Free When Johnny Came Marching Home by William Heffernan Page A

company that was on our left flank. Bobby, this is Jubal Foster, Abel Johnson, and Josiah Flood, all boys from back home in Vermont." He raised his chin toward Suggs. "Bobby here is the best scrounger in the unit. You wanna find somethin' the quartermaster ain't got, he's your man."
    Suggs stared down at Josiah. "Didn't know ya had niggers up in Vermont," he said. "Ya enlist, boy?"
    I felt my blood turn hot. "Josiah's our friend," I said. "He's our long-time friend. We don't call him a nigger and we sure as hell don't call him a boy."
    "Ta each his own," Suggs smirked, then turned to Johnny. "Speakin' of scroungin', there's an ol' farmhouse back yonder that 'peers ta be abandoned. Ya wanna come along with me an' have a look-see?"
    Johnny struggled to his feet. "Might as well," he said.
    "We're gonna be pullin' out soon," Abel warned him.
    "Don't worry," Johnny said. "Ya pull out afore I'm back, I'll sure as hell catch up ta ya. After goin' through that meat grinder back there, I ain't about ta get myself shot fer a deserter."
    We watched them head back down the road. I had an uneasy feeling about Suggs, and from the look on Abel and Josiah's faces I could tell they felt the same way.
    "You ever meet this Suggs before?" I asked them.
    Abel shook his head. "Don't think I have."
    "I seen him," Josiah said. "Ain't never talked ta him. If I had I'm thinkin' he woulda axed me ta shine his boots or kiss his skinny white ass."
    "I woulda liked ta see that," Abel said. "Just ta see how far ya shoved his rifle up that ass."
    I let out a short, harsh laugh. "Next time you start pullin' wounded bodies off a battlefield, you make sure you take a real close look. You find him lyin' out there, you just tell him you're not gonna offend his white sensibilities by putting your sorry black hands on him."
    Josiah fought off a smile. "Had one like that t'other day. Kept screamin', Come git me, boy! You do what I tell ya an' git on over here, boy! Just had a graze on his leg, but he was yellin' like it was blowed clear off. An' there I was wif minie balls wizzin' by my ears." He let out a snort. "Well, I jus' went stone-cold deaf. Musta been some artillery shell went off too close an' plugged up my ears, an' I left that sumbitch layin' there screamin' at me and moved off an' took care a the ones what really needed help." He raised his chin in the direction Suggs and Johnny had gone. "Whatcha think Johnny sees in that one, he'd go off wif him like that?"
    Abel shook his head. "Johnny's gettin' stranger by the day."
    "This war is makin' us all strange," I said. "Yesterday I saw our sergeant sittin' on a Reb body while he smoked a cigar, just using it for a stool."
    "Yeah, I know what yer sayin'. It's like the dead ain't really people, an' never was," Abel said. He drew a long breath. "T'other day I saw a Reb no older'n us shot down right in front a me, an' it was like he din' really exist, even though I saw him runnin' across a meadow jus' a minute afore a minie ball lifted him off the ground." He shook his head and looked across at me. "Why ya think that is, Jubal? Ya think we're jus' gettin' cold inside?"
    "I heard one a the docs talkin' at the hospital," Josiah responded. "He said our minds jus' block things out. Said we see so much terrible stuff that we'd go plum crazy iffen our minds din' shut it off like that."
    "I hope he's right," I said.
    "Yeah, me too," Abel said. "Cause if he ain't there's gonna be an army of monsters goin' home when this here war is finally over."
    The sergeant came through and got us up and moving toward Centreville again. Josiah went back to his hospital unit and Abel and I were sent to join a rearguard unit that would make sure the Rebs didn't sneak up behind us.
    Back at the rear I watched Johnny and Suggs cutting across a field, hurrying to get back to the column. Each had a sack in his hand and I assumed they had found things worth taking from the abandoned farmhouse. I hoped it was something good that we could all