Public Executions

by

Linda Imbler

The public executions had begun in 3010. It has been determined by the committee that oversaw all human affairs that there was too much crime and too much immoral behavior in the world. The restart of public executions would stem this tide, eradicate bad behavior, and would, as one committee member so aptly put it, "increase light in the world." The list of candidates eligible--no, not just eligible--required to be executed publicly had started out obviously enough: rapists, murderers, child molesters, those that had committed violent but non fatal assault against other humans or animals. Later were added burglary, robbery, fraud, libel, slander. As time went by, other categories were added to the list identifying those types whose public execution would benefit society and mankind. The list grew longer by the week, becoming increasingly more critical and divisive, even down to the distinction between those who did and did not have their real teeth.

Finally, with only some nine hundred thousand people left on the planet, the committee sat in their room with the intent of deciding what the next set of distinctions would be to ensure that all who should be executed would be. They took a moment to congratulate themselves over the success of their plan to bring more light into the world and to pat each other on the back. Suddenly, the earth began to tremble. Running to the window, one of the committee members noticed that the buildings across the street were breaking up and the streets were coming apart. As the ceilings and the walls came crashing down around the committee members, the error of their thinking suddenly became apparent to them. They had chosen the wrong meaning of the word 'light.' Because the scientists had already been put to death for stating theory rather than fact and insisting that experiments were important, no one had been able to inform the committee that because of varying factors, the age of the planet and a strange anomaly that had developed in the core, it was necessary to have a great amount of weight to hold things in place and keep the planet intact. There were simply not enough people left to save the planet. And so the circle of executions was completed.

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Linda Imbler began to seriously write in January of 2016. By nature a poet, she is now trying her hand at short prose because there are cautionary tales she wishes to share with readers. This was her first prose submission, wonderfully accepted by Fear of Monkeys. She is most recently the author of three poems included in Bunbury Magazine. Her poem “Atop the Hill” is forthcoming for the Fine Flu Journal. Other poems were published by deadsnakes.blogspot.com, behappyzone.com, bluepepper.blogspot.com, buckoffmag.com, and Broad River Review Literary Magazine. Two other short stories have been published at Danse Macabre. This writer, yoga practitioner, and classical guitar player resides in Wichita, Kansas.