This week’s #writephoto prompt is
Thump wasn’t your ordinary canon. Thump had been around. Cast in 1740, as a shiny new gun, he’d joined the Worthy Seaman and travelled the world, defending his men. He loved his gun crew, though all that soft flesh meant they changed often. The good ones oiled and wiped him, understood how salt water stung and sun sucked him dry. They ensured he was protected from hard jolts and metal hammers. In return he hurled himself forward, out of his gun port as he spat those little pips at the French, the Dutch and, especially the Spanish. Crump and Trump, cast in the same foundry had gone, one sunk to the bottom of the Sargasso Sea and the other smithereened in a battle with pirates off Florida, but new canon were always arriving, chirpy hollows of iron keen to get pumping, wanting the experience the searing heat of the gunpowder, the dizzying rush of the expulsion. Thump would tell stories of battles fought, of miraculous escapes when the ships caught fire or some other canon ball almost destroyed their gun deck.
He’d survived the change to ironclads, been adapted to fight on a gun carriage and travelled Europe and North Africa, blasting at hills and stone forts. There was a satisfaction in watching walls crack and crumble but he hankered for the easy life at sea, the softness of the waves against the ruts and holes of the roads much travelled. And the company. He missed the camaraderie of the gun deck.
As the nineteenth became the twentieth century, Thump was converted again, this time a step up to perform ceremonial duties, for Royal birthdays, national days of celebration and visiting dignitaries. He’d been admired by decorated veterans, aloof princelings and sticky-fingered children.
And now here he was, fully retired and settled into his own rampart, back where he was forged so many years ago.
As he contemplated the horizon, he felt content. Life had been good and now, for the first time in centuries he didn’t have a headache…
TanGental 
A lively history with an amusing close
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I have a lot of sympathy for the inanimate objects of war.
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Geoff this is absolutely a great storytelling, I enjoyed the history too…..I just keep waiting for the Rev Cannon Fodder from the Village to arrive or an invasion of brass monkies!
Love it !
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You know me too well. I was wondering if I could incorporate brass monkeys and decided it would fundamentally change the tone!
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Yes indeed it would have …. Very nicely done all the same!
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I’ve never felt empathy with a canon before today (except for the Reverend Doctor Canon Arbuthnot, but that is another story entirely). Well done Thump. It was a blast!
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Thump is a unsung hero; not one to blow his own wetsuit…
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Those muzzle loaders never were very good at opening up!
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Far too intense I expect. Just primed to explode…
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lolz!
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What a charming story you’ve crafted! And I loved the ending. I may have to tell this one to my grandson!
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Do! I think Thump’s story deserves a wider audience.
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So write a children’s book with similar tales. You are loaded with hidden talent!
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Add it to the list!
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So glad he’s enjoying retirement and not pining for his lost balls. Sorry, couldn’t resist. Wonderful flight of the imagination.
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I’m glad someone lowered the tone, George!
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Oh, what a lovely story. I’m glad Thump has made it to a well-deserved retirement.
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He’s a very modern hero.
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Great story. 😊
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Thank you Gwen. He needs his story told!
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Awww… I’m Thump’s newest fan. He is a hero.
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He’s pretty cool
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Yes!
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