Stories for 100 Days of Writing

The Memorial

They stand erect, proud, staring ahead at the Memorial for their friends, comrades, those that never made it back. Four left now, Jack, the youngest, there used to be many more of course but the rest have passed away to join the fallen ones. Jack's family are there to see him once more stand with the last few, knowing that they won't have him around for much longer. At ninety-five, and his health failing, they know that this may be his last year here.

Jane, his granddaughter cries at the sight of her grandfather, who she loves so much, standing so proudly on this day, knowing that she will soon lose him. The tears were a mixture of pride and grief for a loss that hasn't happened yet but was, of course inevitable. It also brought up those fears that hit each one of us at times about the finite length of our lives; that this would come to her just as it comes to all of us. She knew how much her two girls would miss their great grandfather, who loved to tell them stories of a time when there were no phones, no television, when all they had to do in the holidays was play in the woods. How they had to work a lot more than the girls did, and how there were no computers. These things amazed the girls, no aeroplanes like there are now, no telephones in everybody's houses, and no tv. To see their eyes light up with amazement and shock was a joy, she knew that when he went, a light would not only go out, but a fountain of knowledge would leave with him. A generation who went without would no longer be able to describe this to children who seem to have everything; who have no idea what it was like with rationing and making do.

They stand strong, those four men, but soon they will be the most important people that this generation has lost. A century of knowledge, not about boring things, but about life, about how not to do things, not repeat the mistakes of the past; how not to end up with more people like Jack, scarred by war and standing every year at a memorial for those who never got to experience life. They left the memorial that day as a complete family, and despite Jane's fears, she had a few more years with her grandfather before he eventually left them. It was the last time, however that he stood at the Memorial, and now they've all gone, those men who were a precious generation.