New Flash Fiction: Your Order is Being Processed by William Meikle

Our latest flash fiction is a scarily prescient tale by the well-known writer William Meikle. William is a Scottish writer, now living in Canada, with 20 novels published in the genre press and over 300 short story credits in thirteen countries. His books are available from a variety of publishers including Dark Regions Press, DarkFuse and Dark Renaissance, and his work has appeared in a number of professional anthologies and magazines.​ You can find out more at www.williammeikle.com



Your Order is Being Processed
by William Meikle


Order processing center 45 – 12th May 2045. No. 14593/13. David and Elizabeth Greenway. 

Please enter your desired sex ( default is male. )
Female. We want a girl, you see – George is three now and he needs a little sister and we're not getting any younger so if you could see your way to…

Please enter your desired skin color ( default is white. )
Oh, white, definitely. Not that we're racist or anything, oh no – some of our best friends are black. But David and I are both white, and so is everyone in our street. In fact, all of the new babies among our friends are blue eyed and blond so we don't want to be too different, do we?

Please enter your desired ethnicity ( default is Caucasian. )
Caucasian please. Not that we'd mind anything else, but you see so few young ones of them around now, don't you, and we wouldn't want our little girl to be picked on for being different.

Please enter your desired eye color ( default is blue )
Brown please, as we're both brown, and so is George, so it would be a little strange if his new little sister had blue eyes, don't you think? Besides, I always think that brown eyes are kinder. People are more likely to trust you if you've got brown eyes. I've often said it, haven't I, David? And…

Please enter your desired adult height ( default is 1.85 meters for males, 1.70 meters for females )
Oh, we don't want her to be short – you see so very few short girls around these days – not like when we were young, is it? I mean, I'm only five foot nothing myself and it never stopped me from getting on, but you see all these kids now, towering over you in the shops and at the train station and they're all just so big, aren't they? So we wouldn't want her to be left out. Shall we say just above average, David? 1.72 is not too tall, is it?

Body shape will be athletic. No other body shapes are available. Confirm Y/N
Oh, athletic will be just fine Not that we're as fit as we used to be. We just don't have the time, what with the commuting and the taxes to pay and the shopping to do. And then there's all the food – it's all full of sugars these days, isn't it? And the weight just goes straight to my hips – and my legs. I keep telling David that we should get out for more walks, but the weather is just terrible –either it's too warm or too cold, never quite right. Now when I was a girl we…

Please enter your desired I.Q. ( Default is 100. The maximum permitted by legislation for your income group is 120. The minimum permitted without special dispensation is 80. )
Oh, we'll have an average please. We don't want her to be too clever, but then again, we can't have her being stupid – that wouldn't do at all. Maybe just above average? What do you think, David? 102 maybe – that's the same as us, and we do just fine, don't we? There's never anything on the box that goes over our head anyway. Not like when I was a girl and they had all those science things on – I never could get the hang of them. What do we need science for these days anyway? I was just saying, wasn't I that...

Please enter desired vocation – a place will be reserved where available ( Economic or social restrictions may apply. )
Well, we'll need someone to run the shop in our dotage, won't we, David? And we put George down for the bank then they told us he'd be going into the army at eighteen, so we should have our little girl as shopkeeper – shouldn't we? Will they let us do that? I'll put it in and we’ll see what happens – I think that's for the best. So, shopkeeper it is, then.

Your order is being processed. Your order number is No. 14593/13. Expected delivery is nine months from confirmation. 

Do you wish to confirm (Y/N).