Re: 150 Years Ago
Posted: Wed Oct 21, 2015 4:53 pm
EPILOGUE
December 4, 2015
The snowfall from the previous weekend had melted slightly over the past week – but had then progressively frozen due to the drastic drop in temperatures we began experiencing yet again for the winter.
It made my drive in to work a bit on the annoying side that night. Things didn't get any better once I was at work; the kids in my cottage seemed wound up from the sudden cold snap.
And, to top it all off, I couldn't get a ride down to the main entrance at the end of my shift. I was nearly frozen by the time I got down to communications.
I was surprised, however, by two people waiting for me in the entry foyer. Both wore dark cloaks; one with mirrored sunglasses – even though the sun wasn't going to be up for at least an hour.
The other had typical round-rim glasses, that hid her freckles and very white complexion – but were framed by long, auburn-red locks of hair.
I saw the pair through mostly steamed glasses. "Oh, great, now what?"
"Well, good morning to you, too," Suzie replied. "We're not here on business, actually."
"She isn't, anyways," Billens said plainly. "Your clearance level with our organization has been cleared to Level Alpha."
I took off my glasses to wipe them, and looked at the pair.
"Why, thank you, Marshall. What, pray tell, does that actually mean?"
"It means you're basically on the same level as the Centurion as to need-to-know basis among civilians," he added. "And, it also means that Agent McBride has to debrief you on a few things."
"Uh, I do have to get home," I mentioned.
"Lily's gonna meet me there," Suzie said. "Her daughter pointed her out to a bakery east of here, something about flax bread. Billens has some stuff going on in Rhinelander, which means I would need to hitch a ride. If, of course, you don't mind?"
"Do I have a choice?"
"It's either that or do the briefing here – and some of it might be a bit, um, personal?" Suzie gave me a look.
I rolled my eyes.
"Fine, let me at least call my wife and warn her," I said.
---
We got on the road, with the heated seats finally kicking in against the sub-zero temps. I had the car pointed south down Highway K. It was at that point that I broke the silence.
"So, I take it you spoke with Neil about my great-great-grandpa."
"Actually, Phix kinda spoke to me about it. She said she'd given you his diary. He, uh, didn't say anything about me in there, did he?"
"No." The heater was running full blast as the interior of my HHR was slowly warming up. "Did you ever figure out who 'Tanner' really was?"
She chuckled.
"You're never going to believe it."
"Try me."
"James Wilkerson Bond." She paused for a moment. It sank in after a beat.
"James Bond? Ian Fleming is rolling in his grave at that."
"Yeah, he was the son of a plantation owner in northern Virginia. Grew up in Maryland, which is how he managed to pass as a Yankee." She thought for a second. "He fought with General Hood's troops in the Battle of Nashville, in late 1864."
"The ones that the 44th helped repulse out of the Music City," I added.
"Not only that, but I believe he might have been the one that Dashnois shot as they were retreating," she replied. "When I was doing his… post mortem, I saw that he had two buckshot wounds on his posterior – the more recent one from when he escaped after the first assassination attempt, and an older one. Roughly three to four months older."
"How'd you get into nursing, anyways?" I asked.
"It was a cover," she said. "I worked for the Union Army's special operations unit. Those soldiers had been recuperating from their wounds at the Battle of Franklin, and we were finally getting the opportunity to ship them home to Maryland."
"But you were the ship's nurse?" I asked.
"Ebbie and I knew each other from when he was a middie," she replied. "It's a bit complicated, but I used his steamer as transport when I could."
The dawn was trying to peek through under the heavy cloud cover that blanketed most of the state of Wisconsin.
"There wasn't anything about me in that diary?" she asked. "I mean, at all?"
"Not that I saw," I replied.
"When did it say he returned to Paducah and the 44th?"
"They got back on the 18th, I believe," I said. "The train down from Louisville came down late on Friday, and they were given two days leave in Paducah before formally reporting. He didn't write anything about it."
"Louisville," she said idly. "He was already back in Louisville with Austin and the rest of the 44th on the 11th."
I had to slow down, as a school bus was making a pickup ahead of us on the rural highway.
"How do you know this?"
"Ebbie had to bring the ship in to the yards in Jeffersonville for repairs," she stated. "It was going to take a week or so. Billens was back in Washington. I offered to escort the boys down to Paducah on the railway."
"Dashnois' hand was still bothering him?"
"He was still hurting, but he didn't want to report for duty with a bum hand." She pursed her lips carefully as we followed behind the bus.
"I get stuck behind this thing every morning during the week," I explained. "He turns in to this little trailer park down by 51, so we shouldn't have to…"
"I slept with him," she said quietly.
"…wait, what?" I had to slam on the brakes momentarily, as I hadn't noticed the bus had its brake lights on.
"Yeah, uh, don't really like going into details, but, um, your great-great grandpa was definitely not a virgin on his wedding night."
I looked at her. She looked at me over the top of her glasses.
"Well," I said quietly, "It's not like people didn't have sex back then."
"Look, they were young, we'd just gone through hell over Neil, and…"
I raised a hand to stop her.
"It's okay, Suze." I drew in a breath. "Not sure what to say to that, but it's okay. I didn't know much about my great-great-grandfather before earlier this month, anyways – except that he was a Civil War vet. I never imagined he was a saint or anything."
I navigated the HHR down Center Avenue and into the north side of the city of Merrill.
"I'm actually thinking that might have been why I, uh, came on so strong on you at the wedding," she mentioned quietly. "He was actually a really nice guy. Seemed a bit sad when I told him I was, uh, unavailable."
"He knew you were a vampire, though, right?" I asked as I turned on to Main to head west toward home. She nodded.
"I never did any of that… stuff… you may have heard about from those stupid Twilight movies," she explained. "That's not how it works."
"I've never seen Twilight, and I don't particularly care to know about the sexual habits of vampires," I replied. "You two were consenting adults, and he was a single soldier a long way from home. I don't blame him one bit."
The rest of the drive back home was quiet. When I pulled into my parking lot, Lily was there with the LTD.
I pulled up to drop Suzie off. She surprised me by kissing me on the cheek.
"Thank you," she said. I was a bit stunned, but at least I weakly smiled at her as she got out and walked over to the LTD.
I waved to the pair as Lily pulled the car out of the parking spot and headed out – then, I pulled out and parked my car in the garage.
I didn't want it to freeze out in the cold, after all.
December 4, 2015
The snowfall from the previous weekend had melted slightly over the past week – but had then progressively frozen due to the drastic drop in temperatures we began experiencing yet again for the winter.
It made my drive in to work a bit on the annoying side that night. Things didn't get any better once I was at work; the kids in my cottage seemed wound up from the sudden cold snap.
And, to top it all off, I couldn't get a ride down to the main entrance at the end of my shift. I was nearly frozen by the time I got down to communications.
I was surprised, however, by two people waiting for me in the entry foyer. Both wore dark cloaks; one with mirrored sunglasses – even though the sun wasn't going to be up for at least an hour.
The other had typical round-rim glasses, that hid her freckles and very white complexion – but were framed by long, auburn-red locks of hair.
I saw the pair through mostly steamed glasses. "Oh, great, now what?"
"Well, good morning to you, too," Suzie replied. "We're not here on business, actually."
"She isn't, anyways," Billens said plainly. "Your clearance level with our organization has been cleared to Level Alpha."
I took off my glasses to wipe them, and looked at the pair.
"Why, thank you, Marshall. What, pray tell, does that actually mean?"
"It means you're basically on the same level as the Centurion as to need-to-know basis among civilians," he added. "And, it also means that Agent McBride has to debrief you on a few things."
"Uh, I do have to get home," I mentioned.
"Lily's gonna meet me there," Suzie said. "Her daughter pointed her out to a bakery east of here, something about flax bread. Billens has some stuff going on in Rhinelander, which means I would need to hitch a ride. If, of course, you don't mind?"
"Do I have a choice?"
"It's either that or do the briefing here – and some of it might be a bit, um, personal?" Suzie gave me a look.
I rolled my eyes.
"Fine, let me at least call my wife and warn her," I said.
---
We got on the road, with the heated seats finally kicking in against the sub-zero temps. I had the car pointed south down Highway K. It was at that point that I broke the silence.
"So, I take it you spoke with Neil about my great-great-grandpa."
"Actually, Phix kinda spoke to me about it. She said she'd given you his diary. He, uh, didn't say anything about me in there, did he?"
"No." The heater was running full blast as the interior of my HHR was slowly warming up. "Did you ever figure out who 'Tanner' really was?"
She chuckled.
"You're never going to believe it."
"Try me."
"James Wilkerson Bond." She paused for a moment. It sank in after a beat.
"James Bond? Ian Fleming is rolling in his grave at that."
"Yeah, he was the son of a plantation owner in northern Virginia. Grew up in Maryland, which is how he managed to pass as a Yankee." She thought for a second. "He fought with General Hood's troops in the Battle of Nashville, in late 1864."
"The ones that the 44th helped repulse out of the Music City," I added.
"Not only that, but I believe he might have been the one that Dashnois shot as they were retreating," she replied. "When I was doing his… post mortem, I saw that he had two buckshot wounds on his posterior – the more recent one from when he escaped after the first assassination attempt, and an older one. Roughly three to four months older."
"How'd you get into nursing, anyways?" I asked.
"It was a cover," she said. "I worked for the Union Army's special operations unit. Those soldiers had been recuperating from their wounds at the Battle of Franklin, and we were finally getting the opportunity to ship them home to Maryland."
"But you were the ship's nurse?" I asked.
"Ebbie and I knew each other from when he was a middie," she replied. "It's a bit complicated, but I used his steamer as transport when I could."
The dawn was trying to peek through under the heavy cloud cover that blanketed most of the state of Wisconsin.
"There wasn't anything about me in that diary?" she asked. "I mean, at all?"
"Not that I saw," I replied.
"When did it say he returned to Paducah and the 44th?"
"They got back on the 18th, I believe," I said. "The train down from Louisville came down late on Friday, and they were given two days leave in Paducah before formally reporting. He didn't write anything about it."
"Louisville," she said idly. "He was already back in Louisville with Austin and the rest of the 44th on the 11th."
I had to slow down, as a school bus was making a pickup ahead of us on the rural highway.
"How do you know this?"
"Ebbie had to bring the ship in to the yards in Jeffersonville for repairs," she stated. "It was going to take a week or so. Billens was back in Washington. I offered to escort the boys down to Paducah on the railway."
"Dashnois' hand was still bothering him?"
"He was still hurting, but he didn't want to report for duty with a bum hand." She pursed her lips carefully as we followed behind the bus.
"I get stuck behind this thing every morning during the week," I explained. "He turns in to this little trailer park down by 51, so we shouldn't have to…"
"I slept with him," she said quietly.
"…wait, what?" I had to slam on the brakes momentarily, as I hadn't noticed the bus had its brake lights on.
"Yeah, uh, don't really like going into details, but, um, your great-great grandpa was definitely not a virgin on his wedding night."
I looked at her. She looked at me over the top of her glasses.
"Well," I said quietly, "It's not like people didn't have sex back then."
"Look, they were young, we'd just gone through hell over Neil, and…"
I raised a hand to stop her.
"It's okay, Suze." I drew in a breath. "Not sure what to say to that, but it's okay. I didn't know much about my great-great-grandfather before earlier this month, anyways – except that he was a Civil War vet. I never imagined he was a saint or anything."
I navigated the HHR down Center Avenue and into the north side of the city of Merrill.
"I'm actually thinking that might have been why I, uh, came on so strong on you at the wedding," she mentioned quietly. "He was actually a really nice guy. Seemed a bit sad when I told him I was, uh, unavailable."
"He knew you were a vampire, though, right?" I asked as I turned on to Main to head west toward home. She nodded.
"I never did any of that… stuff… you may have heard about from those stupid Twilight movies," she explained. "That's not how it works."
"I've never seen Twilight, and I don't particularly care to know about the sexual habits of vampires," I replied. "You two were consenting adults, and he was a single soldier a long way from home. I don't blame him one bit."
The rest of the drive back home was quiet. When I pulled into my parking lot, Lily was there with the LTD.
I pulled up to drop Suzie off. She surprised me by kissing me on the cheek.
"Thank you," she said. I was a bit stunned, but at least I weakly smiled at her as she got out and walked over to the LTD.
I waved to the pair as Lily pulled the car out of the parking spot and headed out – then, I pulled out and parked my car in the garage.
I didn't want it to freeze out in the cold, after all.