~ Jonney boy, the pipes are calling ~
April 16th, 1915
The pop of grease echoed through the kitchen as the air filled with a light fog of smoke and the smell of bacon, eggs and sausage. “Come on boys! Breakfast is almost ready!” the sweet voice of Lucy Heath could be heard through the small cottage, nestled by a brook in North Carolina.
Jonney sat at the small oakwood table situated in the middle of the kitchen, thumbing through his copy of the Dixie Time. The front page had been dedicated to the “Great War” as it had been called, in fact it was on the front page of every news paper, providing an ever so constant reminder that they were at war.
“Wilson calls for more troops...” he mumbled to himself, reading the headline out loud to himself. Guiding his eye’s down the page while skimming over he stopped and put the paper down. The words mobilization and Army of North Carolina caught his eye, though he dare not say them out loud for fear of upsetting Lucy.
“Anything other than bad news in the paper today Jon?” she asked, siting down a plate of Sausage on the table. Clearing his voice he shook his head. “Nothing, anything that is worth putting in the news is never good news any way honey.” He replied.
“Oh well then… Boys! Breakfast!” she said before raising her voice to call the boys again. The sound of footstep’s could be heard approaching as Jonney, now in his fifty’s, looked over his shoulder to see his two son’s enter the room.
“Hey there pop’s” Ben said, Jonneys oldest son said patting him on the shoulder before taking a seat right beside his old man. Ben was about twenty five years old, 5’4, golden blond hair and the spiting image of his father when he was younger. Looking at him was like looking back in time at himself, young, strong, ambitious…everything Jonney had wanted his son’s to be, but in this day and age what he wanted his boys to be could just get them killed.
“So anything good in the paper?”
“Oh no, nothing good, at least that’s what your father said.” Lucy smiled, walking over to Ben and kissing him on the head before setting down a plate of food before him.
“Hey there ma, pa.” Another voice sounded as Jonneys younger son, Charles, walked into the room. Charles looked more like his mother, or that’s at least what people said. The young man was handsome, smart and just as ambitious as his older brother, but more careless too.
Taking a seat next to his mother, who had just sat down, he poured himself a glass of orange juice and began to, politely, tear into the meal sat before them. “Honey, could you help out around the house for a little while today. I need to cook a meal for the Anderson's.”
“What for? From what I hear Tana is wonderful cook, err, not as good as you of course dear.” He said, stopping to correct himself before he bought himself a weeks stay in the dog house, Lucy was always a bit temperamental, but strangely that was one of the things that attracted him to her in the first place. Of course, his little goof off roused a snicker from his sons who quickly turned back to focus on there breakfast.
“No, their son Cody was killed in France the other day..” The room got quiet, no one like to talk about the war in Europe, to many were dieing, and many began to hit closer and closer to home. “Of course dear, whatever you need.” He replied, taking a bite out of a sausage patty.
The room was quite for a long time, not a word was spoken, only the calmer of forks hitting plates and glass;s hitting the table could be heard, well, aside from the whole chewing aspect of the meal, when finally Ben began to speak. “So...I heared from Bobby Danial's that the President is going to call the Army of North Carolina into combat…said their looking for volunteers too.”
“That’s good for him now isn’t it Ben? too many of our boys are going over their and never coming back, we should just leave European business to Europeans.” Jonney said bitterly.
“Well, I was thinking…”
“We were thinking, Ben,..”
“Right, well, Charles and I were thinking of, volunteering..”
“No” Jonney snapped, dropping his fork down on the plate and looking up at his sons.
“You can’t tell us no, were in our twenties for god sakes..”
“You can’t tell me no boy! I am your father and you will obey me!” Jonney shouted, slamming his fist down on the table.
“Boy’s see reason hear, neither your father or I want to see you killed! Now just calm down, Jon, and we will talk this over.” Lucy tried to intervene, attempting to calm Jonney down.
“I'm sorry mom, but its too late for that, Ben and I knew you would say no…that’s why we already signed up for the Army of North Carolina.”
“We ship out sometime in the next couple of days..” Ben added.
“I can’t believe this, my own boys, my flesh and blood, would go behind my back and do something this…this…foolish!” he shouted, standing up. Jonneys face was burning and turning red from the anger. Most of all he couldn’t believe what was happening, no, worst of all he could believe what was happening, he expected it, they were too much like him.
“You can’t go, I..I forbid it!”
“Lets go Charlie…” Ben said, standing up too and grabbing his things in a pouch he sat outside the door. Both of them expected this reaction, and prepared for it.
“Don’t you dare leave boys, I’ll tear both your hides up, you think because your older you can do your old man and mother wrong like this!?”
“Please boys, be reasonable, think about what your doing!” Lucy cried out to her sons, who turned away. Ben, putting his hand on Charlie’s shoulder and guiding him out the door.
“Get back here! Damn’it! Do you hear me! Get back here now!”