The two flags

Hal fisherman, the son of the great Sean, was a boy of 19, tall with blond hair and brown eyes. He was born in Argentina but his mother and father were born in England. During the economic crisis of 1785 they had come to Argentina to have a better life. When they arrived, they didn’t know each other. But they became close friends, even their families got together very frequently. Sean and Caroline fell in love, and at the age of 23 in 1794 they got married and had a child, Hal. Five years after Hal was born, Sean and his wife Caroline amassed a fortune. Sean started as a peasant in a farm and with his savings he bought his own farm. He had raised cattle and grown crops in England so he knew how to do it. He bought more and more land and he become a rich landowner. Since he was a child, Hal knew the advantages of being wealthy, however, he didn’t care about money, what he most liked was staying in the farm, and his family had the biggest farm of Argentina. It was situated where the city of Balcarce is now and had 35.000 hectares. At the age of 3 he already knew how to ride a horse. But in 1806 something horrible happened. The British invaded Argentina. Hal was 17 and he was drafted into the army. His parents didn’t want him to fight. Hal was at a crossroad because if he refused to fight he would be departed from the country he loved. Hal decided to fight against the British.
In the army he met Thomas, a boy of 17, just like him. His parents were English too. Thomas was a typical English boy, he was a tall man with blond hair and green eyes, but his family was very poor, they worked as peasants in the farm of a millionaire. Hal and Thomas became very close. The early days before the war were very difficult, because everybody hated them, the people didn’t trust them. One day they were unfairly accused of being traitors and decided that the best idea was to escape. The army was in Buenos Aires and both of their families lived in the countryside. So they planned to escape in a boat, rowing along the River Plate. When they were about to arrive, suddenly they saw thousands of men in red clothes riding incredible horses, they were the British!! They thought: “We are trapped. We must speak with the English men in their language so they know that we are on their side.” Luckily the British general talked to them and said “I believe you, but you must fight for me”. Obviously they accepted the deal. The British gave them their uniform and horses. It was a bloody battle and Hal and Thomas fought as brave men. They fought during 7 hours, and finally they won. Hal and Thomas had fought so well that the British called them heroes.
A month later Hal was back with his family and his new best friend Thomas in his farm. His family was surprised but proud of him. He got medals for bravery and loyalty and served as mayor of his town. He defended people’s freedom and respected their local traditions.
After some time, Hal forgot about the war and how sad it was, and could finally sleep happily again.


Pen name: COMPARADA
Category C