The Last Full Measure by Ann Rinaldi

Author:Ann Rinaldi [Rinaldi, Ann]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

CHAPTER ELEVEN

WHAT HAPPENED next was that David and Mama and Mrs. Wade went upstairs, as if someone were directing them to do so, as if some angel on temporary leave from heaven was leading them with a sword and telling them what to do.

I stood at the foot of the cellar steps, watching.

At the top of the steps, the angel must have given David permission to speak to me, for he turned and said, "You stay in the cellar with the rest of them, Tacy, at least until I come back. I'll be back directly. I'm just going to escort Mama to the McClellan house on Baltimore Street."

The McClellan house was where Jennie had been shot. She and her mother had been staying there, helping her sister, Georgia, with the baby, who was only six days old.

"All right," I told David. Though I don't know if he heard me, because he didn't look as if he was hearing anything, except maybe that angel, who was likely telling him to get on with it because he, the angel, had other places to be, and by the way, don't forget your musket, David—there are still Rebels in the streets.

They went out the door.

The house was silent; it felt empty. I went back down the steps, where everyone in the cellar was staring at me as if I had news to tell or something.

"Stop crying, Tacy," Josie said. "It'll be all right."

"I'm not crying," I said. "And anyway, how can it be all right? She's dead. Jennie Wade is dead. It isn't all right to be dead, is it? Since when is it all right to be dead?"

She was coming toward me, Josie was, with her arms outstretched. "No, it isn't, honey, but your being hysterical isn't going to help right now. It's only going to hurt you. Come on down here with the rest of us. You can't do anything for Jennie Wade anymore."

I allowed her to take my hand. Hysterical? Who was hysterical? But I allowed her to take me over to my mattress where Marvelous waited for me, big-eyed, while I said things I had to say.

"I fought with her and she was my friend."

And "The last thing I did was fight with her."

And "I was supposed to wear pink at her wedding in September."

And "She never really loved Johnston Hastings Skelly. She still loved David. Did you know that? Why she agreed to wed Skelly I never knew. I think it was just to make David jealous. Well, now she can make both of them jealous, can't she?"

Josie took me by the shoulders and gently set me down on my mattress. They were all still staring at me. "I'm going upstairs to get some spirits," Josie said to no one in particular. "She needs to be becalmed. Marvelous, hold her. I'll be right down."

Marvelous held me. I cried on her shoulder. "I want David," I sobbed.

"He be right back, sure 'nuf," Marvelous promised.

Corporal Halpern came over and knelt beside me.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.