Monday, May 27, 2013

In Honor of Memorial Day - Photo writing prompt

In honor of Memorial Day, today's writing prompt has a military theme. Write a scene or short story based on this photo.

Photo credits: soldiersmediacenter

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Here's my story on the picture. Thanks for letting me "pump" today!

I have to put my story up in two sections since I'm over the word count.

This new home in the strange land of America, Oh how she hates living here. She misses all the comforts of Afghanistan. The smell of the flowers, the market with all her favorite foods and most of all her family. America is so foreign to her. She is trying to learn the language but it seems so confusing. Most of the news of her people seems negative. I am not a bad person she thinks to herself. Now this continual rain. It seems that God want to drown her in America. She sits alone in her small apartment, wishing her husband was here. He had to go to Illinois for a conference. Of course they were blessed to get out alive from Afghanistan. Christian believers are not welcome in her own country anymore. She hears a commotion outside. She slowly moves the curtain to peek out. There are two soldiers with a bullhorn saying something. Oh I wish I understood more English, she thinks to herself. The water seems to be getting higher. I wonder when it will stop raining so I get out for some fresh air, she thinks. Being closed in this apartment is wearing on me. The she sees the soldiers and gets afraid. Soldiers in her country attacked her as she walked home from church. She must never trust them again.

Hank, often called Sergeant Hank by his fellow soldiers had just returned from his deployment in Afghanistan. He was happy to be home with his family and back into group of fellow Bible believers. It was a refreshing to his soul and helped him put his experiences in Afghanistan into God’s perspective. His bitterness had faded. He and Specialist Joe Alvarez were assigned to a five block area. They were to help folks evacuate. Walking slowly, calling out on the bullhorn to let folks know they were here to help. It seemed like everyone already left the area. At least he hoped so because it looked like the levee would not hold much longer. Suddenly a slight movement caught his eye. Did that curtain just move? He looked closely. He thought he saw a woman in a hijab looking out from behind the curtain. He shook his head and rubbed his eyes. He look again, yes there was someone there. He told Joe to call again. He watched carefully and saw her shrink away from the window when she heard the warning. He waited for her to open the door and come out.

She thought the soldier saw her. She ran into the bedroom, clutched her Bible and hid under the bed. If they were coming to get her, she was prepared to hide. She pulled boxes in around her until she was hiding in the middle of the bed and could not be seen. She silently started praying she would not be attacked by these soldiers.

Hank waited. What was she doing? he wondered. Didn’t she hear that the area was in danger? No response came from the building. He thought about how folks in Afghanistan didn’t trust Americans right away. Wonder how long she’s been in America? he thought. She may not even understand us! He took the bullhorn from Joe and thought about the few phrases he learned while deployed. He said I am a friend in Dari. I will not hurt you, he continued. There is danger. He never learned how to say flood while deployed!

Unknown said...

part 2
She heard the words in her own language. Could there really be danger? Should she trust these American soldiers? She prayed asking for guidance. She felt the comfort of the Holy Spirit and was impressed with a calm assurance. She decided to trust God for her safety. She crawled out from under the bed and headed for the door. She slowly opened the door and saw the soldier with the bullhorn smile at her.

Hank saw the door open and smiled when he saw the woman look out. He said please come to safety. There is danger. He didn’t know many other words in her language. He saw fear in her eyes and prayed to the Lord to give her enough trust to come to him and safety. He saw she was clutching a book. Was it a Bible? He squinted and saw the gold lettering. Of course it’s not in English you idiot, he thought to himself.

She stepped from the apartment into the street. Street, where was the street? It looked like a river. As she stepped into the water, she felt the pulled of the current. The water was up to her knees. She started across the street towards the soldiers. One soldier was smiling and reaching out to help her. As her hand reached his, she felt the strength in his grip and knew she would make it safely across. He kept repeating there is danger, please come with me. He pulled her onto a door that was floating in the water. It was good to get out of the cold water.

Hank grabbed her hand. She was so wobbly and he was afraid she would fall into the cold water. He smiled at her and she looked into his face for the briefest second. As she climbed onto the sidewalk, he saw the book in her hand. Yes he thought it is a Bible. This is my sister in the Lord! He patted his chest and said Jesus to indicate that he loved Jesus too.

She looked up at the word Jesus. She saw the soldier patting his chest and saying the name of her Lord. She smiled at him and thought I have a brother in America.

Unknown said...

That's what I saw in the picture. Love the blog Donna!

Donna Sundblad said...

Great job with the prompt Michelle Cox! With a little work, this one is worthy of submission!