Each Sunday my good friend Alastair offers up one of his excellent photographs as a prompt for writing a short fictional piece. Be sure to check out this fun activity, click here for more information.

Photo Credit: Copyright © Alastair Forbes, 2013

Simple is as Simple does.

“I just want to leave, daddy!” the little girl said. “I’m not having any fun!”

“But honey, you’ve hardly ridden any of the rides.” The dad was concerned to see the unhappy look on his daughter’s face. He had been so sure, when he picked her up at her mother’s house for his “weekend time”, that she’d love to go to the carnival. Didn’t kids like these things any more?

“I don’t care. I just want to leave and go some other place. It’s noisy and all the rides are scary with people screaming. They’re rude and they keep bumping into us on the ground.” His daughter’s small hand held tightly onto his while tugging him in the direction of the exit.

“Well, wait a minute,” Her dad tried again. “Let’s go by the food stands, they have yummy treats to eat there. That’s always fun at carnivals.” He patted his substantial stomach while deciding there was always room for one more corn dog!

“No daddy, my tummy still hurts from the last ride and we can buy treats everywhere. I just want to go.”

The dad looked and felt very frustrated as they slowly maneuvered their way through the noisy throng of indifferent people who, now that he noticed it, all seemed to be running around in hyper mode; looking for the next great thrilling ride, or fat engorged snack or cheap plastic prize to be awarded for winning a “fixed” game.

When they reached the exit the dad turned to his daughter and impatiently asked “So where do you want to go?”

The little girl answered quietly. “Could we go to the park, just the two of us, walk around, feed the squirrels and maybe you could push me on the swing. Doesn’t that sound like fun, Daddy?”

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Is there a loss of pleasure in “simple things” today? Are we perhaps so inundated with the never ending media of thriller type videos, movies, TV shows, books and of course real life activities, it has become difficult to go to a simple and happier place!