The Beginning of the War
A man walked into the classroom and quietly whispered “Sir, we’re under attack.”
There was silence.
“Mr. President,” he repeated “we’re under attack. What should we do?”
Silence.
“Mr. President,” the man asked exasperated, “What should we do?”
I looked up at him and finally replied, “I don’t know.”
By Nipun
50 Word Fiction 
Grant said,
May 28, 2008 at 3:38 pm
My only question: is this about someone in particular, or what? I mean, we’ve all seen a war or other start or finish, or learnt about them, but is this supposed to be in reference to a particular president, or does it face the greater helplessness faced by mortality when they are faced by uncontrollable events despite the supposed power they possess? Just wondering…
nipun89 said,
May 28, 2008 at 4:59 pm
Actually, it is about someone. George W. I would have made it clearer but it’s tough to get it all in in 50 words.
I guess the only clue I managed to leave in was the classroom. I saw in Faranheit 9/11 that when dubya got the news he was in a classroom and he calmly sat there for another 15 minutes, doing nothing, after finding out about the world trade centre
Grant said,
July 18, 2008 at 10:17 am
Oh, so our favourite man has made it onto our favourite site (mix of sarcasm and honesty there, guess which is which!). To be incredibly… i was going to say fair, but maybe subjective is better… if i knew that such a thing had happened, i would be a little shocked as well. Hell, i remember when i saw it i spent the whole afternoon staring at the tv screen, horrified. Then comes that delightful controversy, if the USA had actually planned the attack (so sayith some pretty determined people), why would G B have been so stunned? Oh, and i know i’m throwing some wood on the preverbial fire here, but when Michael Moore (farenheit guy?) complained about GB staying there for 15 min, i suppose he had to keep calm, freaking out in front of the kids wouldn’t’ve really helped, and there was nothing he could do, was there? I mean, there are ALOT of people working under him, who would have taken the necessary action, just because he wasn’t there doesn’t mean nothing was being done. He probably knew that, so decided to try and take one thing at a time.
OK, well, i’ve seemingly defended him enough, i still am not a huge fan, but i tried to be fair. If i’m wrong, oh well, i’m wrong, thats that, end of arguement!
Awesome story though! Quick reach into the mind of a man of immense power caught in a moment of immense powerlessness!