Flash Fiction Challenge

12 1 0

by ActualFarless

by ActualFarless

                                    
                                              "I don't understand," said James. He looked between the little paper rectangle in his hand and the exhausted officer. "What is this?"
                          "It's a ticket, sir."
                          "Well, yes, I get that. But why?"

                          Officer Veitch gave James the hardest stare he'd ever seen. Slowly, his gaze passed over the scene. The hyperventilating woman on the bench, comforted by an elderly couple. The small crowd of camera holders. The two long tracks of brown through an otherwise green field. The car in the fountain.
                          "Seriously?"
                          "Yes, seriously! I am a tax-paying citizen, so I demand to know why you - a public servant, I might add - are giving me this rectangle."
                          "It's a ticket, sir."
                          "Yes, that thing."
                          The sigh that came from Officer Veitch could easily go on record for the longest and heaviest to ever leave a human body. He was tempted to simply walk away and let the irate man win this round. But he knew if he didn't make his stand now, he'd lose every battle to come.
                          "Sir, your car is parked in the middle of a fountain," Officer Veitch said, pausing on each word for emphasis.
                          James stared at Officer Veitch for an extraordinarily long time, as if processing his words through a mental dial-up connection. The confusion or annoyance didn't fade, instead, somehow, growing.
                          "Of course it is! It's a park, ain't it?"