Kelly sighed. Eddie went over and chewed the men out for almost hitting Ava.
"That was amazing!" Inez squealed.
"Can we earn a badge in that?" Lauren asked.
"Why didn't you tell us you could do that?" Caterina squeaked. I couldn't tell if she was impressed or horrified.
The four Kaitlyns frowned at my unladylike act. When did they get so prissy?
Betty glared. "And I can't fight?"
Ava finally found her words. "Thanks for catching that knife, Mrs. Wrath."
"No problem," I muttered. The whole camp was staring at me. As a former spy, it's not a huge leap to realize that's a bad thing. We preferred to stay under the radar.
"I am so sorry about that," Eddie apologized as he rejoined us. "I'll be reporting that to the provost later. These guys know better. They have to be careful with civilians around."
Kelly jumped in. "I could talk to Alister for you. You're so busy and all."
"That!" I pointed at her. "That's what I was talking about!"
She threw her hands in the air, "Seriously, you sound like a broken record."
"What's a record?" Hannah asked.
Eddie continued the tour. "So this is the Confederate drilling ground. Right now they are working on marching and other skills. Each side of camp has their own area designated for this type of activity. When the tourists come tomorrow, the men will answer questions and engage with visitors."
A young man who couldn't have been more than twenty stood before me, hat in hand. He stared at the ground, his cheeks red with embarrassment. An older man in uniform stood next to him, waiting. This was the guy who threw the knife at Ava's head.
"I'm so sorry, ma'am," the kid said. "I didn't see you there."
"That's no excuse, soldier," the older man corrected.
"He's right." The boy's ears became as red as his face. "I should have been safer."
"It's fine, really," I said.
The kid smiled, and his eyes grew bright. "But that was one helluva throw!"
"Private!" the older man shouted, gesturing toward the kids.
"Oh! Sorry!" He slunk off.
The older man started to go but paused. "That was a mighty impressive throw, ma'am."
"Thanks." I smiled.
The men left, and Ava tugged on my skirt. "How come he didn't apologize to me? I almost had a knife through my head."
"Ava would've had to play dead." Inez's eyes grew bright. "We'd have to take her to the amputation tent and take off her head."
One of the Kaitlyns squealed with delight. "Then we could write a letter to her family!"
"They wouldn't amputate her head." Betty rolled her eyes. "She'd be dead already. Why cut her head off?"
"For science?" Lauren offered. "Did they do that back then?"
I had to admit I wasn't sure.
Eddie grinned. Soo Jin had told me he really got a kick out of my troop. "I don't think they'd have cut off her head. But who knows? Maybe she donated it to a medical school for research?"
Ava nodded. "Yup. That's what I did. I donated it."
The sound of drums echoed through the camp as someone was badly attempting to play a tune. Ten boys came into view, marching while playing drums that were slung across their shoulders.
"What the…?" One of the Kaitlyns stormed over to the boys. "What are you doing here?"
Her teenaged brother—the one we'd beat at laser tag a year ago—curled his upper lip and motioned for the others to stop. I couldn't remember his name, and why should I when I couldn't tell his sister from three other girls?
"We have important work to do." The boy sniffed imperiously.
We surrounded the drummer boys, who shifted nervously when they spotted Betty. I took a small, personal pride in knowing that this ten-year-old terrified these kids who were probably fifteen.
One of them began to whimper lightly.
"So do we," Kaitlyn growled.
"You?" Her brother launched into a fake laugh that would shame a clown. "You're just here to look pretty and hold the men's hands when they die. We"—he pointed to his colleagues, who were now staring openly at Betty and sweating—"have an important job in battle."
"Playing drums?" Ava scoffed, her little arms folded over her chest.
"War drums!" Kaitlyn's brother snapped. "We go into battle completely unarmed and keep up morale."
"I'll bet." Kaitlyn folded her arms over her chest. "You can barely walk without tripping." She high-fived Caterina and Hannah.
"That's enough." Eddie stepped forward with the authority a state trooper usually has. "Get back to what you were doing. And if I catch you bothering these girls again, you're out."
The boys nodded and ran off eagerly.
"How come they get to wear uniforms and go into battle?" Betty whined.
She was right. I'd put my money on her any day to destroy these boys.
"Because," Kelly responded "That's why. Now—you're being rude to Mr. Ruiz."
Eddie laughed. "Okay, on with the tour."
There were three Rebel units, like the three on the Union side—the 1st Tennessee Infantry, the 15th Alabama Infantry, and the 33rd Mississippi Artillery.
"Those are the guys who had our cannon!" I whispered to Kelly.
Just then, five men came out of one of the tents. All five smiled genially and tipped their hats.
"Ladies." A tall, heavyset man with a bushy beard grinned. "How wonderful it is to see a bit of beauty in an ugly war zone."
The girls glowed under the praise. Except for Betty, who glowered.
"Sergeant Embry." The man smiled at me. "At your service."
The other four quietly introduced themselves, but I wasn't paying much attention because I had a question. Was it alright to ask, or were we supposed to stay in character?
"You look like you have a question," Embry said. "Please—feel free to ask."
"How did you know?"
He shrugged. "I've been doing this for twenty years. I know when someone has something on their mind."
All eyes turned toward me.
"It's nothing much," I said. "But I am curious. Are you all from Southern states originally? Like in this century?"
Embry shook his head. "Actually, no. I'm from San Francisco. I'm usually with a Union unit, but when there aren't enough of the other side, we take on new parts to even up the odds."
"It's called galvanizing," Eddie continued. "There weren't a lot of Confederate units who could make it. Embry and his men are usually Union soldiers. But they agreed to take on a different role."
Betty raised her hand. "I've got a question. How come you're using dumb old boys for drummers?"
The men laughed. "Because we don't have anyone as good as you on our side."
It was the right answer. Betty seemed to accept this.
Kelly introduced the troop to the men, who tipped their hats at each girl.
"Does it upset the other units that you're not from their side?" Ava asked.
"Not really," Embry said. "They want the numbers to be even."
"How come they're all drilling and you're not?" Inez pressed.
"We've done this a long, long time," the sergeant said. "We don't need the practice."
Eddie thanked the men and herded us away before I could mention the cannon. I guess that was alright since these men had been so kind to our troop. Then again, Betty and I could always launch a commando raid in the middle of the night to get it back.
We headed south, where a barn lay in the distance.
"Is that Reuben Murphy's barn?" I asked.
"It is for these purposes," Eddie said. "But the land belongs to someone else now, and the original barn burned down a few years after the battle."
"Who has Orville?" Caterina asked.
Just then a man came out of the barn and walked toward us with a real, live skunk on a leash. I'm pretty sure the entire encampment heard my troop squeal as they broke rank and ran toward the beast.
I really hoped it was Orville and not some random skunk being taken for a walk.
"Girls!" Kelly shouted. "Stop!"
The girls froze in place. It seemed to hit them that they didn't know anything about this animal. While they didn't move forward, they didn't run back to us either.
"It's okay!" Skunk Man waved us over. "She's tame."
That was all the girls needed as they surged forward again and swarmed the animal.