This is a slightly modified version of my entry to yesterday’s Tuesday Tales flash fiction competition. Even with only 100 words to play with I can still find something to tweak every time I read it.

The goal for Tuesday Tales is to write a story of 100 words or less given an image as a prompt. The story also has to include a ‘secret word’. This week’s secret word was “Conglomerate”.

Marker

“Madam President, the representative from the People’s Conglomerate of China is here.”

The President sighed, the deadline had barely expired. “Already? Okay, I’ll be there in a moment.”

She stood on the balcony, watching the fireworks light up the Space Needle and the city around it; listening to the awe of the crowd. She’d thought coming here would delay the inevitable a little longer but at least the debt would be cleared.

Eventually, as the fireworks reached their crescendo, she turned and walked inside.

The Chinese representative already had the paperwork, ready for her to sign over the country.