To Appreciate Peace

“Finally! We have those bastards out of the trenches and on the run.”

“So you’ve heard the news then?”

“How could I not! It is everywhere!”

“Hey, hey Franck! Did you hear the news!

“ Oui! It is a good thing they are leaving. Enough of this war business in our backyards and I would have left!”

Artillery burst overhead of Saint-Mihiel as roof tops crumbled to the ground and the streets were torn up. Germans came scattering through the town as one after another were swept off their feet for an everlasting sleep by the bursts of artillery. A frenchman stood up out of anger not for the Germans, “Aye its the French Army for god’s sake! Hey! General! You’re not out of France yet! What’re ya doing blasting through a perfectly good town!”

More artillery barrages hit the town hard. And so the town threw back more insults and complaints at the French Army.

The barrages ceased to be and the town regained themselves and without a word went to work sorting through debris and burying the dead. Not Franck though. Franck got on his bicycle and made his way to his house and when he saw that what was a house was no more he kept walking, without missing a step. He gathered whatever of his he could find and carry, stuffed it into a rucksack and rode right out of town.

He rode on south to the high meadows of the Swiss-Alps and he made a camp by a lake where he found peace. Over the years his camp became increasingly more permanent and to the day he is still there and will never leave.