The New Recruit

Chapter 1...The Boy and The War.

It was September 1812, when I realized how awesome the war was. By awesome I mean important. Especially to this glorious country. It, virtually, had the sake of our country in its hands. I realized all this when my brother, Billy, and my Uncle Thomas left to join the naval marines, simply because there was reason and opportunity. They were smart for that very reason. The British Empire needed Canadian troops extremely badly. My father was the other reason I realized this. He is so sad and miserable these days because of the war, he even got back into the drink. His wife, my mom, died as a nurse in the war against the natives, so another war brought back bad memories for him. Especially such an important one to his family's future. My sister's birth was probably the only good thing for him in that two month range of time. My sister's birthday was only two months apart from mine, but I was a full two years older. It had been my second birthday the week before she died. My brother was five and my other sister, Anne, was seven. That was over fifteen years ago now, and I can't believe it.

I realized that no matter what, sometime in this war I would be needed. It would never happen though. My dad would always turn down my offer to fight in his place, since he himself couldn't fight. Billy made my father really angry when he told him his friend Daniel was dragging him along with him. That is when my Uncle Tom decided to go as well. Now my offer was strictly forbidden. My father wanted someone to carry on his name when he died and if all of us went to war, then there's a chance there wouldn't be. So here I am, seventeen year old Theodore Walsh, son of Marie Smyth and Joseph Walsh, farm boy with nothing to do but work and hang out with Jack Cila who was my best and only friend other than family. It was probably not going to be a good month or so. Then again you never know what will happen in the future."Theodore Walsh, get down here!" yelled Anne from the downstairs of our small cottage. "Coming, I'm just finishing!" I hollered back. Man, did my sister yell! I ran down the stairs and dashed to our kitchen where she was waiting "Theodore, because Uncle Tom and Billy are away I've been told you are the new hunter for the family. Grab your gear and get going!" she said. "Yes ma'am" I said and ran to our little cabin for supplies. I grabbed my bow, my quiver with twelve arrows inside, my knife, and my gun for the hunt. I ran into the forest and went to catch myself, and the family, some dinner. These days had brought forward many new jobs, because Billy and Uncle Tom were gone, and this was one of them. It was amazing what an affect war had on the world. I know now that I have to make the effects good. My country and family depended on it.

It was two days later when we heard that the Americans really did have the advantage in the war. They had troops quite close to the border at the Great Lakes, and the Iroquoian attack force we sent to Dakota was defeated with way too many casualties. This was depressing for everybody to hear because if the war was to end the way we thought at the start, then Canada would be defeated as a country. The navy was a huge part of our attack force but, so far, nothing had worked well for Canada. I found all this out when I went to town to hear news and exchange crops with people living there. This is also part of my vast number of weekly jobs, which seem to be popping up more often than my family's crops. (which there is more than enough of!) Luckily for me, Jack met me the next day, at the field in between our neighbouring houses. The amount of work we both are doing has kept us from communicating so this was a miracle. His father, Harold Cila, was at war in the front lines near the falls. Jack told me how his family of five, now four, was so busy nowadays he barely had time for schooling! I told him about my week and how the Americans were winning at this point in time. He got really anxious at the sound of that. He sounded extremely worried and not comfortable, likely because of his dad. We both felt nervous for our families, and I'm sure he knew that too. The two of us had to leave after exchanging very few words, so I ran back to the house.

Our house was a medium sized cottage, a row of fields, a small chicken coop with our eight chickens, a horse barn with four horses and our single cow ,Bell, and the supply shed at the back of the house. There were always rogue cats in the barn but there was nothing to do about that. The cottage had a kitchen, 4 bedrooms and an eating area with a fireplace. It was good but not awesome. I had to share a room with Anne and Victoria, as Billy slept in the eating room on the couch beside the fireplace. "Theo come on, its dinner time!" yelled Anne, "Okay!" I said, and ran to get some dinner.