The Anonymous Earthlings

By Craig: The man lived many centuries ago. He was a humble man who lived in a small cottage with his wife and children. He was a blacksmith by trade, and spent many a day standing at the forge. Was he sharpening a blade? Perhaps he was fitting some shoes for a neighbors horse? No, wait, he might be making a suit of armor for one of the Duke's knights! It was nearly dark but the glow from the forge along with an open flame nearby cast his burly medieval shadow on the stone wall behind him. His apprentice, a young man barely removed from his teens operated the belows as the blacksmith swung his mighty hammer.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! The mighty hammer fell bending the iron to the blacksmith's will.

The blacksmith's wife was also humble. She spent her days raising the children and keeping house. Was one of the children sick today? She would be making a trip to the apothecary. Her calloused hands added more lye to the barrel where the linen lay soaking in water. She took hold of the big wooden stick that resembled a paddle.

Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish! The paddle went round and round moving the linen to the washerwoman's will.

The children played in the yard. A young girl, perhaps 3 or 4 cuddled with a doll on the stone steps in front of the cottage, while her older brother and sister sat down for a game of marbles. "No fair!" cried the girl to her brother as he scooped up one of her marbles outside of the circle.

Ping! Ping! Ping! Ping! The marbles went as they traveled through the circle moving in the direction of the children's will.

These were the ancestors of old. Your ancestors, my ancestors. Most of them are nameless, yet they lived in a more remote time. Like us they busied themselves with the mundane chores of everyday life.  They were living people. They ate, they drank, they worked, they slept, they laughed, they cried, they aged... they were us, and one day we will be them...anonymous earthlings who perpetuated the species...soon lost through the vast infinite highway of time.