Young Writers Society

A/N: This is my entry for the "Across Time" tournament. The prompt is "the 1800's".  I've chosen to base mine on the true story of Lt. George Dixon of the Confederate submarine "The Hunley" and his lucky coin. You can find more details here. This story takes place 10 years later, after Queenie remarried. Feedback on the title or ending would be helpful. 

On a dreary February morning, William Walker Sr. walked out onto his porch to find his wife fiddling with her pocket watch.

"Queenie, dear, what's wrong? The servants said you barely touched your breakfast."

"Don't tell me you don't know," she replied, still looking down at her pocket watch.

"I'm afraid I don't, dearest."

"You would forget your fallen brothers so easily?" She looked at him, clearly holding back tears. "To me, it seems like yesterday, yet you speak like the war was ancient history!"

"I said no such thing. I have never forgotten those who fought for the South with me, my little rebel."

"Then how could you not know? It is the 17th of February, the day the Hun...oh my George!" At this, she broke into uncontrollable sobbing.

William handed his wife a handkerchief and put a hand on his wife's soldier. "Oh, of course. Forgive me, Queenie, for being such a fool. Lieutenant Dixon died in honor, sinking a Yankee ship."

Still in tears, Queenie opened her pocket watch to reveal the inscription in the casing.

Queen Bennett, December 25, 1862

"He...he gave this to me. Got the lucky coin engraved just like it. He said...he said he'd always be with me, and I with him. And he promised he'd come back...Oh, why did he have to get on that stupid fish boat?"

"Queenie, dear, so many lives were lost in that dreadful war. I saw it myself in Shiloh...the blood, the bullets, the men in agony. You can't even imagine..."

"I know. But...but they all got proper Christian burials. Their wives and sweethearts and sisters got to mourn them properly. And I have nothing! No grave to visit, not even a scrap of his clothing."

"It is sad, my dear. But look at all we have here. This beautiful Mississipi mansion, our perfect son and another on the way..."

At that, Queenie couldn't help but smile and rub her belly, now five months with child. "This one's going to be a girl. I can feel it. And then you'll have two litle rebel girls to deal with..."

"Oh, I dare say I'm up for the challenge, my Queenie." He bent down and kissed his wife's cheek. "Now what can I do to ease your tears? I hate to see you so sad."

"I'm not sure you can do anything, William. You are so good to me, and I love you, but you can't expect me not to mourn George. He was my first love, after all."

"Of course, darling. Why don't you tell me about him? I knew him only in battle, after all."

"Well, he was a captain on one of my father's steamboats back in Mobile. He was so handsome, I could not help but stare at him. Imagine my surprise when I realized he was hardly twenty years old. With that mustache, he seemed so much older." She showed him the old photo she had of him. "We met before the war started, but it was friendly...I was just a young girl after all. But oh, how I adored him!"

"That's why you gave him the coin?" William asked.

"Yes. The lucky gold piece. I wonder if he had it with him when the Hunley sank..."

"Now that coin, I remember." William's mind went back to that awful April day in Tennessee. The young blond-haired man from the Midwest whom he'd met just the night before had gone down from a Yankee bullet, right in the thigh where he carried her coin. "If your coin hadn't been in his pocket, Lt. Dixon would have died much sooner."

"I know. He called it his life preserver. And when he came back to Mobile, he needed someone to tend to him. That's when we got closer, that summer and fall...but then he got involved with that stupid fish boat! He always believed it would work, even after two crews died on it. Just had to wait for the right seas, he always wrote. Right after he complained about the rations of course."

"Aye, the soldier's rations were awful. But not as awful as the battlefields, I can tell you." Sometimes William still had nightmares of Shiloh, where he could hear nothing but his brothers in arms screaming in agony. He would wake up in a panic and Queenie would have to reassure him that it was only a dream, that the battle was long over.

"Of course, dear. It was much harder for our brave soldiers. I am sorry for sounding so selfish and petty."

"Nonsense. I should have remembered the good Lieutenant's sacrifice. You should never forget such a love as you had." William rubbed his wife's shoulders to reassure her."And we will never forget him in this house. One day, you will pass down that watch and tell our children what a brave man Lt. George Dixon was. And so he will be with us always, just as you promised him."

"That sounds perfect, dear." Queenie wiped her eyes dry and put the pocket watch away.