With This Pen and Paper

1

It was 1942, I was freshly seventeen and ready to make the world fall at my feet. The war was in full swing and I was starting to believe that it was never going to end. My older brothers, Jonathon and Alexander, had both enlisted and had never been the same no matter how hard they tried or pretended. My little brother Simon and I were left behind to hold down the fort and remind them of what home was like. By the grace of God Simon was only sixteen and couldn't enlist. Not that anyone in our family would have allowed that to happen. A soul as precious as Simon's should never see something as horrible as war.

I was set to be the first person in our family to go to college. My Grandpa used to say that I inherited all of the brains intended for my bothers because if they actually had one we would all be in trouble. I wanted to be a teacher or a writer. At the time a teacher seemed as though it was a better option plus I didn't want to waste any of the opportunities given to me.

My family owned a farm in Virginia, seemingly forever. At one stage my father had worked it and his father before him and so on. My grandpa worked the farm during the war until my brother Jonathon came home. My father enlisted the second we went to war. He never wanted to work on the farm and saw this as his opportunity to get out. None of us though that it was going to be a forever thing until we got the letter. It was almost two years after he had left. I don't think I could ever forget that night. My grandma's screams when the soldier at the door told us what happened have never left my memory. I don't think she ever forgave Jonathon and Alexander for enlisting the very next day. In fact, I don't think they forgave themselves.

My grandparents were quick to busy themselves with work and caring for Simon and me after they left. They would always tell us stories about our parents, particularly our mother. Simon and I didn't remember our mother, she died during complications with child birth. I was only one and a bit and Simon was only a couple of minutes old. I only remember what I've been told and these days it gets a little blurry.