in what was left of the car park.
As objects of pity, they summed up the feelings of so many. Nothing had been spared and now they, like everything else, were dislocated.
Morpethroad 
A nice play on the word ‘dislocated’. Good one.
Thank you Sandra. Appreciate your comment.
This image is causing lots of sad and dreary stories…..nicely done.
Thank you Anja this is what first came to mind. Then I had a second thought.
Second thoughts can be scary
Dear Summer,
A well written piece of desolation.
Shalom,
Rochelle
Thank you Rochelle. Appreciate your comments.
Yes… dislocated… that word says a lot many things. Very well-written. 🙂
-HA
Thanks HA appreciate you reading my post.
Great imagery in this one. Nice work.
Thank you Mr Binks, thank you for visiting my blog. Please call again.
Oh I so liked this – very much Michael. Sad for the people of the flood and also the wet & lost trolleys.
Thanks Jenny, it was a good one to write.
you did it well.
I like it how you take the dislocated carts as a symbol for all the dislocated people, Mainly the contrast of the “so stoic and orderly” trolleys to the desolation of the end. A modern allegory
Liebe Grüße
Carmen
Hello Carmen, thank you for visiting my blog, your comment is very intuitive.
this was very sad. dislocated –couldn’t have described it better 🙂
thanks kz, that’s very kind of you.I appreciate your comment.
Dear Summerstommy,
Carmen nailed it when she noted how you take the dislocated carts as a symbol for all the dislocated people. You crafted a tight, somber story out of the prompt. Well done.
Aloha,
Doug
Thanks Doug, good to see you again on my blog.
A sensitive tale – nice important last sentence too – well done.
Thanks Ye Pirate, I appreciate your comment.
That final word – dislocated – is just perfect. It rounds off the narrative so beautifully.
Hello Freya, thanks for the comment and you always have nice things to say about my work, thank you.
You’re welcome – its easy when you write so well! 🙂
Late to the comment party and thus so much has already been mentioned. I concur. 🙂 Although I do wonder where this person lives that the shopping carts/trolleys are normally in order and not all over the parking lot! 🙂
janet
Hello Janet thanks for your comment, the person you refer to lives or used to in a small shanty behind the K-Mart!!!!
Great underlying social statement here. Thanks for the inspiration! 🙂
Hello Miss buffalo and thank you for your comment. Please call again.
There has been a lot of flooding this year. Your story sums up the feelings of all those who have experienced this violence of nature. My sister many years ago survived a flood and lost some friends and her home in the experience. Dislocated is a perfect way to describe how she was feeling for some time afterwards. Nicely written!
Thanks Lynda nature has a way of wreaking havoc from time to time and sadly some people suffer terribly for it. In Australia we have our fair share of flood disasters too. Dislocation goes hand in hand when nature strikes with such fury.
Love how the carts were used as metaphor for the devastation of the flooding.. well played sir 🙂
Thanks Bjorn and thank you for following my blog.
the picture stands out because of the strong writing here
Thanks moondust, that’s a lovely comment.
Cool tale, Sir ST2, beautifully built.
Well done, AnElephant loves it.
Thank you Sir Elephant I appreciates you reading my chosen words.
What a wonderful image to portray the concept of the wake of devastation…I can envisage a lost trolley home for abandoned shopping trolleys now… : 🙂
Thanks Helen, yes i could see that also, like the lost thing, somewhere there is an abandoned K-Mart full of lost trolleys.
That was a very moving story. Very vivid, so vivid, I could feel the pain those poor K Mart shopping carts must have felt. Well done.
Thank you Linda, yes it s real pain isn’t it….
There is something really sad about the shopping carts that survived! Of course they are just the tip of the ice burg — since it sounds like it was a horrible storm!
Thanks Linda, I tend to think of it as more of a metaphorical storm!!
I felt sad for the trolleys, it echoed the feelings that the people felt after a storm. Well done!
Hello Deanna, thank you for that lovely insightful comment. Please call again.
You captured the aftermath of a flood so well.
Thank you RoSy, you always write lovely comments to me…I am impressed..
Like som many things, being dislocated and tossed about is a stark outcome. Nicely done.
Thanks tftm, I appreciate you reading my work.
Hi Summer,
Should have built an ark when God told them to and put two of everything on board. Ron
What a great comment Ron, loved it….and what a good idea.
Your 100 words parred down to one; dislocated, the story is told with that.
Thank you Dawn, I like that comment.
I like how you used the shopping carts — I mean trolleys! — as symbols of the desolation. Forlorn, lost, wet, dislocated: all powerfully described to show the state of things.
Thanks Zooky, thats a great comment, I may quote you on that…thanks so much.
I like how you have made the trolleys almost like people in the second paragraph – I started to feel sorry for them!
And so you should have…..thank you for your comment.
Our stories seem to be cousins this week. How nice. Very nicely done. Like all the others I like your use of the word dislocated.
Thanks Jackie yes I saw that about yours. I think the positioning of the trolleys in the photo lent itself to using ‘dislocation’.
I know shopping carts have no emotions, yet I could feel their sadness in your story. Very good.
Thanks Renee, happy you could read my post and happier that you picked up on the emotion.
They do look like objects of pity don’t they. A great story.
Thanks Mike I appreciate your comment.
Who knew you could make shopping carts have feelings? Last line sums up the disaster for all. Thanks for visiting me.
Hello Ly, thanks for your comment, and why can’t they? I’ll look you up again.
Well done, loved your last line.
Thanks Dee, I appreciate you reading my post, and I like that line too..please call again.
My thoughts go to the fate of the other 297 trolleys, just as I often wonder about all the people affected by disasters who didn’t get featured on the evening news. I hope that they will find their way home, that life will be put right once more.
Good point. One hopes that those affected are able to rebuild their lives.
Those trolleys do look sad, lost, and “dislocated.” Great word choice. I always call them carts…I prefer trolleys! I’m going to start calling them that. I think this is one of your strongest pieces that I’ve read!
Oh Amy that is a lovely comment. Thank you so much.Yes they are definitely trolleys, especially here in Australia.
Another good reason to live in Australia!
The trolleys seem human. Kind of makes me feel sorry for their sad situation…
Yes hugmamma i am pleased you have felt that about my story.
I loved the description of the trolleys as stoic and orderly. It stands too for the usual state of humans, who are by and large stoic and orderly; in this situation, thrown into chaos, dislocated.Very subtle language use. I didn’t like that you used ‘about’ twice in that sentence. It jarred, but perhaps you meant that. 🙂
Thanks so much Ann, I have adjusted the ‘about’, thanks for pointing that out. Thank you for that, two’ abouts’ was my error.
🙂
Pingback: Friday Fictioneers: Off His Trolley | A Mixed Bag
Good post, nice puns 🙂
Thanks camgal, appreciate you reading my work.
They may be found many miles downstream.
Could very well be Patti. Thanks for the comment.