Breath-taking! A marvel! The men in uniform removed their spectacles and admired our village; the trunk, extending from the sky. The roots spread heavy, protective limbs over our crumbling stones and stabbed into the ground.
After they had moved in, I got to know their names; Captain Richard, Josiah Butcher and the others. They crouched down and shook my hand, with their golden plumes and swords hanging from their belts. They acted out tales and punched the air with righteous spirit in the evening. My heart beat fast as I listened.
My father didn’t seem to agree with me. When I moved slow and ginger in the fields, he pulled up my sleeves.
‘Who did this to you?’
‘It’s my own fault.’ Then his face went white, and sort of hard.
The men left soon after. It didn’t take long to forget the hymns and go back to singing our forest song.
[148 words]- My Namaste 365 has come up with this beautiful writing prompt. The rules were to write a piece of historical flash fiction, keep the word count under 150 and not to use the words tree and green.
Tagging three people to take up the challenge:
Only if you want to! And anyone else who wants to give it a go. Make sure you comment your link so I can read ALL the historical fiction!
- I’m also linking up to the Word of the Day Challenge (prompt – Act).