Hello, and welcome to Drabbletober. This is episode 15, for Tuesday the fifteenth of October 2024.
Gunpowder and Wine
by Elizabeth Guilt
My grandfather refused to go near the bar. "Too many damn idiots," he said, of the tourists who poured in. They bought overpriced jugs of gritty cocktails to toast the revolution 'in gunpowder and wine'.
"Better off with beer," he grumbled.
"Mrs McClusky told us in history that it was just a metaphor, anyway."
"Well, your Mrs McClusky doesn't know shit, either."
"Did you? Really?"
"Wine was too expensive. We drank shots of rum with a teaspoon of gunpowder. Once."
"Why?"
"It tasted foul. But we thought we were going to die that night, and stupid gestures gave us courage."