Crimea, 1854: bloodshed and politics are always first among equals; festering wounds and indifference are what a mangled soldier earns. Whether Florence Nightingale was a ministering angel or not misses the point. War needs its heroes and sufferers need their icons. History needs its reputations to build up and then tarnish. A man racked with battle wounds or cholera in a prefabricated hospital doesn’t pause to conjecture; he reaches out feeble hands towards a face that’s shining down on him with pale, unyielding kindness, before life’s black book snaps shut.
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This piece of flash fiction was written in response to the Light and Shade Challenge Friday 4 July 2014, which requires a story of 100 words or fewer using the following quote as a prompt:
Her pale face was the lantern
By which they read in life’s dark book
– RS Thomas On the Farm
Quite a write. Excellent.
Very nicely done Blake!
Florence nightingale was a light in the dark to many who needed her. Nicely done!
Florence had vision and guts, true enough.
A nice tribute to a kind and determined soul! Brilliantly done.
Well, the image of the pale face being a lantern just brought to mind the Lady with the Lamp, for me. Glad you liked it.
I think your take on the Crimea was excellent. I loved the closing line as well, it finished the piece with elegant emphasis. Lyssa M x
Thanks, Lyssa. I wanted to tie-up the conclusion with the images from the prompt and it seemed to fall together quite nicely.