Walking Home - Pencil drawing by Nigel A JAMES
Under A Roman Moon
Bruno Hope’s story of survival
Life is a journey of risks and sometimes great danger. But, for some people, perils and hazards are just part of life’s course, and, Bruno Hope is just such a person!
It was 1945. Bruno Hope was busy walking home across Italy. He was a young man; he had survived his war, and Vienna, although still far away, was getting nearer and nearer as each day passed by. Things couldn’t be better. Soon his favourite beer would be flowing and the schnitzels he had missed for so long would be sizzling once more in the pan; and, even that war torn Italian village seemed like heaven on earth as he passed through it on his way to the north. But then it happened!
The partisans struck. The firing was coming from every direction. There was no escape. Bruno went down in a hail of bullets. Then, with one of his shoulders completely destroyed, and his heart holding on for all it was worth he passed out. And there, beneath a Roman moon he lay, waiting to die – in a pool of crimson deepening blood!
But not yet! His death was not meant to be. Long ago, a gipsy had told him so, and he had believed it! He knew in his heart of hearts that the beer and the schnitzels would wait.
The doctors fought hard to save him, and they did a wonderful job. But his left shoulder and arm had been too badly hit to repair. They would never work again! But Bruno Hope thought differently, and, so it was, that he went to work on himself.
He began by lifting the lightest of weights, and, within eighteen months of hard work and increasing the load, his arm was back once again to full strength. He had managed to cure himself and get himself working again. He had fought the impossible and won!
And that’s how Bruno’s life has been ever since. Downs are for getting up from and not giving in to; and, most importantly, what ever authority tells you, follow your own inner voice and do what it tells you! It usually knows best!
nj
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