{This is a response to the prompt in What Pegman Saw. It is based on Google Streetview of Montevideo, Uruguay. I, like my character, could not resist traipsing over to Florida, Uruguay once I spied it on the map. And so I have now written two 150 word pieces for this one location. Please excuse my exuberance! Thanks for the prompt and for reading!}
On the map of Montevideo, Evelyn could not help but notice a dot, somewhat inland, marked Florida. Florida, Uruguay.
Upon arrival, she asked directions in broken Spanish. It seemed outrageous, to travel half the length of the globe, and not visit a city, who shared a name with her own state.
And, yes, she knew Florida meant flowers. The natives looked at her quizzically. Surely there were flowers, and towns named after them, everywhere.
As there were lakes, and falls, and mountains. All forming the names of places, but rarely so purely. So innocently devoid of a surname.
She plodded around, and came, at last, upon the Cathedral of Florida. She smirked.
A massive, locked, black door blocked her entry. Words above it read, in Latin:
HAEC PORTA DOMINI
JUSTI INTRABUNT IN EAM*
Her high school Latin was better than her Spanish. The door shut her out. With good reason.
*This is the gate of the Lord,
Into which the righteous shall enter. (Psalm 118:20 King James Version)
Just learned from a Ken Burns documentary on Mark Twain, that Samuel Clemens’ birthplace was Florida, Missouri. ?
enjoyed the piece – even though not getting the clue – wink
but your writing is wonderful and having Florida in my background made this more personal – and I would do just this – visit a place if it had my State name.
Then…
bam – the ending with the religious topic – oh wow could we talk…
Well just for leaving such a nice comment, i will give away the store: the conclusion only occurred to me after writing it, so that means my hint seemed obscure even to me.
She talks about Florida being different from towns with other names, in that the Mount in Mount Ranier, The Lake in Lake Como, and so forth always have a surname ( think “sir” name, ie they are named after a man) whereas Florida (flowers)is so purely, so innocently devoid of a surname…
What else can you think of, that is not named for a man, is pure and innocent, and yet might cause a woman to be barred from entering a church, might make her seem unrighteous?
Good luck!
Ooooh nice. But Is she better off being locked out? I’m scratching my head and quite intrigued as to the reason.
I think i once again won the obtuse award with this one. Look carefully at the paragraph in which she talks about names. It may help if you replace sur- with sir-…?
All that traipsing and then… locked out!
Yes. The question is, can you guess why? There is a clue hidden in the text. Being obscure again, I know!
I searched for the clue and missed it
Ok. Not the best clue, apparently.