Christopher Hibbault, Roadmaker

A sweltering July day finds a young workhouse boy lying on a dusty road, the mile‑stone marking sixty‑three miles to the bustling promise of London. He has spent countless evenings counting the distance, his imagination filled with visions of liberty while the harshness of hunger and the weight of his past linger behind. The countryside stretches in chalky dust and wildflowers, a quiet world that fuels both his longing and his resolve to chase the city’s faint glow.

When a pair of horses and a creaking phaeton appear on the horizon, the boy seizes his chance to step beyond the modest bounds of Whitmansworth Union. He rises, stone in hand, recalling an old woman’s prophecy that hints at a future beyond the road’s endless line. With the wind at his back and the mile‑stone’s black letters a reminder of his goal, he sets off toward the unknown, his heart beating with the hope that the road will finally lead him to the life he has always imagined.