A Call to Battle by Gillian Chan

Author:Gillian Chan [Chan, Gillian]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781443119764
Publisher: Scholastic Canada
Published: 2012-08-31T04:00:00+00:00

Epilogue

August 1820

It was hard taking leave of them all. I had elected to start my journey early and I was touched to see the whole household there to wave me off. Father stood with his arm around Mother, and she did not weep too much. Angus clasped me to him, and told me that I was to make them all proud and not to worry, as Drew was a fine right-hand man on the farm. Then he laughed and changed that to left-hand man, which made Drew blush and kick at the dirt with his toe.

Mathilda, her arms encumbered with little Angus and with wee John holding onto her skirts, kissed my cheek when I leaned down and embraced her. She whispered that she had so much to thank me for — sending her back to live with our family, and all that had happened since then. I thought but did not say that I had as much to thank her for, and not just for helping Father when he was so sick after the battle at Queenston, since it was her love for Angus that had brought back his sunny disposition.

Ellen and Polly, now just as joined as Polly once was with Morag, were quite the young ladies. Both presented me with gifts they had made: a fine handkerchief embroidered with my initials, AM, from Ellen, and a journal from Polly, who knows how I love to write. Ellen’s gift made my throat thicken as I thought of that other handkerchief, lovingly washed by Mother but still faintly stained from Abell’s blood, wrapped safe with the fife and bible in my pack. All were going home now, as I had promised, for I would travel far into Pennsylvania, to Mansfield, before I went to Philadelphia. Letters have been few, but the Phillips family know I am coming and what I carry. Abell’s Abigail has married another, but she wants her handkerchief still.

Philadelphia. There I will fulfil my dream, a dream started by Surgeon Dunlop — although I doubt that he will ever know that — to train as a doctor. I have laboured long and hard for this, saving all the money that I could earn by day labouring to pay for my schooling. Father did purchase more land for “his boys,” but not for me. Instead, knowing how determined I was to do this and what I am like when I set my mind to something, he gave me the money he would have spent on it.

I am not as headstrong as I was, but I am still stubborn.

I must not forget my teacher, Callum Murdoch. He schooled me in all that he knew, teaching me in the evenings when my work prevented me from attending during the day, and then when we were matched in knowledge, he became my friend — a fellow seeker of knowledge, encouraging me to follow my dream.

Once, just a few years ago, I was flushed with hatred, and dreamed of a glorious war, feeling that I was called to battle.

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