Chapter One
The muddy ground shook as James Smith made his way across the field, scattered with fallen comrades. He wondered about these fallen men. Were they doctors, lawers, bakers. They all had one thing in common, they had given up what they wanted to be soldiers. Up ahead, he saw flickers of light, which were what he knew to be bombs, taking the lives of many. He heard the screams of many, some crying to God for mercy, others cursing God. The stench of rotting bodies from the two previous days of battle filled the air.
Thoughts of the last few days seemed to haunt him. “Why are we here? Why did we come?”
The American army had been in battle for three days, fighting against the Germans. He had led his regiment into battle the first day, and since had been reminded of the horrors of war. James had watched men die for the cause. Die for the cause that they believed in. He had seen men thank God for the privilege of dying for the cause. He wondered if he could do that.
As he trudged on toward the base camp, he thought back to the first day of the battle when he had been commanded to attack. He recalled that commanders warning, “You must not allow those Nazi’s to take you alive. They will not abide by the rules of war, my friend.”
“Emma Grace! If I have to call up these stairs again, so help me you won’t sit down for a week!”
“Coming, Mom!”
Julia Smith looked at the cook, Melissa, and said, “She was probably caught up in some book.” She chuckled, “She reminds me so much of her father.”
“The young girl is a reflection of you and your husbands love. You miss your husband, yes?” The French cook asked
I miss him so much, that I think if I did not have to run this boarding house, I would sit around all day and pine away for my James.” She replied, tears coming to her eyes. Then as soon as the tears came, they were gone, as feet pounded down the stairs.
“Sorry mom, I was in the middle of Pride and Prejudice, at the part when Mr. Darcy proposes and Lizzy refuses. I love that part!” Julia chuckled at the sound of her voice.
Turning to see her daughter, the spitting image of herself, Julia smiled as she said, “You have already read that book three times. Don’t you get tired of it?”
“Never. I love the romance and irony of it all.” Emma said, her eyes glowing with love of life.
Well, to balance the romance, you should start on the breakfast dishes. We wouldn’t want you to be unbalanced.”
“Yes Ma’am” came the reply, with only a hint of displeasure in the voice.
Julia watched her daughter get right to work, her brown hair pulled up into a pony, making her look younger than fifteen. She watched her, wishing that she could give her a better life that caring for boarders. Her rough hands could be seen as she washed the dishes, humming joyfully. Her smile seemed to light up her brown eyes
“She has adapted to the life of service better than I expected.” Julia said quietly to Melissa, who nodded her head in agreement.
“I thought working with a girl who had not been working her whole life would be a pain, but it is quite the opposite. She works harder that I do, and I work pretty hard, if I do say so myself. And with those new boarders coming in today, she will be pretty busy’
The new boarders were arriving this afternoon, Julia remembered. They had sent a proper inquiry letter last month, requesting two rooms, one for the couple, and the other for their two daughters, Andrea and Renee. They were arriving on the afternoon train. “Do we have their rooms ready yet, Melissa?”
“Yes, we do. Isn’t it just great, them renting two rooms at the same time! And them our first boarders and all.”
Emma Grace turned at this point, having been listening to the conversation. “Mom, Do you know how old the girls are?” She asked with a hint of excitement in her voice.
“No, the letter did not specify the girls’ ages.” Julia replied. As she turned back to the clothes she was folding, she added, “Since you are done with those dishes, you can go and tend to the garden now.” She said the finality in her voice showing.
Emma Grace Smith was a very independent girl who, when she was little, envisioned a great career with prestigious benefits, and great money income. But things had changed since her father had gone to war to fight the Germans. Her family’s earnings had gone from very high when the Army had money to pay the soldiers to nothing when the country had gone onto the Great depression. Her frugal mother had come up with the idea to open a boarding house in the huge house that had been inherited from her uncle, and ever since, Emma had been busy scrubbing floors, doing laundry, painting, maintaining the garden, and managing the inquiries coming in.
As she pulled a stubborn weed from its place, she heard a car drive into the driveway. She stood up, brushed off the dirt from her clothes, and walked over to the uniformed man getting out of the vehicle. She approached, all the while greeting the man saying, “Hello, can I help you with something?” She could tell that the young man, probably only sixteen, was uncomfortable. His hesitant answer was a hint that something was wrong.
“I have a telegram for a Mrs. Smith.” He said, taking a letter out of his uniform’s pocket.
“I can give it to her.” The slight hesitancy in his eyes caused her to add, “I am her daughter.” ,which seemed to settle him, and with a slight nod, entered the car exceedingly quickly, apparently afraid of something.
Shrugging the odd behavior, Emma glanced down at the letter; the heading seemed to jump out at her. The United States Military. Immediately she smiled. Father must be coming home! She thought. She hurriedly climbed the stairs to the house.
“Mother, Mom!” She exclaimed, excitement in her voice. “A letter came for you”
Looking up from the bread she was kneading, Emma thought her mother was the prettiest woman in the world, her fine brown hair stuck to the sweat covered face, and the smile that enlightened her face made an angelic air around her.
“What is this?” her mother asked, wiping her hands on her apron, after which she took the letter. When she saw the heading, she exchanged a smile with Emma, all the breaking the seal. Emma looked into her mother’s eyes while she read, and was surprised at the changing from excitement to worry.
“What is it, mom?” She asked with apprehension. But the answer did not come from her mother’s mouth, but from the enclosed tags that fell out. They read, Smith, James j. her father’s tags, the tags that they would only take off if the soldier was killed.
Julia could not breathe, could not move, could not comprehend. Her world seemed to be spinning, yet her world seemed to stop. She felt her eyes fill with tears, with massive tears. She saw James, her James, in her vision, he was smiling. She saw him, and then nothing, her world went black
Chapter 2
Emma studied her mother’s face, her own etched in worry. It had been three days since the letter had come, and three days since her mother had collapsed into a coma. The doctor had said that she was fine, that she was just in shock, but if she was not awake tomorrow, the doctor would put her on IV’s Emma remembered the look on the doctor’s face when he had come, and knelt by the bed, and shook his head as he said, “The only way she will come out of this coma is if she wants to. From the tests, there is nothing wrong with her physically, just emotionally. She does not see any reason to live. If she does not want to come out of the coma, she won’t.” She remembered thanking the doctor, and showing him to the door. Yet she could not remember it in detail. She had just wanted to get up to her mother.
As she watched her mother’s steady breathing, she studied the lines on her face, from all the years for hard labor caring for her. Her one goal in life had been to her family. Taking care of them when they were sick, hugging them when they were sad, and loving them even when they were naughty. Emma wondered if she could return the love to her mother
She wondered what was going on inside her mother’s head. She imagined she was thinking of father, AS Emma was. She wondered if in the recesses of her mind, her mother remembered that she was still there, that she was missing her father too, that she was grieving for him too. She knew that her mother cared for her, but she knew that the love for her father was different and in a different way. As she thought, she felt a tear run down her cheek, and before she knew it, she was sobbing; as she sat there holding her mother’s hand. If her mother stayed in the coma, she would not know what to do. She was all alone in the world, unless her mother would come out of it. She cried out, “O God, what will I do?” She paused for a minute, then continued in her prayer, “God, I know that you will take care of me, please help my mom”
Julia felt enclosed, struggling to breathe. She seemed immobile, blind and mute. But her hearing was working. She heard someone, someone it seemed praying. She then recognized the voice-Emma. As she listened to the prayer, she felt immobile to do anything. She tried to evade herself of the darkness, but it had a grip on her. She struggled, until she again gave in to the overwhelming darkness.
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