This short story (105 words) is for the Friday Fictioneers.
PHOTO PROMPT © Sandra Crook
Before the Revolution, it had been the home of the local ruling family. Now the main building housed the town hall and a hospital, and the private chapel was now the municipal library. Marianne looked down from a niche, that had once held the bust of some archbishop, on the steady stream of ordinary people on their way to register a birth, get a doctor’s appointment, visit a hospital patient or change their library books.
Time to put a stop to all that, thought the terrorist who called himself a traditional values activist, as he pulled on his balaclava and loaded a clip of ammunition.
Jane Dougherty Writes 
Dear Jane,
A terrorist with a conscience? That was novel. Nicely done.
Shalom,
Rochelle
Nope. Not unless you consider monarchist far right extremists as having a higher calling!
Violence is a great traditional value. Nicely done
Violently turning the clock back to a time when ordinary folk knew their place. Thanks Neil.
I’d be happier if you had said baklava instead.
Something like: he sat on a bench and ate his baklava.
He wouldn’t have eaten that kind of foreign muck!
Dare him.
Make his teeth rot.
I was dreaming of the library when I read the last line, Jane.
Wish the terrorists would read some good books that would put some sense & leave our heritage sites & us alone…
They don’t though. A terrorist is a glory boy. He lives and breathes to be noticed, feared, and to go down in history.
Interestingly enough, I wrote my wee tale on terrorism as well.
Yes, I saw. I’d rather stay out of the debate though. When you get onto who funds terrorism and meddles in the internal affairs of autonomous states…
Well that’s a different mission statement. Full marks for originality.
Thanks Sandra. I don’t know where this one jumped out from.
Always somebody revolting about something. Sigh…😑
These people frighten me the most, the ones who want to bring back the good old days when our country was great…
So much self-deception in these acts. (K)
Yes, the pretence that the killing and the violence is for a ’cause’ when usually the cause is simply self-glorification.
Exactly.
🙂
Help, I am off!!
You can always take your books back next week…
Yes, I the library is still standing! 💜
The library will be there. He’ll want to restore it to its former noble function.
Okay, well that’s good then 💜😶
If you’re landed gentry with a family that can’t abide using the local church then I suppose it is 🙂
Landed Gentry usually have their own church on the estate! 😶
That was what became the library. The monarchist nut would no doubt return the library to its original function—chapel.
Well if that’s the case how can I return my books, the nearest library is 30miles away..
The fines will be astronomical! 😶💜
That’s okay, they’ll be burning all the books anyway.
A much better use of the place if you ask me.
Shhh. They can hear and they take notes…
Wait. Clip of ammunition? Gah!
They are moved by the spirit of the greater good. So if you don’t like it—tough.
A traditional values activist – that’s probably actually a thing. How sad.
They’re usually called crypto-fascists. Or at least they used to be.
Heaven forbid we change the world for the better. Using an old building for so much good… Just not to be tolerated, eh? Bloody hell…
Well done, Jane.
Some revolutionaries seem to have got the wrong end of the stick! Thanks Dale 🙂
A sad commentary on our times.
We are fast approaching a time when terrorists will rule the world. A thought-provoking piece indeed.
They already do, Keith. And I’m not talking about the cretins waving black flags either.
Hmm….a home grown terrorist. We should be thankful that apart from the odd nutjob the traditional values activists are not picking up guns at the moment. It is a scary world right now.
I don’t know where you are, but in Europe the far right is armed and their ‘traditional values’ start by targetting ‘untraditional’ immigrant groups. But as they are also linked to the religious right and the far right monarchist anti-republican groups, who knows where their delusions will take them?
It’s not that bad here down under now but even here the extreme far right are those that want to take action against a number of issues, such as multiculturalism, immigration and religion as well.
Bring back the good old days when Australia was one big happy penal colony lol! They never see the holes in their logic though, do they?
You’ve written a rather chilling little story of some of the worst of human nature. It’s cleverly written. The use of the word “Revolution” right at the start primes us to think of something violent. Then you show us all the good things that have come from the revolution; the Town Hall, the hospital, the library. “Phew!” We breathe again; great that people now have better facilities. They can get on with peaceful, fulfilling lives.
Then you undermine that with a terrorist; and your priming with the word “Revolution” is justified.
That’s very accomplished story telling, Jane. I enjoyed it.
You credit me with too much skill, Penny! I’m writing from a French perspective, and Revolution means THE Revolution, the one and only French Revolution. Most French towns have these big handsome buildings that belong to the municipality since their previous owners were eased out of them. There is also a far right movement here, as everywhere in the world I imagine, that is anti-republican and would love to see a return to the good old days of serfdom. I’m glad you enjoyed it!
Reblogged this on Die Erste Eslarner Zeitung – Aus und über Eslarn, sowie die bayerisch-tschechische Region!.
🙂
Nicely constructed piece, except that I don’t understand how Marianne fits in.
But I like how you point out that the idiots are not all on one side.
Thank you! Terrorism is just an excuse for violence. I doubt any of them have a real ideological position.
In every French Mairie there’s a bust of Marianne in a prominent place. The Republic taking the place of Jesus or the local baron.
The world seems to be full of people hankering after some non existent “good old days”. This is a chiller.
When men were men and women were at home in the kitchen and everyone in the world was a white Christian, the king was on his throne and God in his heaven. Good times!
Kirche, Kinder, Kuche…
Travail, famille, patrie… They all had their slogans, didn’t they?
Indeed. Now it’s the turn of the decent, hard working people. They have spoken.
They have to keep shouting, unfortunately.
That was nicely done, Jane, a contrast between then and now, between life and death, between hope and hopeless. Sigh. That was nicely done.
Thanks Kelvin. Progress for some is turning the clock back to the good old days of oppression.
“Traditional values”.. that is a chilling way of eradicating democracy and libraries
And just about all progress made since the Enlightenment!
Thank you for not including the rest of the story. This was powerful, without all the blood and gore.
I’m hoping the gendarmerie was tipped off and they got him before he did any harm.
This is disturbing, Jane. Mainly because, this is just a small slice of what’s happening all over the world. Tradition, Religion, Beliefs they are good as long as they are not forced. But for every person with a progressive thought there are ten regressive ones.
Exactly. What gives these people the right to dictate their cranky ideas on a society that has so clearly rejected them? It’s a form of megalomania, violent people looking for a justification for their violence.
Awesome. Terror often comes from that side indeed, although usually in other forms. Great story.
Thank you! It put me in mind of the commandos righting wrongs at abortion clinics in the US. As you imply, the Islamist nutters don’t have a monopoly on corrupt ideology violence.
A terrorist is a glory boy. He He lives and breathes to be noticed, feared, and to go down in history. How well said. Jane, as usual what excellent writing.
We all have them, don’t we? Thanks Neel 🙂
One man’s freedom fighter is another man’s terrorist. But they all use violence to try to get what they want. Tragic story and too close to our own times for comfort
Terrorism can never be justified. Democracy might be flawed but it’s the only defence we have against nutty ideologies.
How very right you are Jane. Democracy often sucks (never let the British public vote on an important, Europe based referendum, for instance!) but what are the alternatives?
There isn’t one that I know of. To work properly, democracy needs everyone to take part, to be informed and concerned about the outcome of elections. When too many people opt out, then you get problems.
It’s the informed part too, isn’t it? I don’t like the idea of handing some decisions to those in power – they often make decisions based on budgets rather than what’s best for the majority. But with something like the Brexit referendum, it should have been left to MPs. The public were not well enough informed about the consequences of leaving the EU and the old boy network was too busy scoring points off each other to educate us properly. Now we’re in this mess for decades to come. Depressing
I might be wrong but I had the impression that the whole Brexit fiasco was engineered by Cameron as a stunt to save his skin within his own party. He never expected to lose. It was a personal and purely selfish device, and it blew up in his face. There was never any intention of informing the public so they could make a sensible choice. I don’t suppose Cameron even considered that the public might be interested in knowing anything about it!
I think you’re quite right. He bowed to pressure from right wingers drifting towards UKIP, thought he could steal back some of their following by proving he would listen to those unhappy with Europe and as you say, it blew up in his face. Then the coward ran away rather than dealing with the crap storm the vote caused. One of the (many) things that makes me furious about it is that 48% of us don’t want this – surely for such a momentous change to the entire fabric of our country, there should have been a threshold – say 65, 70% that the vote had to reach before it passed into law. And the referendum itself wasn’t even legally binding – at any point we could have stepped back and said, ‘wait a minute, are we sure this is right?’ Can’t tell you how depressing I find it all. Anymore room over their in La Belle France? 🙂
I’m sure the two governments could come to an arrangement about exchanging refugees 🙂
Haha! 🙂
🙂
Sad but well done. I was confused, however, when Marianne was looking down and then the terrorist was a he. Was it just a missing letter or did I miss something totally?
It’s the bust of Marianne. I’m making the assumption that everyone knows how a French town hall is set up, and I shouldn’t. In the entrance or in a prominent place, there is always a bust of Marianne, the symbol of the Revolution. In the houses that were taken over as public buildings after the Revolution, Marianne would have been put in the place of a religious or aristocratic figure, so in the story, she would have been metaphorically watching the people coming and going.
This is excellent. A very hard topic to write about but brilliantly done.
Thank you! I’m glad you think so.