Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: Camping (07/11/05)
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TITLE: The king helped too | Previous Challenge Entry
By John Griggs
07/17/05 -
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Elizabeth woke with a start and found herself in total darkness. Disorientated, she tried to recall where she was. It was the gentle flapping of the tent canvas that reminded her, along with the snoring and mumblings of the strangers with her. Realisation was a shock every bit as terrible as the dream.
She was in a tent provided from the army stores in the Tower. Just one of countless tents and makeshift shelters that now covered Moor Fields outside the city walls. A city that no longer existed. Their home and their possessions, the business and the stock destroyed. The twisted, hollow feeling at the pit of her stomach rose up into her throat and she fought to control the tears.
The fire was truly horrendous. It grew so quickly and everyone was in a state of confusion, not knowing whether to fight the fire or salvage their belongings. The awful roar of the flames and the panicked shouting would be a permanent scar in Elizabeth’s memory. Everyone available was drafted in to try to save the city. Soldiers, sailors, gentry and the common folk of London. Some say even the king himself was giving a helping hand.
Elizabeth laid back on the thin straw mattress and thought of the things that she would never see again. The painting of her mother and the last letters from her father. Thomas’ letters of courtship. The best dresses she wore to church. How could she go to church in torn and singed clothes she had been wearing for a week? But the church was no more.
And her little garden that she so lovingly cultivated. It had been her sanctuary when she needed respite from the harsh city. The flowers filled the air with scent that masked all but the foulest of city odours. She saw in her mind the flowers shrivelling up and being consumed by the ravenous fire.
What did it all look like now? What would Thomas find when he went back there tonight? He'd waited two days for the ground to become cool enough to walk on. Tonight he went back to see if he could find the small box, buried beneath the floor of the house, containing the little savings they had accumulated. At the moment it seemed to be their only hope for a future.
‘How could God have allowed this to happen?’ Elizabeth thought. Only a year ago the city had been decimated by plague. So many had been taken that Elizabeth had trouble remembering if some of the people she knew were alive or dead. Was this His judgement on a people putting their hope in Mammon?
Crawling between the rows of mattresses Elizabeth eased her way out of the tent. By the entrance she picked up a bible. It had been given to the people in the tent by a kindly man from a village just north of the city. He had also brought them bread and cheese or cooked meat each day. She hugged the bible to her chest and thought surely God will have mercy on us while such people remain. She carried it to a small campfire that was still smouldering a few feet away and sat down to read.
Elizabeth opened the bible to the Psalms hoping for answers but somehow, this time, the words brought no comfort.
‘Jesus’, she prayed. ‘Forgive my impertinence but why has this been allowed to befall us? Are we evil? Have you turned your face from us? What hope is there for us?’
Elizabeth felt a tingling peace permeate her whole body. Gentle words entered her mind but she knew they were not her own. ‘Precious child, my people had only canvas shelters when I led them into the Promised Land. I have removed the walls that separate us because I love you. Trust me and rejoice.’
Elizabeth returned to the tent and whispered, ‘Thank you, Jesus,’ before slipping into a peaceful sleep.
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