This is my response to this week’s Flashback Track Friday prompt, where we were asked to describe an American Dream.

I aimed originally to sweat this down into another hundred, but when I stopped writing (still only at about 200) I decided that it was wrong to try to condense it. Because some things just need to be said.

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“Okay, Kate, you’re on in five, four, three, two, one.”

The voice became silent, marking the zeroth tick by flicking her index finger out toward the stunning redhead standing before her. An LED atop the camera blinked and lines of large text began to scroll down the screen of a laptop.

“Hi, this is Kathleen O’Connor, of KC4C News, reporting to you live from the courthouse in Woodsville, Pulova County, where the trial of Richard Kirkbride, accused murderer of forty-seven at a college football game here in Woodsville, continues.

“Victims included the promising Jerome Al-Abdar, the twenty-two-year-old Somali refugee and talented running back, who had reportedly been scouted by several teams in the National Football League.

“Mr Kirkbride, 67, sat silently as Special Agent Katrina Adenau, of the Wyoming office of the Department for Homeland Security, told the court how a combined team comprising officers from four law enforcement agencies, including SWAT, forced entry into Mr Kirkbride’s heavily-fortified ranch house early on the morning of March 14^th, surprising its lone occupant. Once inside, police uncovered no fewer than twenty-four automatic assault rifles, plus eleven handguns, six of which were ‘in a state of readiness’, according to Agent Adenau. In addition, officers seized almost 100,000 rounds of ammunition. All weapons, including the rifle believed to be the main murder weapon, were subsequently found to be registered to the defendant.

“Though Mr Kirkbride remained expressionless throughout the hearing, as Judge Condoleezza Figueres concluded the day’s proceedings, he turned to the packed public gallery and cried, ‘God Bless America’ to seated journalists.

“Mr Kirkbride pleads ‘not guilty’ to all charges.”