Today’s flash fiction prompt: Write about the future.
Inchworm
An inchworm experiences the future twice. The first time, it stretches its head forward, testing the air as it strives for solid footing. I wonder if that first step is terrifying, or exhilarating. Or if the inchworm even notices that it has accomplished some grand thing. Once its head is secure, the hindquarters follow. This movement is much more certain, much more deliberate. Because the head has already conquered the future, the backend simply follows. It glides in the path, already predetermined, with confidence.
Perhaps, as what lies behind connects with what lay ahead, the present is better savored, with all its mundane and simple pleasures. The feel of the ground beneath it. The scents of wood or flowers, or soil. The other little inchworms plodding along a similar path. The future is attained the first time around. And the second time around, it is lived. Enjoyed. Experienced. I think I would like to live life like the inchworm.
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