Earth: A global village.

The Grammar Ghoul Press has provided the writers with a the following two prompts


Shoe 

A covering for the foot, typically made of leather, having a sturdy sole and not reaching above the ankle.

The hall wore a desolate look with the sparkling floor devoid of any stains or footmarks with only the ply-wood chairs and tables filling up the space. The furniture waited silently without a creak. Another ten minutes and the tables will be turned. Aha.

The bell screeched, heralding the end of what the students detested the most.  The bell was more a signal to usher in the much needed commotion.

The squeak of a shoe segued into the shimmering silence and the footfalls later seemed like waves lashing the shore on a full moon night.

 The chairs were pulled behind and bottoms spread in ample. The chattering and laughter spread as the fragrance of the musk.

This is how a college cafeteria should be. The manager beamed with pride. The kitchen fires hissed and the cash registers jingling.

Food plates made their appearance on the long tables and hungry stomachs satiated. But there was more food on the table than the need demanded.

"Think of the children in the other part of the globe where the little bellies sleep rumbling", the manager sermon-ed.

"Will the excess food wasted here make a difference in another corner of the world?” more of a rhetoric than a question and David, the first semester student rolled his eyes. His classmates chuckled. 

The manager shook his head in desperation and walked away towards his table and the T.V. screen behind him came alive.

The necks inadvertently turned in the direction of the voice.

“The threat of melting glaciers , global warming and many other factors loom large on the Kiribati islands which are most likely to be submerged into the sea by the rising 'King Tides' as they are called."

And scenes of picturesque Pacific atoll were panned. All eyes stared at the impending disaster. 

Closer home, the grub on the plate, uneaten, stared back at the solemn eyes and the adolescent brains had learned a new chapter.

                                                   

word count : 323