{"id":2421,"date":"2022-08-27T13:57:13","date_gmt":"2022-08-27T20:57:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/?p=2421"},"modified":"2022-08-27T13:57:13","modified_gmt":"2022-08-27T20:57:13","slug":"when-the-war-came-to-mizoo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/2022\/08\/27\/when-the-war-came-to-mizoo\/","title":{"rendered":"When the War Came to Mizoo"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

prompt: Write a story where a character has to take on heavy responsibilities (perhaps beyond their age).<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

available at Reedsy<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Papa and Bru-bru got called up for the big war. They said they\u2019d come back heroes and Bru-bru could bring home a new wife or two. Papa was still half crippled from the last big war, and Bru-bru weren\u2019t but fourteen summers. He was decent with a bow, though. He did the hunting and fishing while Papa ran the still and traded what he didn\u2019t drink for vegetables and such.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The soldier-men gave Bru-bru a crossbow, and Papa a pistol and a shiny metal bar for his collar. Bru-bru\u2019s hunting bow was still hung up in his room. Mama and me had already made a whole mess of arrows for him to hunt with, so that was settled.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, it didn\u2019t help us none if we couldn\u2019t use<\/em> the bow. Last time I tried, Papa laughed at me but Bru-bru said when I was strong enough to string it, I could try again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was still as tall as me, and all my weight weren\u2019t enough to bend it to the string. \u201cMama, you think we might find a smaller bow somewhere?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know, Petal. We should probably just stick to the hare traps for our meat and try to trade the pelts for what we need.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat about the still?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat about it?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI watched Papa all the time when he was there. I know how to work it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mama sighed. \u201cJust don\u2019t burn yourself.\u201d She looked older than Papa. Not from wrinkles or nothing, she just seemed\u2026beat. Like an old dog kicked out of the pack.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That thought made me nervous. \u201cMama, what are we gonna do if the dogs come around?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe house is strong. We can just stay inside until they get tired of waiting and leave.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was a sharp rap on the door. Mama opened it, while I stood behind her. A soldier-man was there with a paper in his hand. He pointed at me. \u201cBoy! Can you read?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mama looked back and forth between us; the soldier-man calling me a boy and asking if I could read, and the girl dressed in her Bru-bru\u2019s hand-downs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAre ya deaf, boy?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I shook my head no.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCan you read?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I nodded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He handed me the paper. \u201cMake sure you read this to your mama, now, understand?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cY\u2014yes, boss.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHow many summers are you?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNine, boss.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou\u2019re a mite small for nine, but you exercise and hunt, and you\u2019ll be ready to fight by your thirteenth summer, for sure.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUh-huh.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCourse, the war might be over afore then.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cUh-huh.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOkay, boy. You take care of your mama. You\u2019re the man of the house until your Sir comes home.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYes, boss.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He left with a polite tip of his hat to me, and not a glance in Mama\u2019s direction. Once he was out of sight, Mama closed the door and let out a heavy sigh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m so sorry, Petal. I froze up. Now they think you\u2019re a boy. If they knew you was dressed in your brother\u2019s clothes, they\u2019d lock me up and send you off to the girl\u2019s home.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDon\u2019t worry none, Mama. We both was ascared.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut they think I have a boy here who can read. What can we do? If that paper\u2019s important, we\u2019ll never know.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMama, I can read.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her look went from worried to shocked back to worried. \u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI, uh\u2026just can,\u201d I said. \u201cI figured it out when I looked at Bru-bru\u2019s letters and words.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I learned myself how to read and write from sneaking when Papa was learning my Bru-bru. Mama didn\u2019t know, and it ain\u2019t something girls is supposed to do. I wasn\u2019t about to tell her that, \u2019cause she might swat my butt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To keep Mama from digging any deeper, I laid the paper on the table and began sounding out the words. \u201cThe Shine house will pay one boar or one deer or two goats or equal worth each new moon as a war tax. If not paid, the Shine land and buildings and belongings, to include the still and all womenfolk, will become property of the Army of Mizoo.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf the soldier-men take me, you run, Petal; hear me?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMama, they ain\u2019t gonna take you.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey might. This moon it\u2019s a boar or two goats, next moon it doubles, then doubles again until we can\u2019t pay. Skies above, we can\u2019t pay now<\/em>, and new moon\u2019s in five days.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf we can\u2019t figure it out afore then, we can both run,\u201d I said. \u201cI already miss my Bru-bru and Papa\u2026I can\u2019t be missing you too.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf your brother was here, we\u2019d have no problems. He was always hunting enough to for us and others as well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMama, if Bru-bru was here, we wouldn\u2019t be having war taxes. We got the still,\u201d I said, \u201cand I can finish the batch Papa started. The mash is ready to strain and \u2019still.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJust be careful. Don\u2019t want to blind nobody.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI know how to skip out the foreshots and heads, get the hearts, and leave the tails. I watched Papa enough times.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s too late to start tonight,\u201d Mama said, \u201cso how about you tend to it in the morning?\u201d She set out the last of our bread and butter for dinner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYes\u2019m. I can set some hare traps, too.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ll deal with those, Petal. If we can\u2019t find someone to do our trading for us, we\u2019ll have to hope the soldier-men will take hooch and hare-hides.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhy can\u2019t we trade for ourselves?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not a woman\u2019s place to do business,\u201d she said from rote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWidow Baker does business,\u201d I told her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWidow Baker is past bearing age, she ain\u2019t gotta worry about women\u2019s rules no more.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We ate our dinner quiet-like, and I busied my mind over the trading. \u201cMama,\u201d I asked, \u201cwhat if I do our trading?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mama just sighed and looked at me all sad-eyed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThey already think I\u2019m a boy. It\u2019s just \u2019til the war\u2019s done and Papa and Bru-bru is home.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mama didn\u2019t say nothing else, so I figured it was settled up. We was about to go to sleep in the women\u2019s room until she started what-iffin\u2019 about soldier-men coming in the night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If they did, a boy\u2026or pretend boy\u2026sleeping in the women\u2019s room would be trouble. Almost as much trouble as finding out I was a girl wearing boy-clothes that knowed my letters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The soldier-man said I was the man of the house now, but I didn\u2019t feel right sleeping in the mister\u2019s room in Papa\u2019s bed. I slept in Bru-bru\u2019s bed in the boy\u2019s room. The smell of his blanket made me feel safe. It also made me miss him even more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The soldier-men didn\u2019t come that night, despite Mama\u2019s worrying. The next day, I strained the mash and started up the still. It took me longer than Papa, but I finished it by sundown. I had nine jugs of hooch, just the hearts. Papa usually got ten, but I was scared of gettin\u2019 any of the heads in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If your hooch makes folks sick, they won\u2019t buy it no more, \u2019less they\u2019re stuck to it and get the shakies without it. The Shines was known for the best hooch, and I didn\u2019t want to let Papa down being sloppy or greedy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next day, I took the little wagon into town with all the hooch. Since Papa always kept back a few jugs for hisself, I figured I should be okay to trade with nine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019d never been to town, so it was all new to me. I knowed how folks traded when they came out to the house, so I tried to do like that. All the able-bodied menfolk were gone, except for the soldier-men that guarded the town and collected the taxes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I wanted to get as much as possible for the hooch. Enough for the taxes, plus some grain to set more mash, plus some vegetables for me and Mama. It\u2019s hard, though, when the only folks left in town to trade with were boys too young or men too old to fight\u2026and Widow Baker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was about to turn tail to home when a boy a little older, and a lot bigger than me stepped in front of me. \u201cWhat\u2019s slippin\u2019 little man? You look a mite lost.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m trying to trade this hooch for war taxes, some grain, and some vegetables for the table.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat\u2019s your name?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPet\u2014Petro.\u201d I\u2019d almost spilt my name. Petal ain\u2019t no name for no boy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWeird name, Petro. I\u2019m Carlson\u2026Carlson Weaver.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPetro Shine.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cOh! This is old man Shine\u2019s hooch?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWell, I \u2019stilled it from his mash. Papa got called to war with my brother.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHow old are you?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNine.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd you the only boy at home?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I nodded.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cListen, little man. Don\u2019t never call your Sir \u2018Papa\u2019 anywhere but home. You should be growed out of that by now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I nodded again. The rules for women were strict, but it seemed the rules for the menfolk might be every bit as strict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPapa is for girls and boys too young to work. You working, so you call him Sir from now on, hear?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTh\u2014thanks, Carlson.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHow much for the hooch?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I shrugged. That part of the negotiation always took place out of sight and sound of womenfolk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carlson picked up one of the jugs. \u201cFeels a mite heavy.\u201d He pulled the cork and looked inside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cLook here,\u201d he said, pointing at a stripe on the side of the jug, \u201cyou only got to fill it to there. If\u2019n this gets hot, it\u2019ll spill out the top. Are they all this full?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYes, boss.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDon\u2019t call me boss, I ain\u2019t old enough for that, at least till next summer. Just think of me as an older brother.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cRight.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cDo you have an empty jug with you?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I shook my head.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCome with me,\u201d he said, dragging me and the wagon behind him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He led me to his home, where he went in and came back out with four empty jugs. He then took his time pouring out the tops of the nine jugs into one of the empties. Sure enough, it filled that jug and then some.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat do you want for your help?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat depends,\u201d he said. \u201cIs this hooch as good as your Sir\u2019s?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I shrugged. It smelled the same to me, but the few sips I\u2019d managed to steal in the past didn\u2019t do much but burn my mouth, same as this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carlson took the tenth jug and pulled a sip from it. He held it in his mouth and swished it around before swallowing. \u201cIt tastes just like your Sir\u2019s. I\u2019ll take this jug for my grand-Sir who ain\u2019t at war on account of bein\u2019 too old. That\u2019s my payment.\u201d He set the jug inside his house and drug me back to the center of town.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We walked the town, Carlson introducing me to the old men and soldier-men still there. By the end of the afternoon, he\u2019d negotiated taxes for our house and his own for four jugs of hooch. I didn\u2019t get mad that he paid his house tax with my hooch until I figured it out later. I was too far over my own head to figure out the goes-ons while they was happening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While we traded, we collected another seven empties. He also got me enough grain to start two more mashes, a bushel basket of vegetables, four loaves of bread, two blocks of butter, and half a boar that he\u2019d hunted. He was younger than Bru-bru was when he shot his first boar, so I figured he might teach me the bow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen I come to town next time,\u201d I said, \u201cwill you teach me how to use the bow?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carlson laughed. \u201cLittle man, you\u2019re too small.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou ain\u2019t that big yourself,\u201d I said, \u201cbut you got a boar.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy Sir got me a crossbow for my tenth summer. It\u2019s easier for hunting and makes me ready for the war.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYour Sir knowed there would be a war?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c\u2019Course he knowed. My Sir said the same war\u2019s been goin\u2019 on over a hundred summers. It just moves around some. It always comes back here to Mizoo, though, and we gotta protect ourselves.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWho are we at war with?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carlson shrugged. \u201cThem<\/em>? My Sir said I\u2019d know when I went myself.\u201d He eyed me like a snake. \u201cDidn\u2019t your Sir fight in the war?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe did.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat did he<\/em> say?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHe stayed shtum about it. Stopped hunting after, too. He was all sorts of busted up when he come home, though, and Bru\u2014my brother\u2026was already hunting by then. My Sir just been making hooch, like he did afore, only all the time now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWell, I\u2019ll find out next summer, and if\u2019n you ain\u2019t turned thirteen when I get back, I\u2019ll tell you.\u201d Carlson made to go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My head grabbed on his tax deal, the angries grabbed on my mood, and I grabbed on his arm. \u201cWait! You owe me half a boar or a goat.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat d\u2019ya mean?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cYou paid your<\/em> taxes with my<\/em> hooch, and only gave me half a boar for it. Taxes is one boar or two goats. I want a goat.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPetro, you\u2019s already good at business. I\u2019ll drop a goat at your house as soon as I get one.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBefore new moon,\u201d I said, \u201cor the price doubles.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHold on, now. Is that any way to treat your big brother?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My fists curled up tight. \u201cI dunno. Is tryin\u2019 to slick me out a jug of hooch any way to treat your little brother?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carlson looked at me and started laughing. \u201cSkies above, you look so serious. Don\u2019t worry, little brother. You\u2019ll have a goat tomorrow or the day after, latest. Wouldn\u2019t want you tellin\u2019 tales about the Weaver boy not payin\u2019 his debts.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAnd not a kid!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNot a kid, a full-on goat.\u201d Carlson ruffed my hair. \u201cNow head on home to your mama, you got to tend to her. Keep her outta trouble, little man.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ll see you when the next batch is ready.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ll be waitin\u2019, but not as hard as my grand-Sir.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I pulled the wagon home, knowing that next time I\u2019d have to make the same deals myself\u2026minus the taxes. Now that Carlson had introduced me around, though, it should be easier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It wasn\u2019t until I got home and unloaded everything that what I\u2019d done set into my bones. I was a girl, doing business, in boy clothes, with a fake name, and reading and writing in public.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mama grabbed me as the panics made me shake and cry. She held me til I fell asleep, then laid me in Bru-bru\u2019s bed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I woke in the middle of the night and cried all quiet-like for missing Bru-bru. I wished the war would move away from Mizoo and never come back.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

prompt: Write a story where a character has to take on heavy responsibilities (perhaps beyond their age). available at Reedsy Papa and Bru-bru got called up for the big war. They said they\u2019d come back …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[208],"tags":[233,210,209,232],"class_list":["post-2421","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-trunk-stories","tag-dystopian","tag-fiction","tag-short-story","tag-speculative"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pxT7i-D3","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2421","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2421"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2421\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2422,"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2421\/revisions\/2422"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2421"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2421"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.evardsson.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2421"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}