The Candidate

‘Pull over. Handbrake. You just went through a red light!’

‘Pretty!’

‘What do you mean, “pretty”?’

‘It was pretty.’

‘But red means stop.’

‘I don’t understand.’

‘Red means stop, green means go, amber means prepare. Don’t you know that?’

‘It was just pretty.’

‘But they mean something. Are you colour blind?’

‘No.’

‘Because if you are, you can use top, middle bottom…’

‘For what?’

‘Instead of colours.’

‘I’m not colour blind.’

‘You nearly got us killed!’ The examiner scrawls a big red, angry cross across the test sheet and thrusts it under the candidate’s nose.’

‘That’s pretty too. Have I passed?’

#FLASHFICTION101 May 2021 SHORTLISTED ENTRY