Chapter 40

The next day is the last before the kids start school and rain is pouring down.Now the girls are more intrigued by Anna and my presence.While the boys play rowdily in the sitting room,Sarah,Josie,and Esther corner Anna and I in the girls’room.All three girls look remarkably alike,with long brown hair and brown eyes.Sarah is taller than I,Josie the same size,and Esther looks undersized for her age.They all crowd upon one bed as Anna and I sit on the other.

“What’s it like to live in the South?Did you see any Indians?”Sarah asks.“Were the Confederate soldiers terrible?”

Answering a question like,“What’s it like to live in the South”is too broad,much like if I were to ask what it’s like to live in the North.

“There are so many differences between the North and the South,”I finally say.“They truly are like different countries.”

“The only soldiers that gave us any trouble were Union soldiers,”adds Anna.“They took all of our supplies from us at one point.”