Our gracious host, Rochelle, encourages us
to be creative by writing a story in 100 words
or less using the photo prompt below. This is
Friday Fictioneers. Here’s where the photo took me.
Having just passed her driving test, we took our granddaughter to ‘The Bank’, a futuristic-looking building which was, in reality, a car-dispensing facility similar to a gigantic candy vending machine. Insert payment card, select corresponding number and your new car rolls out.
As we drove home, I couldn’t help wondering just how long it would be before elderly people would be able to go to a similar ‘bank‘ to get replacement body parts and organs from ‘donors’ in perfect health. After all, who wouldn’t want to stay young and healthy forever? Not me. I prefer to grow old gracefully, naturally.
NAR©2025
100 Words
This is “Forever Young” by Rod Stewart
All text, graphics and videos are copyright for Nancy Richy and are not to be used without permission. NAR©2017-present.
The Elephant's Trunk 
Dear Nancy,
That Bank sounds interesting. I don’t know about me, but my car isn’t growing old gracefully. 😉 Great piece of sci fi. Puts me in mind of an old TZ where people transformed when they turned a certain age and everyone looked like someone else. “Number Twelve Looks Just Like You.” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9u5b904Ij8
Shalom,
Rochelle
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Dear Rochelle,
Thanks for a very interesting comment. I didn’t watch too much Twilight Zone; I found it to be quite disturbing and one of those shows that always stuck around in the back of your head longer than you wanted it to.
Shalom,
🕊️
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So true. They still stick around in my mind…many of them anyway. And that’s how they were designed. Very cerebral.
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Rod Serling himself was a creepy guy!
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Nancy I enjoyed your futuristic scenario. I’d rather pay for and get new body parts than buy my granddaughter a new car.
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Thankfully we have options.
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A vending machine for cars… I can almost see this happening. But for body parts… ick
And yet…
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Almost? Let’s not forget Carvana. The future is here and it just might be icky.
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What a brilliant thought, Nancy! And so is your last line. Much appreciated 🌼🌼
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Perhaps a bit creepy but sadly, not impossible. Thanks very much for your kind comments, KK.
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So true, Nancy! Always welcome 🙏
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Aha! Gone it… ‘Never Let Me Go’ by Kazuo Ishiguro. Great book!
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Ooh, I’ve read a book about that… who was it? Famous writer. I’ve to think about that! But otherwise, yes, I agree – we are all graceful anyway!
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Someone else mentioned “Soylent Green” but I’m quite sure that was not a book. It’s a creepy thought, isn’t it? Thank you, Chris.
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Haven’t seen Soylent Green, I’m afraid – a movie I believe!
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Nor I … yes, with Edward G. Robinson and Charlton Heston.
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Severely creepy movie…Edward G. Robinson’s last.
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He was actually dying in that death scene and Charlton Heston’s tears were real.
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😞
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very futuristic…!! i too would rather age gracefully…and die!! living young forever sounds terrifying somehow…
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And exhausting! Thanks, Nandini.
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Ah, a vending machine for body parts. I trust these are artificial parts made to order.
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We can only hope, James. I hear harvesting for organs is all the rage in some parts of the world. Makes it sound a bit like bobbing for apples.
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I rather imagine a dystopian future like the one in the 1973 film “Soylent Green” where old people go to suicide stations (the bank) because they’ve outlived their usefulness and are turned into food.
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That is such a horrible concept and the reason why I never liked that movie. Dystopian barely covers it.
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It was Edward G. Robinson’s last film. He was dying of cancer at the time but only told Charlton Heston. In the “suicide” scene where Robinson’s character is dying while watching beautiful images of nature, Heston’s character is watching him through a window and crying. Only Heston wasn’t acting. The scene hit too close to the truth for him.
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That’s a very intense description, James. It must have been a challenging movie to make. Thank you for sharing that piece of information.
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I guess I would take some body parts from my clone, if it didn’t have a brain and it wouldn’t miss what I was getting.
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Maybe. I haven’t thought through that option. 😂
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I prefer growing old disgracefully myself, far more fun!
Rod Stewart? Mmmm…
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Now why didn’t I think of that!?
Rod looks rather dreamy there …. talk about aging gracefully LOL
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hmm, I wonder too, Nancy, what the future will bring into being, … gives you the shivers sometimes,…💙
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It’s creepy alright, Penn. I hope to be long gone by then!
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Oh, sister, where that beautiful mind of yours wanders…
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Merci, mon amie! 🥰
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Oh my…. one would hope the spare parts for humans are of the engineered kind and not the unwillingly donated kind!
I’m with you. I’m keeping my ageing parts until they let go completely!
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Damn straight, sister! The idea is just too creepy for me.
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Way too much!
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😳
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Growing old gracefully would be nice, but I’m discourteously crawling my way there … Oh, a great song by Rod …
https://youtu.be/yuD-7pcjdSk
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That’s probably a more accurate description, dear Ivor! 😎 Thanks for another great one from the Brothers Davies. 🥰
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My absolute pleasure, Nancy 🥰
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The thought of unwilling donors makes this especially creepy!
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Wham bam, thank you, ma’am! Exactly what I was hoping for! 🤣
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The deployment of “donors” was chilling
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“Lovely” she said, rubbing her palms together and laughing. Thanks, Neil.
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And there was I thinking you’d prefer to grow old disgracefully 🤣
One of Rod’s best from his mid-period, helped by Bob Dylan 👍
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Well, damnation! How’d that one slip by me? Sign me up for disgracefully! 😂
A great song and that little boy is a total charmer. 🥰
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More your style, isn’t it 🤣
I researched that song when I played it some time back. From my hazy memory, the little boy is the video director’s son, but don’t quote me on that!
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😂
I wondered if he might have been Rod’s boy; they have such a lovely rapport. Thanks, Clive; my lips are sealed. 🤐
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Just as well, as I’ve just looked it up! The boy is Alex Zuckerman, but he isn’t related to anyone connected with the video, as far as I can tell. He had a ten year career as an actor, but nothing big.
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