Annette Oppenlander - Everything We Lose: A Civil War Novel of Hope, Courage and Redemption

Everything We Lose

A Civil War Novel of Hope, Courage and Redemption

ANNETTE OPPENLANDER

First published by Oppenlander Enterprises LLC, 2018

First Edition

www.annetteoppenlander.com

Text copyright: Annette Oppenlander 2018

ISBN: 978-0-9977800-8-6

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018930268

All rights reserved.

Except for brief quotations in critical articles or reviews, no part of the book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher.

The rights of Annette Oppenlander as author have been asserted in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

Design: fiverr.com/akira007

Editing: Yellow Bird Editors

2018 Annette Oppenlander

Also by Annette Oppenlander

A Different Truth (Historical Mystery)

Escape from the Past Trilogy (Time-travel Adventure)

47 Days: How Two Teen Boys Defied the Third Reich (Novelette)

Surviving the Fatherland: A True Coming-of-age Love Story Set in WWII Germany

Where the Night Never Ends: A Prohibition Era Novel

When They Made Us Leave: A Novel about Hitlers Mass Evacuation Program for Children

A Lightness in My Soul: Inspired by a True Story

German

Vaterland, wo bist Du? Roman nach einer wahren Geschichte

47 Tage: Wie zwei Jungen Hitlers letztem Befehl trotzten

Erzwungene Wege: Historischer Roman

Immer der Fremdling: Die Rache des Grafen

Dedication

To the many who fight daily for survival and basic human rights,

and

To those who fight against human injustice and oppression.

Acknowledgements

A huge thank you to my husband, Ben, for being my best friend and sounding board. My writing group buddies, Susan and Dave, provided invaluable feedbackso did Sara Kocek from Yellow Bird Editors.

The story of the American Civil War is essentially one of human beingsNortherners, Southerners, Blacks, Whites, men, womenholding themselves accountable for the future

of a nation.

Aberjhani, Journey through the Power of the Rainbow: Quotations from a Life Made Out of Poetry

I never, in my life, felt more certain that I was doing right, than I do in signing this paper [Emancipation Proclamation]. If my name ever goes into history it will be for this act, and my whole soul is in it.

President Abraham Lincoln

Chapter One

A UGUST 5, 1861

The robin in Adams hand trembled, its left wing fanned uselessly across his palm.

Its all right, he murmured softly. Be still.

His mothers voice floated into the barn. Cows need milking. Dont forget the eggs.

In a minute. Adams forefinger slid along the birds radius, the equivalent of a humans upper arm. A shudder went through the feathered body as the robin made a feeble attempt to inch away.

Fashioning a splint from a wood shaving, Adam realigned the wing, tied a few knots, and placed the robin inside a wooden cage hanging from the rafter and out of reach of the cat. Hed lost patients before and wasnt about to let that happen again. For good measure he caught a cricket and fed it to the bird.

He nodded at the beady eyes watching him attentively. Ill get you worms later. He always sensed the animals understood him.

Adam, did you hear me? His mother sounded equally tired and irritated. Where are you?

Right here, Ma. Adam hurried from the barn. Found a robin and fixed its wing. Ill get to the cows now.

You and your animals, his mother said, but he could tell she was pleased by the way her mouth twitched. With a shrug he went to work milking and then feeding the cows, cleaning the chicken coop, and collecting eggs.

The sun stood high and promised another searing day by the time Adam entered the cabin. It was no more than a single square room with a tiny alcove in the back where he slept. Pa had built it ten years ago, each board sawn and notched, each gap filled with a mixture of straw and mud. The fieldstone chimney had taken months to complete.

Adams stomach lurched with hunger as he placed sixteen eggs and a full milk bucket on the table.

Wash up, his mother said, placing biscuits and a small chunk of butter on the table. Ill fix your eggs. It took all his will not to grab the bread and wolf it down. Ma wouldnt approve. Not even now while his father was away.

Swallowing saliva and a groan, Adam hurried back outside. The pump stood in the front yardif you could call it a yard. Except for the rough-hewn fence, it was nothing but a patch of grassland like the rest of the rolling foothills with the Appalachian Mountains as a backdrop. He kept his lids half closed against the glare and hesitated. He felt pinched today, as if his energy were carried away by the wind. To his left the corn swayed, its leaves so brown and dry, it produced a noisy rustle. Crickets chirped, unperturbed by the gritty air.