Morning all. Getting a bit of a slow start this morning. I couldn’t help but hit that snooze button just one too many times. But such is life. I am on my way now and I can’t say the few extra minutes of shut eye did me any harm. Sleep was not a friend to me last night. So lets shake off the dust of a bad night with a new writing prompt. Are you ready? then let’s go.
Okay I like this one. It needs to be taken slower. there needs to be a lot more showing and not telling and a lot more shown about the family, the port, and the journey before the impending doom pre battlefield. But I like the thought of this. Definitely something I will come back to.
Wednesday, July 20th: They spent their life toiling on land they did not own.
They spent their life toiling on land they did not own. Jimmy watched his grandparents waste away , their life force spent on profits for the land own fade and scrape by on meager charity while his parents worked the land as they had.
There was relief when they were buried as fewer family members meant that what little they were allowed to keep did not have to stretch as far. He knew his brothers were prepared to take up the same grind, seeing no other life, no other possibility, but Jimmy decided when he was still very young that he would not grow old and die in this place.
He did his part, working to help the family, but he kept his eyes out for opportunity instead of accepting the chains others wanted to place on him. His opportunity came in the form of war. There was a war in a far off land and more men were needed. The lord sent soldiers from his garrison, but there were more needed. The positions involved hard labor, but that he was used to. They offered the chance of something different, and when recruitment came around, he agreed.
The family was proud, knowing he would do his duty and return to take his place among them once again. Those who knew he chafed at the life offered here were pleased that he was being given the chance to shake off his restlessness before settling back down as was proper. Jimmy let them all think what they wanted. He packed what few things were his to pack and left with the others.
His kit was soon decreed inadequate and he was issued new gear. It made him one of the others, blending him into the mass of those going to the war. Some of those going were, like him from the land, others came from elsewhere, but with their clothes the same there was no telling who was who. He found pleasure in the face of anonymity and relief that his past could be wiped away so easily.
He shipped out with the others. The docks were a new experience. It was a hive of activity, something new and different each way he turned. He tried to keep his study of the strangeness around him to himself so he didn’t stand out, but it was difficult. The ship too was a strange and wonderous thing. The feeling of the ocean rocking the wooden hull under his feet was strange, but not unpleasant. He adapted well and was pleased he was not one of those who grew sick with the ships movements. There were many who fell ill on the journey.
As the land fell away and open sea was the only thing that could be seen in every direction. The novelty of the voyage began to wane and he found himself worrying about the coming war. His part was small, but he had seen those who returned from battle before. Men with vicious scars and haunted eyes. He was not a soldier so he would not be in the midst of the fighting, buit it was still a fearsome thought he put out of his mind when shipping out. Now there were fewer thoughts to occupy him, it roe up in his mind. What would battle be like?
He never found out.
Ten til Midnight 