Amos came into the kitchen to find Mike, Alex, and Olivia sitting at the table. As he dropped the newspaper in front of Mike he said, “Here’s more about Farragut taking New Orleans. He didn’t exactly get a hero’s welcome when he marched into the city.”
“According to the last newspaper,” Olivia said, “it sounds as if the South isn’t too happy about Beauregard’s actions in Tennessee. Mike didn’t tell us this, but it says here Beauregard not only surrendered the field in Tennessee, but he also left Corinth, Mississippi, saying it wasn’t important enough to fight for. And the railroads junction there!”
“The situation in the South is changing,” Mike interjected. Slaves are coming out in droves. We saw caravans of them, traveling with a few old broken-down wagons and horses in pretty sad condition. They were headed for the Union lines as fast as they could go.”
“Why?” asked Beth.
“They were freeing themselves by escaping into Union territory.”
“And no one tried to stop them?” Beth cried in amazement. Mike studied her face for a moment before he answered, “Not very hard. In some parts of the South, living conditions are getting bad enough that I honestly believe the owners are glad to have them go.”
When Beth lifted her face, she looked around the group with a bewildered smile. “Why is everyone looking at me?”
“I suppose it’s because you didn’t say anything,” Olivia said hesitantly. “Beth, I can’t help thinking you’re very homesick.”
“Homesick?” Beth laughed shortly as she got up and began to clear the newspapers from the table. “Sadie,” she called toward the kitchen, “I won’t be here for supper. Roald is taking some of us downriver to Stubbensville. There’s some kind of fair to honor the soldiers and raise money for them.” With a smile, she added, “I think the fellows will be honored and the girls will be worked!”
She started to leave the room and then turned. “Mike, would you like to come?”
He dropped the newspaper to look at her. Olivia saw his jaw tighten before he forced a smile and said, “Thanks, but I don’t care to go.”
Late that evening as Alex and Amos carried pails of milk back to the house, Alex heard his name called softly. He stopped in the path, recalling another night when a voice had called from the shadows—the night the Golden Awl had returned with a load of slaves. The call came again.
“Who is it?” He called, but as soon as he saw the darker shadow move out of the trees, he knew. Carefully setting the pail of milk in the path, Alex ran forward and caught his old friend in a warm hug. “Caleb! We’ve wondered about you—and worried. Come into the house.”
Inside, Alex looked at Caleb’s tattered clothes, noted the lines on his face, and gently took him to the table. Sadie hurried into the kitchen, and Amos poured coffee for Caleb. Alex said, “I thought we’d lost track of you. We’ve been home for over a year. Mother died last December.”
Caleb lifted his head, focused on Alex and said softly, “I’m sorry; she was a nice lady.” He paused, then the words came in a rush. “I have bad news, too. Lost Bertie and the baby—a little boy; we named him Alexander.” For a moment his face twisted. “Things seemed to be going fine that winter after he was born, and then something came along—a plague. Took out lots of the people.” Looking at the floor, he rambled, “Seems us people accustomed to the heat can’t take the cold.”
Olivia had come into the room, and she listened as Caleb finished his story. Sitting down beside him, she whispered, “Oh, Caleb. I’m so very sorry. Please, will you stay here with us?”
Sadie came over and said, “Thou art welcome. Just take the room next to Alex and Olivia. Now, Amos and I will be going to meeting. Make thyself at home.”
“Thank you. I’ll tarry for a day or so, then I must be off.” He shook hands with Amos, adding, “Been seeking out our people. Now I’m hearing the Union navy is taking on black folks. I aim to join up.”
After Amos and Sadie left, he turned to Alex, his eyes lingering on the gold earring. “Getting a taste of freedom gives me a need to work it out for the others. Alex, you think Lincoln will free the slaves? Down South that’s all they talk about—how Lincoln’s going to save the slaves and deliver them out of bondage.”
“I think he’s going to need to win this war first,” Alex said slowly. “There’s talk of freeing the slaves, but Lincoln says he’s only trying to save the Union, and he’ll do what must be done for the Union’s sake.”
“He doesn’t care about the slaves?”
“Lincoln cares very much. He thinks slavery is wrong, but freeing the slaves isn’t the issue right now. It’s preserving the States as a whole, united body.”
Caleb hesitated, picked up his fork, and asked, “What do the people in the North think would happen if the South were just let go?”
Alex shook his head. “Most think it wouldn’t work. It’s like a married couple deciding they aren’t going to be married any more, but will live next door to each other as neighbors. There’s no way, after being married, that they’ll ever be just neighbors. Some things can’t be undone.”
Caleb chuckled. “There’d be a heap of fighting going on.” Olivia watched the shadows in Caleb’s eyes as he picked at his food. Finally Caleb asked, “Alex, you gonna fight?”
Olivia held her breath. “Not if I can help it,” Alex said. “Goes too much against the grain, taking a gun against another human.”
Caleb nodded. “But you’re different. Since we were little, you’ve been different. Not like other Southern boys, always scrappin’, trying to be the hero and out-brag their buddies. Them duels and fisticuffs!” He shook his head. “Alex, against the grain or not, maybe you’ll have to get in there and help Mr. Lincoln. You’d do that for him, wouldn’t ya?” Alex drank his coffee as Caleb continued. “Might be the Lord’s sayin’, ‘Looky here, you fellows down there started this, now finish it. You wouldn’t listen to me in the first place, why come beggin’ me to take over now?’”
“You think so?” Alex looked up. “Caleb, do you think there are some things in life which the Lord won’t change? Maybe the problems we pull down on ourselves?”
“Alex, you told me yourself that the Lord will never force us against our will. You said that it rains on the just and the unjust. The North wouldn’t give the South what she asked for, so the South, she starts a war. Guess the North fights back or decides a United States isn’t worth keeping.”
“But Caleb,” Olivia protested, “you’ve told us over and over that the slaves have been crying out to the Lord for deliverance. Won’t God deliver them?”
“If He answers prayer, then He’ll deliver, one way or another. Maybe he wants people to help deliver, Missy. Why do some prayers get answered and some don’t?” She saw a deep pain in his eyes, and she could only shake her head.
“At times,” Alex answered, “all we can guess is that God has plans and purposes we know nothing about, and His greatest desires for us are that we truly become people of God.”
He toyed with a spoon, then finally looked up reluctantly. “It’s very likely God will ask of me something I don’t want. Life has almost been too easy. This might be that call which will enable me to become what He wants.”
“Even so far as fighting and dying?” Olivia whispered.
Alex opened his mouth to answer when they heard footsteps come through the hall. It was Beth. She seemed bewildered as she looked around the room. At last she focused on Olivia and cried out, “Roald is going to Washington. That means he’ll be fighting.”
“Oh, Beth, I’m sorry. But just because he’s going to Washington doesn’t mean he’ll fight.”
“There’s men being killed by the thousands!” she cried, pacing to the table.
“And Lincoln’s plea for men has turned out hundreds of thousands,” Olivia countered. “Beth, can’t you see, it’s going to take this kind of army to win the war?” She stopped abruptly. Alex was watching her.
Ashamed of her duplicity, Olivia turned, but Beth had already left the room. Olivia watched Mike coming down the hall. Without speaking, Beth hurried past him and up the stairs.
He hesitated in the doorway and Alex called, “Come in, Mike. Here’s someone you need to meet. This is Caleb.”
He came forward with a grin. “I’ve heard plenty about you. Good to have you here.”
Caleb nodded. “I’m on my way to join up with the navy.”
“Man, am I glad to hear that! I’ve been filling in because they can’t get enough pilots. I’ll let you have my job any day.”
“You’re not going to stay with the navy?” The smile faded from his face. “You and Alex.” He shook his head. “My mother used to say to me, ‘Caleb, you started this, now you finish it. It don’t matter you didn’t give it a moment’s thought before getting in over your head, dat’s yo’ problem!’ I don’t reckon I like fighting any better than you.”
“But you’re going, Caleb,” Mike protested. “I can’t reconcile Jesus Christ and his gentle ways with killing.”
“Then I guess I’ll have to ask for you to know His will.”
“What if you find out He says it isn’t my job?”
“Then I’ll be going for you. I feel it’s what the Lord wants me to do.”
During the night, Alex awoke sweating and shaking. He had dreamed a man had been attacking Olivia, choking the life out of her. As his racing heart slowed, he recalled his part in the dream. He hadn’t delivered just one smack to the head of the intruder; instead he had methodically pounded the man to death. The man’s blood ran boot deep around Alex.
He took a deep, shaky breath. You can fight for anything, he thought, if it’s important enough to die for.