Wars at Home

Chapter 1

"Victoria, didn't you say you needed new pencils for school?" I asked my daughter as we entered the store.

"Yes, Mama." She nodded. "And some paper too."

"Alright, go get them," I said.

Victoria went to retrieve her supplies and I continued on in the other direction with her brother, James by my side.

I had to suppress the urge to groan when I noticed Hetty Clark and Jane Brooks talking near the fabric.

Knowing that the store would be fairly empty, I purposely picked this time of the day to take care of my shopping. Unfortunately, sometimes I ran into Mrs. Clark and Mrs. Brooks becuase of it.

I'd known some fairly unpleasant women in my life, but these two were some of the worst. They didn't just gossip. They made a sport of it, competing with each other for the best news to share. If they didn't have anything terribly interesting to discuss, they'd make something up and spread that around instead.

Typically, I tried to avoid them, but I still heard things at times. Sometimes, they were rather shocking things that shouldn't be discussed in public at all.

I hoped that they'd have the sense to refrain from anything too bad while Victoria and James were within earshot, but I wasn't counting on it. Those two weren't known for their discretion or restraint.

"Do you need anything for school?" I asked James, putting off the inevitable of having to say something to the pair.

Much as I'd like to, I couldn't be openly rude and ignore them. I always told my children that there was no excuse for rudeness, and with them present, I had to follow my own admonition.

"No, I'm fine." James stuffed his hands deep in his pockets.

"Then go get some coffee for your father, please."

James obeyed and I continued gathering the rest of the necessities, planning to be quick. By the time we were heading up to the counter to pay for our things, I'd managed to get passed Mrs. Clark and Mrs. Brooks with only a polite hello.

James stumbled on the way over, dropping the coffee and nearly falling on his face.

"Goodness James!" I caught his arm to steady him. "Tie your shoes before you break your neck!"

Rather than move to fix the problem, he avoided my eye, looking sheepish.

"Oh no," I complained after glancing down. His laces were untied alright. One was completely severed, leaving a string barely long enough to reach across to the opposite side. Forget being able to tie it.

"What do you do? Chew on them?" That had been his second pair of laces in only a few months.

"I'm sorry, Mama," he said, still not looking at me. "I'm not sure how it happened this time..."

With a sigh, I shook my head. "Go get some new ones."

I remembered too late that Mrs. Clark and Mrs. Brooks were standing right next to where the shoe laces were, and I cringed inwardly as James quickly did as I said.

I hadn't been paying attention to what the women were talking about since it was basically habit to try to block their chatter out. But I tuned my ears to it now.

"Oh no, Hetty," Mrs. Brooks was saying. "That can't be true. The war will never come here. President Wilson promised he'd keep us out of it."

"Yes, well," Mrs. Clark said. "Promises are all well and good, but you can't keep out of a war when people are at war with you, now can you?"