{This is in response to a photo prompt on Friday Fictioneers, run by Rochelle Wisoff-Fields. The task is to write a 100-word story based on the prompt. Today, this old stone building reminded me of St. Augustine, Florida, and I created this “mood” piece. The unnamed building is the St Francis Barracks, which you can read more about by clicking the link. The Castillo is the Castillo de San Marcos, the Spanish Fort. The river referenced is the Matanzas river. Matanzas means “slaughters,” and the river is named for the massacre of the French in 1565 on beaches nearby. Coquina is a material made of compacted seashell used in constructing many buildings in St. Augustine, including the fort. As usual, all errors are my own. Thank you for the prompt, and thank you for reading!}
The Armory stands next to the playground.
The merry-go-round tinkles cheerfully. The childrens’ shouts pierce the balmy air, just as shots did, hundreds of years ago.
Near the river, named for a massacre, stands a building, named for the meekest of saints.
Stone. Quite an upgrade, for the Spanish evangelists. Much more difficult, than logs and palm fronds, to burn.
Built to harvest souls. Now, a barracks.
Conveniently, cubicles for solitary confinement came complimentary.
The Castillo, a mountain of coquina, scans the horizon for intruders. Cannons at the ready.
As night falls in the graveyard, a ghost tour hunts orbs.
This is so heartbreaking. Very well-told.
Maybe some things should be forgotten… though the playground so close to massacre chills me.
Dear Andrea,
There is something lovely about the contrast between the children playing where bloody battles were fought. I love your magnificent ending with ghosts. Well done.
Shalom,
Rochelle
I was so unsure about the ending so Im glad it worked for you. When the night peels away the flash and glitter of the tourist trade, ghost hunters still prowl, as do, i imagine, the ghosts of bygone battles.
PS I love the ironic title!
Thanks for noticing!
Great piece of writing, Andi. The contemporary references to a roundabout, and children’s shouts add so much light and shade to an otherwise grim piece of history.
Thankyou penny. The sweet and the bitter usually go together well, and are certainly mixed in equal measure in this town. ?
Oh, by the way, a roundabout here in the US usually means a circular intersection, (e.g. arc de triomphe in Paris). They just recently did a piece on NPR on the new ( female) Dr Who, including a great interview with a family in London with an American mom, English Dad and a kid who had grown up in London, and talked about minor differences, like how to interpret the word “sure!”
Interesting piece of history – like Iain I enjoyed the children’s shouts replacing the sound of shots.
Well told, Andrea. A history lesson that is far from dry 🙂
Thanks Dale!
Nicely written piece of history. Thanks for sharing
And before the Europeans started battling over that ground, the Native American tribes shed their blood in battle as well. Lots of those stories still live in Native American lore.
Children’s shouts replacing shots – love this image, and the sense of hope that it brings.
Thank you Iain! I always find children to be hopeful and Im glad it struck you that way.
Hope you dont mind me taking the opportunity of your comment to explain a bit more.
Most American towns tend to have short memories of maybe a century or two. Their written records just don’t go back that far, though Native Americans have, of course, been here much longer.
St Augustine is an exception, having had a European presence since the 1500s.
It seems unusual to me, as an American, to have so many reminders of conflicts from the distant past, in close proximity to places where people live and play every day. As they love to say here, freedom isn’t free.
I chose Glory as a title because it seemed to apply both to the glory sought by soldiers through the ages and the glory sought by the Jesuits and Franciscans who sought to convert native souls.
The Spanish, French, English, and Americans have all threatened or held this area at some point, some of them more than once, which is why I imagine the Castillo watching for intruders.
It also seems similar to the mood of the country now, suspicious, distrusting, defensive.
An additional title I toyed with was “God and Country.”
Interesting stuff Andrea, thanks for the explanation.
I wonder if the playing children know the violent history of the place?
Im sure older school children from the town would have learned something about it in school and just from reenactments and historical celebrations throughout the year. But little kids, unlikely.
Some sad history. A river named after a massacre!
Yes, the massacre of the French seems very brutal to modern ears. For a precise account see the link in my intro, but from what I remember Pedro Aviles was trying to ensure that St Augustine continued its existence, at the expense of a belligerent rival French colony slightly to the north, Fort Caroline (the exact location of which, i think, is still in dispute.)
If he let the ship-wrecked soldiers go,they might end up attacking again later, or aiding the French in that effort if kept as prisoners. So he ordered them all killed right there on the beach.
Another example of a hurricane (which wrecked the French ship) making history, much like hurricane Michael did yesterday. It was the strongest recorded storm to hit Florida in October, and the third strongest recorded in the US.We were nowhere near there and are safe, but the FL panhandle is hurting.
Thank you for detailed note. These battles happened in times where massacres were not frowned upon.