Emerging Writers. Historical Fiction Part 10, by Mary Ann DiLorenzo

The Sun Came Out Today

Never thought I would see it again

But there it was when I awoke!

 

The dark clouds had lifted ever so slightly

For it to break through

And it was warm to my weary bones.

 

The sadness was still there

Expect it always will be

But maybe soon I will smile again,

Yes, I will smile again, despite what has happened.

 

Journeying Back to What Used to Be, Part 10.

The next morning, Johnny and Sam took Sam’s large wagon into town. Neither had gotten supplies in a while and they were looking forward to stocking up as best they could. They were halfway to town before Johnny brought it up.

“Sam, been wonderin’ about something.”

“What’s that Johnny?”

“Why did you tell me Emily married just to spite me? I know she was angry, but she wouldn’t have married just to spite me. The letter I got from her didn’t seem to be anything about spitin’ me.”

“Well the way I figure it,” explained Sam, “she loved you too much to marry anyone else if it weren’t for spite. At least that’s the way I reckon it.”

Johnny thought a moment and then replied, “She couldn’t understand why we had to go, that’s what I know for sure, don’t know about the other things but it don’t matter none now anyway.”

They didn’t talk much after that, the clopping of the horse, the birds singing overhead and the noisy insects in the woods were the only sounds. As they kept to the wide trail into town, they both went back in their minds to the day they left, left for the war, and now, looking back, all they had left behind. But the feeling wasn’t sadness, really, as one would know sadness. It was rather resignation, what they had now was what they had and they best work with it. Lord knows there was no sense in digging up the years gone by, but how that war ruined so many things that were good.

“Sure is fixin’ to be dang hot today,” Sam thought out loud. “Reminds me of all that marching we did during the war. Seems like the hotter it was, the more marching we did.”

But Johnny didn’t answer. He was remembering those marches too. Short ones were bad but the long ones in the heat were nearly unbearable. And when they had no shoes it was even worse. The Southern cause didn’t provide too well, resources were lacking from the start. The South, though determined and resilient throughout, was not the war machine the North was. So the Southern boys learned to make do with what they could get their hands on, like shoes taken from dead men on either side. It was always a happy day when someone took a good pair of shoes off a dead Yankee and they actually fit. Remembering that somehow made Johnny smile.

“Well at least we’re both wearing our own shoes now,” Johnny remarked.

“Yep, that we are!” answered Sam. And they both had a good long laugh, like neither had since before the war. And Johnny and Sam continued toward town as the horse kept clopping along the hot trail stirring up the dust.

Follow this Civil War Story About Going Home.

Journeying Back to What Used to Be, Part 1 

Journeying Back to What Used to Be, Part 2

Journeying Back to What Used to Be, Part 3

Journeying Back to What Used to Be, Part 4

Journeying Back to What Used to Be, Part 5

Journeying Back to What Used to Be, Part 6 & 7

Journeying Back to What Used to Be, Part 8

Journeying Back to What Used to Be, Part 9

Journeying Back to What Used to Be, Part 10 (This one)