The Supplies
Silently as the people watched, the black hawk helicopter lifted into the air. “Bless those Americans,” said Aasir. He tore open the box dropped by the helicopter. “They’ve sent us supplies.”
“Why don’t they stay and help?” asked his younger brother, Barakah.
“Because our government hates Americans,” grunted Aasir. “Technically, they shouldn’t enter the country.”
“Accursed government!” spat Barakah.
“What they did bring us?” asked Elder Nemat, leaning on his cane.
Aasir held up the brick-sized package. “I don’t know. It has writing. Barakah. You know the American alphabet. What does it say?”
Barakah squinted. “It spells, “M-E-A-L, r-e-a-d-y t-o e-a-t.”
“What does that mean? Is it food? I hope it’s food.”
“I have no idea,” whined Barakah. “If the Americans stayed they could explain.”
“It looks like a brick,” said Nemat.
“You’re right.” exclaimed Aasir. “They’ve given us building supplies!”
“We can repair our homes,” said Nemat.
Aasir crowed triumphantly. “Yes! We’ll have real shelter once more. Bless those Americans!”
____________________________
Author’s Notes:
MREs (Meal Ready to Eat), have a bad reputation for tasting terrible. Fit for anything else other than eating. Still, for a soldier on the battlefield, or for civilians trapped inside a battlefield, it’s better than nothing. I understand they’ve gotten much better now. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meal,_Ready-to-Eat
Every Monday, it’s time to finish the story. The opening sentence for this week is, “Silently as the people watched, the black hawk helicopter lifted into the air.” There’s a great pic of a Sikorsky BlackHawk as the media prompt. Look here for more stories based upon the prompts: http://mondaysfinishthestory.wordpress.com/2015/01/05/mondays-finish-the-story-jan-5th-2015/
I don’t think MREs are supposed to look like bricks. My mom brought some home before and they’re in bag form and when I opened it up, I could easily see that it’s got crackers and food. Maybe the American sent it in box forms and not bags.
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The one’s I’ve seen were wrapped in a brick-shaped box. Obviously you open it up and it’s clear there’s food inside. I think anyone would open it up in reality, but I wanted to go with a little satire on this one, and poke a little fun at the food packs.
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What a good story! Thank you for taking part this week! Stay tuned for the upcoming challenge! ^..^
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Thanks so much, and yes I did get a “lift” out of this one. 🙂
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I felt a bit alienated by the photo! 🙂
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I think the photo aims high. 😉
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It really takes off for me… 😐 LOL!
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Hehe. My ideas are really taking flight. 😉
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LOL! What fun bantering! 🙂 Thanks Eric for making me smile today! Stay tuned!
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Hehe. I love pugilistic punning. Glad you smiled. I did too. 🙂
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🙂
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And, you are very punny!
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When I was in the Swedish army it was green painted cans.. they could be eaten cold.. but i guess they weren’t too tasty..
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Yes, I think I’ve seen ones like that. I’ve heard horror stories about them. Perhaps the Swedish ones would’ve been handy bricks too. 🙂 Thanks for stopping in! 🙂
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I enjoyed this story and I can understand the look of those ‘meals’ might look better holding up the roof? Well done.
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Yep. Imagine if where you grew up all your food was cooked fresh. Your meat was walking around hours ago, and the veggies were just growing in a field. Seeing American pre-packaged food might be a real shock. I’m glad you enjoyed the story. Thanks for stopping by! 🙂
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Funny. I can just see houses built out of square, brown MRE packets. Actually MREs these days are pretty tasty, although I haven’t lived off them for months on end, so I’ll leave that up to the pros. They’re a lot better than the WW2 rations at least.
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I hear the modern ones aren’t too bad. However the ones from the Vietnam era, I understand, could be pretty scary. Braving enemy fire was supposed to be less terrifying. Thanks for stopping in! 🙂
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Ah….meals on wheels courtesy of the U.S. Government.
DJ
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Yup! Or in this case, bricks on wheels. 😉 Thanks Danny!
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At least they’ll be warm and dry while they’re sharing out the last of their food, poor people. Very topical.
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Yup. It’s a pretty thinly veiled reference to Syria. I’m sure an aid worker or someone from an NGO will show up and give them the lowdown. They won’t be hungry for long. Although, I’m not sure if they’ll like pork and beans that much. 😉 Thanks for the visit! 🙂
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After hearing my career-military cousin talk about MRE’s, I thought this was hilarious. Nice take on the prompt which could have been very serious. (I took a lighter approach too this week).
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Cool. That’s what I was hoping for. Maybe someone had to know MREs in their past to get the joke. This could easily be a serious one, but I think it caught me in a lighter mood. Thanks so much for stopping by! 🙂
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Beautiful thought ~ The house that was built for shelter out of edible bricks~ I love the grateful blessings at the end ~ Well done 🙂
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Yep. It’s dual purpose foodstuff. If you can’t bear to eat it, you can always build with it. The idea started with fruitcake, I believe. 😉 I’m glad you enjoyed it, and thanks very much! 🙂
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