Officer Ken

Officer Ken is not really an officer though he might be. It is not quite clear. he claims to have been in the military since 1988. That is a history book ago. Now he walks the beat of Fort George, a casualty of the War of 1812, and he is fully uniformed, down to the epaulettes and buttons and collar, in his trim red British Officer uniform, exactly so as not to be confused with an Officer of the 49th Regiment. He wears round glasses and talks at attention and peers at you intently as he answers all questions pertaining to the Officers Quarters and the "internal economy" of the Fort, the mess hall which he patrols. The palisades, which have withstood seventy years, are crumbling, and will soon be replaced, and maybe then the outhouse will be found. Officer Ken's eyes twinkle at the prospect.

Officer Ken is far more real than the the stuffed soldier crawling with rats in the prison cell. I actually jumped to see that simulation, never mind the tale of the cat of nine tails that was used on soldiers who travelled all the way to this British outpost with or without family, depending on how the lots were drawn on the wharf (six of 100 soldiers got to bring their families with.) Officer Ken is concerned that the shoelaces the other mock soldiers wear should be brown and not black. Because we owe this to the soldiers who fought for us, he explains.

But that is because Officer Ken has been standing on guard for us since 1988. We can sleep safely because of his outstanding method acting. This is precision with passion.

Like all the others, he will swelter in his uniform once the sun bears down, but that will be nothing compared to the heat and sweat of the summers of the past, with soldiers and their families sharing their patch of space in the barracks. And as for those soldiers, what fit in their two feet by two feet knapsacks was all they needed.

And all that Officer Ken needs is to remember that for us all.