Wednesday's Words on a Friday

 The original Words for Wednesday was begun by Delores and eventually taken over by a moveable feast of participants when Delores had computer troubles. Sadly, Delores has now closed her blog forever due to other problems.

The aim of the words is to encourage us to write. A story, a poem, whatever comes to mind.

If you are posting an entry on your own blog, please let us know so we can come along to read it and add a few encouraging words.

This month the words/prompts are supplied by Wisewebwoman and can be found here

This week's words/prompts are:

1.garotte  2.kisses  3.neck  4.philanthropist  5.pragmatism

and/or:

1.balconies  2.decadence  3.entertainment  4.genius  5.public

Charlotte's colour of the month is Carmine, which I have not used today.

Here is my story, which is complete fiction so if I have some historical facts wrong I apologise.

A few weeks after William had visited the retirement complex and declared it wonderful, he was delighted to get a letter stating a room was available and he could move in as soon as he signed the paperwork. He was delighted and began thinking of what to take and what to leave. Jim Anderson and his mother Maggie also received a letter.

The first shipment of wreckage and bones had been tested, cleaned and were ready to be displayed for the public. Jim and Maggie had been invited to a First Viewing, before it was opened to the general public and he was allowed three extra people. He asked around and of course Don and Greg were happy to come along, but Nanna Ruby had promised William that she would help him with the move.

Jim decided his history teacher might like to come along, Bernard Caffrey was delighted to be invited. They all met at the side entrance as instructed and were ushered inside by Russell Fielding. Maggie was quite impressed with how everything was laid out and Dan and Greg were impressed too. Jim and Bernard were the most excited, and stayed by each glass case much longer than the others, discussing the bones and the pieces of shipwrecked wood.

They discussed how old everything was and Bernard mentioned the ship had entered the cave around the same time as the historical period when a Garotte was the favoured method of punishment for criminals in some countries. This got Dan and Greg’s attention too and they sat around chatting while Maggie and Russell Fielding visited the café area.

The boys were thrilled to hear about the “kiss of the wire on the neck of the victim” when Garotting became popular with criminals wanting to steal from their victims. The wire would ensure the victim remained still while the criminal emptied his pockets of any cash or other valuables, and sometimes it was tight enough to cause unconsciousness so the thief could make his getaway. “This is something we will be covering in future history classes,” said Bernard. “Let me just ask the assistant here if there is a display of these items.”

Of course there was and the boys drank it all in, as boys everywhere, they loved the gory parts of history. There was a “garotting chair” on display and Bernard told them particularly vile criminals would be chained in the chair with a garotte around the neck and paraded through the streets as entertainment for those who crowded the balconies on both sides of the street to boo and hiss and throw rotten fruits and vegetables. Even women sometimes suffered this fate. Greg asked why and Bernard answered, perhaps they had been declared witches or perhaps they had run away from or murdered an abusive or drunken husband.

Dan said, “we’ll never really know and I think I am glad that such parades are no longer carried out,” Greg and Jim agreed on that. Maggie had joined them by then and was discussing the café’s food with Russell. “Such decadence!” she almost swooned, “pavlova is great as is, but whoever decided adding a touch of rum to the whipped cream is a genius!” Russell, always a philanthropist, had paid for her afternoon tea and now told the boys he would pay for burgers and milkshakes if they were hungry by now.

Pragmatic Bernard, said “I’ve been teaching boys for thirty years and they are always hungry!”