Duke - A Terrible Unrest

The place is so peaceful now, the old lady said, mostly to herself. It was a fine June day but still she pulled her coat tight, as if trying to guard against something unseen. Its all so peaceful now, even I find it hard to imagine it took place on this very spot.

The teenage girl at her side looked at her grandmother. What happened, Gran? Tell me. Youve been acting kinda strange since you got up this morning.

Her grandmother smiled and took her hand. Oh, honey, it happened all so long ago when I was a little girl just a bit younger than you.

Gran, I know its something to do with when you were a little girl. Daddy told me last month thats why we were coming here, because of what happened to you, and your mom and dad. He wouldnt tell me anything more, said that was up to you. But, Gran, its gotta be important for us to come all the way here.

Well, your dad is right. It is important. You know, dont you, that my mom and dad were from Crete. You know, in Greece. Ive shown you pictures of the villages they came from. Remember? The little girl nodded. Lets go for a walk, honey, and maybe thatll make it easier for me to tell you. Her grandmother smiled again, a smile that let you know that all was right in your world.

The girl slipped her arm though her grandmothers and together they walked into the Colorado prairie. Apart from the muted noise of the traffic on the highway a mile away and the occasional chirrup of a bluebird, all was quiet. Even the wind seemed in thrall to the place and held its tongue. The flat grasslands stretched away endlessly. Only to the west was the landscape different, for there, dissected by small valleys and canyons, lay the foothills, a prelude to the high Rockies a few miles beyond.

As they picked their way among the gopher holes and mounds that dotted the field, and tried their best to avoid the cow pats, baked hard and crusty by the wind and sun, the two of them came across old broken bottles and bits of rusted tin cans, a fragment of a broken plate or the handle of a china cup. The old lady would sometimes stop and look around her. She was seeing something else in the prairie field, something that nobody else could see, something that, by the look in her eyes, was ineffably sad.

They stopped again. The older of the two looked first west and then east, as though trying to orient herself to some unknown point. Yes, I think this is where our tent was. The girl pursed her brow. Then, the old lady nodded slightly to the south. Yes, she whispered to herself, thats where Sally and Franks tent must have been. Sally was my best friend you know, I played with her every day. And Frank was such a fun little boy, he used to tease his little sister no end, sometimes make her cry until his mom laid down the law and he had to stop. But even though he teased her, you know it was Frank who was always there to help her when she got into trouble; it was Frank who

She stopped in mid-sentence and could no longer stop the tears welling in her eyes. She began to take short labored breaths, and her granddaughter became a little frightened, because Gran had had problems with her breathing for the last few years. Although the granddaughter was barely in her teens, still she held her grandmothers waist as though her own body might just for a while bear the burden her grandmother felt so heavily.

Are you okay, Gran? We can go back to the car anytime. Daddy can have you back in the hotel in twenty minutes.

Dont worry, sweetie, just the ghosts of yesterday saying hello to me. She crossed herself, and continued on across the flat expressionless landscape.

They came to a steep arroyo. It was about fifty feet deep and its edge was covered with the debris that theyd seen all across the prairie field broken crockery, metal and smashed glass. Here it was so thick on the ground it looked like a garbage dump. The old lady looked into the arroyos depths and shuddered.

A little further on they came to the remains of a large concrete-lined water cistern dug into the ground. It had filled in over the years and wild prairie grasses now grew where fresh water had once been stored. The cistern was about ten yards from the railroad line that still carried freight up and down the Front Range of the Rockies. In the distance, as it made its way down from Denver, they heard a trains horn, the most mournful and lonely sound in the world. The old lady looked into the cistern and she crossed herself again.

Finally, they completed their circuit of the prairie field and came back to the car, where her son patiently waited.

I think I can look at it now, Nik, she whispered.

Together with her son and granddaughter she walked from the make-shift parking lot, through an iron gate and into a small fenced paddock. It contained a granite memorial bearing a list of names, and two statues, one of a man, the other of a woman holding a child. On the ground nearby, lay a large metal panel hinged to a concrete flange. The son lifted the panel to reveal a set of steps going down about six feet into a concrete-lined cellar.

This was the Death Pit. Her voice became almost inaudible. Or at least thats what its called now. Of course, it wasnt like this years ago. I suppose the union wanted to make sure it was never filled in.

Nik embraced his mother, held her tight, and finally her tears came and wouldnt stop, as memories flooded back into the old womans mind. Sob after sob wracked her body, and the granddaughter clung to her, afraid of what her grandma, brave and strong, had become.

Finally, the tears slowed. She looked at her granddaughter.

Maria, this place is called Ludlow and the day after tomorrow there is going to be a memorial service for what happened here years ago. Men died here, and innocent women and children, too, some of them younger than you. Murdered, if the truth be known. They didnt want to be rich, just to have a decent place to live and work.

She took her granddaughter in her arms and gently held her. Im fine now, sweetheart. Lets go back to the car, your dad can drive us back to Trinidad and Ill have a cup of tea before dinner. And then Ill try and tell you what happened here all those years ago.

Back at the hotel, the old lady was true to her word, and over two cups of tea that stretched for the better part of an hour, she told Maria and Nik what had happened on that prairie field all those years ago.