Batteries Not Required – Friday Fictioneers – 11/16/12

Amy Reese,

Good afternoon. It’s time for Friday Fictioneers. Thank you to Rochelle Wisoff-Fields for hosting and to Sean Fallon for the cool photo.

Here are more stories from the Fictioneers, related to this photo prompt. As always, your participation is welcome. Why not give it a try?

Copyright-Sean Fallon

Batteries Not Required

“Do we have any batteries, Daddy?” she said, looking at the jar.

“No. Those are for recycled. And, since it’s filled to the top, I get to throw away three of your toys.”

The little girl gazed at him in disbelief. She sat on his lap. “Why? They’re not broken. They just need new batteries.”

“So this means we don’t need anything new?” he teased. “We always seem to need the new ones. You can’t have it all. What will it be? Batteries or toys?”

The little girl held her raggedy doll close to her chest.  “You can’t throw away this one.”

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58 Comments

  2. A thought-provoking piece. First I though Dad was being mean; then, that he was teaching her a gentle lesson. That led me to think once again of how technology-dependent we are, a subject that has lots of scope for thought and discussion. (BTW, I think you meant “those are for recycling” or maybe “those are to be recycled. Hope you don’t mind me mentioning it.)

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    1. Thanks. I never mind if you have suggestions. I really appreciate it. My initial thought was that she still wanted to get the toys AND the batteries, since she chose a toy that didn’t have batteries. But, really that actually is a sweet thing. That’s the toy that matters most, the one that requires no batteries. Talking about technology-dependence takes it to another level. Thanks so much for your thoughtful comments.

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    1. Thanks, Stephen! I had a hard time thinking about anything except toys. That’s all I could think about!! That is all batteries mean to me right now. They drive me crazy. I’m always running out. Hey, does that inspire anything for you. 🙂

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  11. I come from a big family and we didn’t have a lot of money but we weren’t poor…lets call it working class. Anyway my dad tried getting us to get rid of the old broken toys but that didn’t work so he built this huge toy chest/bench around the basement….well that filled up as well. Still we wouldn’t throw the toys out. So he did it himself…all of them. After some tears we realized that we had the best place to hide when playing hide and seek…Kids adjust! New toys come along, life moves on and dad always seem to know best like it or not! Nice story even better kid. Thought provoking as you can tell by my long comment!

    Tom

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    1. Hi, Tom! I’m glad this was thought provoking. I come from a big family, too. Six kids, so there were lots of toys I’m sure. Mostly I remember my barbie dolls. But, I think collectively there was a whole lot. Now, my kids have toys I’d love to throw away!! You are absolutely right. Kids adjust pretty well. They probably won’t even notice they’re gone. Or, they’ll have another kind of fun, like your hide and seek. That’s a nice memory. Thanks for all your great comments!

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  14. Nice. I love it that in the end the little girl opted for the doll that needed no batteries. I gave my son a teddy bear with a windup music box for his first Christmas. Not only is that bear still around and working, it’s now in his 20 month old daughter’s possession

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  28. Dear Amy,

    A perfect story, both for the prompt and for without. I would have kept my worn out old teddy bear over all battery toys, though batteries weren’t invented yet when I was growing up. Lovely.

    Aloha,

    Doug

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