War

I wrote this for the Writing on The Wall competition to commemorate the Centenary of the First World War, the theme was The Front Line. I chose to write about another conflict, the story was based on a guy I  knew in the late 1970's. The three winning entries were excellent. Amazing amount of creative talent out there. We need to learn from the past to stop repeating our mistakes. In my perfect world I'd be a teacher of History :)


History
He dropped to the floor like a stone; we were all used to it, any sudden loud noise or a car back firing made him do this. Sheepishly he’d get to his feet and carry on with his life. We all knew he was frightened of snipers. Fortunately for us living in this sleepy market town the last one was Little John when he drew his longbow and shot another peasant in error whilst out hunting.

He’s in a wheelchair now. A degenerative illness of the immune system, anyone can get it says the Doctors. I think it was caused by the stress of walking the divided streets. He doesn’t talk about The Troubles I don’t pry. It’s in the past.