Valhalla High (A Magnus Chase Fanfic)

Tuna Saint Guy

October 9

My mother dropped me off at TJ's house at 10:32 in the morning. I was nearly done with my homework (only some Calculus problems left!) and I was relieved to get a break. Granted, I was kinda nervous about this whole re-enactment thing. What if the canons actually fired and hit someone? Or the guns went off?

    TJ lived in an apartment. It was cozy, but small with only two rooms. He showed me his. I stared at his bookshelf for a good, long minute. "It's impressive, isn't it?" TJ said proudly.

It was filled with books — mostly nonfiction history books. "It's amazing," I said. "I like reading a lot too, though mostly fiction."

"Favorite series?" he asked.

"Maximus Chaos and the Gods of Asgard , though the Peter Johnson ones are quite good," I said. "Annabelle reminds me of my cousin."

    TJ smiled. "Those are my favorite books too. I really relate to Thomas Junior."

    I nodded. "I keep having dreams that I'm Maximus Chaos."

   TJ laughed. "Now that would be a life."

   "Or a death," I said. "I still cannot believe Richard Ryans killed him off in the first 50 pages."

    "Yeah," TJ agreed. "Uncle Richard is such a troll."

     He looked me over. "My clothes might be a bit small on you, but I think they will do."

   He opened his closet, rummaged through it, and handed me an outfit. It was pants and a shirt, but they were old-fashioned. "Wow," I said. "Where did you get them? They really do
look like they are from the Civil War."

    "My mother is a seamstress," TJ explained, "so she taught me how to sew once she realized how interested I was in re-enactment. A lot of people buy their own, but they're quite expensive."

    "This is amazing," I said. "Are you sure I can wear it?"

   TJ nodded. "We're friends. Friends share things."

   I blinked. "I'm used to people sharing by taking my stuff without permission."

    TJ smiled in understanding. "You can change in the bathroom."

    I did so. The pants were a little tight, but they worked and the shirt fit pretty well, though I had to roll up the sleeves. I knocked on the door. When TJ opened it up, I saw him dressed in the blue uniform of a Union soldier. With the rifle in his hand, he looked like a figure from the past. "Whoa," I said.

     TJ smiled. "Ready for the actual re-enacting?"

    "Uhhh," I said. "Is there a script?"

    He clapped me on the back. "Don't worry, Magnus. Everything will be alright."

***

    After lunch at TJ's place (his mother made the best cornbread hands down that I'd ever had), she drove us to a park. "Is this like an actual site of a Civil War battle?" I asked.

    TJ shook his head. "There really weren't battles fought here during the Civil War," he said, "but Massachusetts was an important state. Many abolitionists lives here, Confederate POWs were held here, and we are the home of the 54th Massachusetts Infantry Regiment."

Like the intellectual I was, I asked, "Never heard of that."

"Oh you probably have," TJ said. "You just don't remember their name. They are the second Union regiment that allowed blacks to fight. I'm re-enacting as one of them today."

"Whoa that's cool, but wait," I said. "Why didn't Union soldiers allow blacks to fight in regiments? I thought they were against slavery!"

"The world isn't divided into slaveowners and good people," TJ said.

I nodded. The world was a messy, complicated place. We parked and TJ's mother said goodbye to us. "I'll be here to pick you up by 5:30 PM."

"Thanks mom," TJ said.

His mother gave him one last smile and then backed up. TJ squared his shoulders and looked at me. "You ready?"

I nodded.

***

I was not ready. First of all, there were a lot more people than I expected and their names kinda all blended together (how many Johns and Sarahs were there in the world?). Secondly, the canons were huge — like really huge. I'd seen the Liberty Bell and I hadn't been impressed (what's the big deal over an old bell?), but this was something else. One of the men standing near the canons started going on and on about the roles of canons in 19th century warfare. I smiled; this truly was TJ's place.

TJ met up with some others from his regiment and introduced me to them. There was Joe Wilson who was a sniper and William H. Butler. He looked me over and noticed I wasn't wearing the same blue uniforms that they were. "You're not fighting on the Confederate side, are you?"

I shook my head. "I'm a medic."

"Good," Joe said. "The glorification of the Confederacy not only whitewashes history, but romanticizes slavery and racism."

TJ smiled. "Joe's dream is to bring change to the world. He volunteers at the local NAACP and likes writing essays on social justice issues."

Joe nodded. "I want to be a lawyer or a politician, but a good one."

After meeting them, TJ showed me to where the others medics were gathered. There was only one other medic: a tall blonde woman who looked to be in her thirties. "My name is Eir," she said, introducing herself. "Glad you came. There are some days I'm the only medic."

I blinked. Over to the right, I could see dozens of people in grey Confederate uniforms. I found it crazy that more people wanted to dress as people who fought in favor of slavery than as medics. "Well," I said. "What do we do?"

Eir talked a lot about medicine in the Civil War era. "Are you a doctor?" I asked.

She nodded. "And you? Is that what you want to be?"

"I want to be a nurse," I said.

She smiled. "A good choice."

Right then, I heard someone complaining in a loud voice. "Those Union wannabes are so politically correct."

My hands curled into fists. I didn't like fighting, but this guy was annoying. "You're on the losing side."

That was TJ. "I don't get it. Why do you always choose it?"

This must be the Tuna Saint Guy TJ was talking about. He was even worse in person. "My family fought for the Confederacy!"

"A lot of Germans have family who fought for the Nazis and they don't dress up as them," TJ said.

Tuna Saint Guy curled his lip. "You want me to be ashamed of my heritage."

"No, I want you to recognize it for what it is," TJ said. "The good, the bad, and the ugly."

Tuna Saint Guy got closer to TJ. That's when I stepped in. "Leave him alone," I said.

I turned to TJ. "He's not worth it."

TJ was breathing hard, but he finally nodded. "We're winning this re-enactment anyway."

He stalked away. looked back at Tuna Saint Guy who was smirking and wondered why the ghosts of the past were still very much alive.