The Last Full Measure by Ann Rinaldi Read Free Book Online Page A

unmercifully and I yelled.
    "The church!" I yelled. "The belfry! They've been hit! Marvelous has been hit! And Mary!" I dropped the roll of dough, flung off my apron, and ran from the kitchen into the hall.
    "Stop!" David ordered. "Where do you think you're going?"
    But he was no more than a cricket on the hearth to me now. His words held no power over me. I did not care what he said, what he did to me. My breath was coming in quick spurts. I could scarce breathe. Tears for what I already knew had happened flowed down my face. Hysterics took over and I welcomed them. Hysterics, after all, were the order of the day.
    "I'm going to find my friends," I spit out at him. "'Cause they're dead. And they need me." I could not stop my crying. I did not especially care to.
    I opened the front door to go out. All was chaos on the street. Good. I was ready for it, in tune with it. Inside all was darkness for me now.
    Then I felt David's hands on my shoulders. Not rough, but gentle, as he turned me to face him. "Tacy," he said softly. "Tacy."
    I heard him from very far away, his voice cutting through the darkness like a beam of light.
    He kept saying my name like that, softly, so that I followed the sound of it, like I was lost and finding my way home.
    Then, of a sudden, I felt myself drawn to him, his arms around me tenderly, holding me close until my face was against his shirt front, until I could smell the shaving soap he used and the tobacco and, yes, even the rum and the scent of his horse, and I could hear the beating of his heart, something alive and hopeful.
    He held me like that for a while. "It's all right," he said gently. "I'm here. I'm going to take care of you. I'll make it all right."
    I came home. I believed him. I felt the calm overtake me and I quieted down.
    I looked up at him and nodded. "I'm sorry," I said.
    I was back and he knew it. He nodded solemnly. "You're allowed. Doesn't mean I'm never going to scold you again, though." He twitched my nose.
    Had I really seen something in him, some kindness directed toward me to give me hope, then? Would I see it again? Or was it a flame, briefly ignited and now gone out?
    "Now, I'm going to take you over to the church. I'm sure they're both all right. But you must be brave. Promise me."
    I promised. And we went to the church together.

CHAPTER SIX
    W E COULD SEE , before we got to the church, that the belfry was destroyed and that there was considerable damage to the roof. I drew in a deep breath, seeing it, but that was all. Then, as we got to the side door, there were all kinds of people about.
    Civilian men were dragging away fallen pieces of the roof to make way for the military carrying in litters of wounded soldiers.
    And women, most of whom we knew, were carrying in stacks of linen, blankets, and bandages, pitchers of water and basins.
    David and I just stood there, open-mouthed at the spectacle. We saw Emily Broadhead. She had on a bloodstained apron. Her hair was bound with a white kerchief.
    "Is anybody dead inside?" David asked.
    "Not yet," she answered. "The doctors aren't allowing it."
    Doctors
. "Is my pa in there?" I appealed.
    "No, honey. Not here. But far's I know there are plenty of other makeshift hospitals being set up in town. He might be in one of those. Now I've got to run home a minute." And she was gone.
    We were about to enter the side door she'd just come out of when it seemed filled of a sudden. Because the person who stood there filled my eyes.
    Jennie Wade was standing there.
    She wore an apron, but there was no blood on it so I calculated she'd just brought some supplies.
    She just waited there for what seemed like the length that a full moon hung around, staring at David. She said nothing.
    "Hello, Jennie," David said.
    Her eyes sought his. It was as if I did not exist. And I thought,
Why don't you say something, Jennie?
And then I thought,
Why don't I say something to her?
We'd been friends for years. Killing was going on all around us. Men