I saw the above photo on ANTIQUES ROADSHOW yesterday and it prompted the following very short 'story'. The photograph doesn't exactly match the description in the text below, but I just wanted to show you what gave me the idea. The notion of people looking out from the past into the present (and vice versa) fascinates me. I'll probably revise it if anything occurs to me. (Still tweaking.)
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The four men sat in their fold-out canvas chairs at the opening of their tent and smiled into the camera on its tripod in front of them. A button was pressed on the little device at the end of the connecting cable and the moment was preserved for posterity. "Wonder how long it'll be before we're back home," one of the soldiers said, wistfully. "Yeah, I can't wait. This sand gets everywhere. It's in places where I didn't even know I had places," said another. They all chuckled.
The sea of sand spread in every direction, disappearing into the distance on four far horizons. It was as if the world consisted only of sand and they felt trapped by the monotony of the view. "At least the war's nearly over," ventured one. "A bit of mopping up and we'll be out of here, back to dear ol' Blighty and each to his missus and kids." The shell exploded almost before they'd had a chance to hear it descend, and all plans for the future, for their eagerly anticipated family reunions, perished with them. Only the camera survived, relatively unscathed. The negative was developed later by their comrades.
Seventy years later, Albert and his wife looked at a faded sepia photograph of four men in army fatigues in its cheap frame in the window of an antique shop. "The guy at the end on the right looks a bit like you," said the wife, gazing at Albert then back to the photo. Albert squinted a little, taking a closer look. "Yeah, he does a bit, doesn't he?" he said. Then Albert and his wife walked on, and never thought of the photo again, having already consigned it to oblivion in their minds.
Yet in the moment that Albert had looked into the eyes of the man looking out of the photo seemingly into his, across the decades and geographical distance, for a few brief seconds he'd connected with the grandfather he'd never known, who'd perished along with three comrades in a mortar blast in a far-flung desert in the closing days of World War II. Albert hadn't been born then, but through the medium of a photograph, fate had brought him and his grandfather 'face-to-face' for a few seconds, even though each of them, in their own moment in time, were unaware of it.
Yet in the moment that Albert had looked into the eyes of the man looking out of the photo seemingly into his, across the decades and geographical distance, for a few brief seconds he'd connected with the grandfather he'd never known, who'd perished along with three comrades in a mortar blast in a far-flung desert in the closing days of World War II. Albert hadn't been born then, but through the medium of a photograph, fate had brought him and his grandfather 'face-to-face' for a few seconds, even though each of them, in their own moment in time, were unaware of it.
13 comments:
From the uniforms I would say closing days of WW1. If you haven't already, view Peter Jackson's movie; THEY SHALL NEVER GROW OLD.
Hi there,
I enjoyed your story. It had something of Borges in it. He too had a magnificent sense of the vastness of time and the improbable syncronicity that same vastness propitiates.
Cheers,
Sherman
Indeed, T47, the photo was taken during WWI, but it was a deliberate decision of mine to place my tale in WWII. As you can see, the pic wasn't taken in the desert either, nor are all four men seated. I just used it as a springboard. Haven't see, Jackson's movie - is that the one with colourised vintage film?
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Thanks, ASB. I'm not familiar with Borges, so I'll Google search him.
If you've never read Borges you're in for a treat! I garantee you it will turn into an habit. Try reading EL JARDIN DE SENDEROS QUE SE BIFURCAN (The Garden of Forking Paths), EL LIBRO DE ARENA (The Book of Sand), EL MILAGRO SECRETO (The Secret Miracle) and TLÖN, UQBAR, ORBIS TERTIUS, or LA BIBLIOTECA DE BABEL (The Library of Babel). They'll blow your mind.
Recentely (around 2004, I think), a Welsh writer, Rhys Hughes, wrote a brilliant update of the short-story THE BOOK OF SAND, titled IN SEARCH OF THE BOOK OF SAND, where he draws all the scientific consequences that the existence of such a book could entail in terms of thermodynamics.
And, of course, you'll find in Donald Cammell and Nicolas Roeg's PERFORMANCE (1970) the best filmic hommage to Borges, with Mick Jagger in an unexpected role.
Enjoy the discovery.
Cheers,
Sherman
Thanks, Sher. I'll have to wait until the pandemic is over and my local library is open again, but I'll have a go at tracking them down when that happens. And if I like them, I'll buy my own copies. Perhaps you might enjoy this other wee story I wrote; just type 'A Taste Of Paradise' into the blog's search box.
Sad news about Tim Brooke-Taylor - never again will we hear the old team of Tim, Grahame Garden and Barry Cryer on 'I'm Sorry I Haven't A Clue'.
Sad news indeed, CJ. I was thinking of noting his passing on the blog, but it's been covered pretty well by the media. I've got the complete BBC and ITV series of The Goodies on DVD. I'll have to sit down and watch them again when I have time.
I was absolutely gutted when I heard the news on Sunday. I watched 4 Goodies episodes as a little tribute...
Not wishing any of the other two away, HS, but I though Tim would've been the last to go. Another part of childhood gone.
THEY SHALL NEVER GROW OLD is indeed the not only colourised actual film footage from WW1, but the timing has been corrected to remove the hand cranked jerky motion we're used to seeing. The commentary at the end by Jackson who looks rather scruffy is annoying more than helpful.
I'll keep an eye out for it at a reasonable price in HMV when things are back to 'normal', T47. Not big on war films on account of having to watch All Our Yesterdays and, later, World At War every Sunday because my dad loved things like that.
Great photo, it makes one wonder what became of those young men, nice wee story too
TG
Wrong way around. Nice wee photo, great story. No mushrooms for you, m'lad.
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