Photo: Copyright kattermonran.com

An official-looking gentleman approaches a tourist on the London Eye…

“Excuse me sir, you’ll have to give me your camera!”

“You what! Why would I do that?”

“I’m sorry, but you’ve just photographed a secret government installation.”

“Er, hello, it’s a fairground ride!”

“That’s what we want you to think. Look, since the Defence cutbacks we’ve had to mothball the submarine fleet and install our ICBMs in some strange locations.”

“But a fairground? What were you thinking!”

“I’d rather not discuss it. But it does have the advantage of allowing us to offset the costs of maintaining an independent nuclear deterrent by charging a little extra for the rides.”

“But this is madness!”

“Some would take that view, sir.”

“But now the secret’s out… won’t you have to kill me or something?”

“Look, it’s my first day. I don’t want to cause a scene, particularly with all these children here. Tell you what. I’ll keep the camera, and if you promise to say nothing about this, we’ll leave it at that. What do you say?”

“Wow, thanks, pal!”

“No. Thank you! Nice camera, by the way.”

It is a very nice camera. And what is it they say about suckers? There’s one born every minute…

This is my entry for this week’s Alistair’s Photo Fiction, which has a word count 0f 100-200 words. Click on the link for more details.