Old Age and Treachery

Photo by: C.E. Ayr

The warrior stood alone in the golden light of the morning. Only he possessed the courage to stand before the demon.

“Go back, noxious hellion! I, Domingo Eduardo Francisco Cabrera command it!”

The mighty beast paid no heed. Its massive eight legs churned forward, threatening all the innocents of Buena Cordiera. It reached up with a terrible pincer and swung that terrifying weapon towards Domingo.

Domingo raised his M-4 assault rifle and blasted away with righteous fury. The pincer fell away and the demon howled in agony. Wasting no time. Domingo fired an M203 grenade into its hellish skull. The explosion tore away the head and gutted the beast’s interior…

…And then the police arrived.

Five hours later, Lorenza left her grandfather’s nursing home, still sobbing.

“What happened?” said her husband Frederico.

“Grandpa has PLQS, Past-Life Quixote Syndrome.”

“What’s that?”

“Most people cannot remember past lives for a reason. It causes problems. Grandpa has no such safeties. He regresses into the 1980s sometimes. That’s why he shot up a harmless, unmanned construction robot.”

In the nursing home Domingo turned to his roommate and grinned, “Told you I could shoot up a construction robot and get away with it.”
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Written for Sunday Photo Fiction: https://sundayphotofictioner.wordpress.com/2018/01/21/sunday-photo-fiction-january-21st-2018/

Author’s Notes:

I expect most everyone is familiar with the tale of Don Quixote and his charging at windmills. But just in case:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Don_Quixote