Thanks to Jenne Gray and CEAyr for hosting The Unicorn Challenge
I’ve made the house in the prompt photo larger, grander and older thereby enabling me to use a story I’ve been sitting on since 2010! I did a drastically reduced version of it for Friday Fictioneers in 2017, but I wasn’t too pleased with it, so, here goes!.
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The big house stood atop the hill, its owner, master of all he surveyed.
Within the grand oak doors log fires crackled, and tables groaned with food and crystal decanters of ruby wine.
Maids and servants fetched and carried. Butlers moved discreetly about their business. Each morning the footman prepared a coach and four for the gentleman of the house in readiness for his daily trip to his factory.
There, he walked between the clanging and crashing machines, a handkerchief held to his face. As he passed by, his loyal workers stopped for a second and tugged a forelock of their hair.
Soon, it would be time for the winter ball, when every room in the big house would echo to the sound of laughter and merry music.
The days were good back then.
***
The winter wind whistled through cracks in the crumbling walls and broken windows.
Five scruffy urchins played on the dusty floor as their mother, large with child, struggled to feed her family with what little food she had.
Hopefully her husband would destroy enough rats today to earn a shilling enabling them to buy some food tomorrow.
Recently, one of their children died. They couldn’t afford a doctor or medicine. She was buried in a pauper’s grave marked with a cross of twigs.
Soon, their eldest son would be six years old and strong enough to climb inside and sweep the chimneys of the big house atop on the hill.
The days were dark back then.
***
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© Ayr/Gray
Good story Keith
Thanks so much, Di.
You’re welcome Keith
Ouch, that one hurt, Keith.
It’s a great story and works really well in its current format.
I’m glad it found a home here.
Thanks Jenne, the little boy in the story would be 20 years old now, I wonder what he’d be doing?
A touch of Upstairs Downstairs, Keith, brutally depicting the difference between the Haves and Have-Nots.
Nicely crafted, sir.
Thanks so much CE, sadly not a lot’s changed.
A deep and poignant story Keith. Well done!
Thank you, Suzette,
Well written. There is a $70 million dollar home being built a little over a mile north of me with a trailer park a mile north of there. Check it out: https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fpreview.redd.it%2Fmansion-on-upper-straits-v0-ecpomngq5ztd1.png%3Fwidth%3D3418%26format%3Dpng%26auto%3Dwebp%26s%3D126107a642be55d4d9d528b08644d051ef878c81
Oh my goodness, that’s incredible! If I lived there I’d need a map to help me find my way around!
great piece, clearly shows the divide
Thank you, Beth.
A telling tale of those who have and those who do not. Poignant and well written, Keith.
Thanks so much Nancy, I knew I’d find a use for this story one day!
You’ve painted such a stark contrast, Keith. Such abundance in one house and scarcity in the other. I am glad that you were able to give this story a better home.
That’s much appreciated, Shweta, thank you.
You’re most welcome 😊
A very stark contrast in their lives.
Very much so, Sadje.
Thanks
Sadness
What a difference in their lives. It makes one think. There, for the grace of God, go I. It would be easy to go to the other side of life and have not a thing. And the haves, care not one bit. Great story!
So true, Tessa. It’s the middle ground for me.
Such stories make my heart ache, old or new, and there are many new ones.
Indeed there are, Mimi.
and the sad part (the really infuriating part) is the ratio of haves to have-nots
All they need do is say stop, but one of the benefits of being a have is the ability to control and shape the education of the have-not children and, in fact, the culture.
good, if not horrible story (l)