Free Kill Them Wherever You Find Them by David Hunter Page B

schools my future holds, none
will ever be as dear to my heart as this.
    My younger brother and sister are at home
with mom. We are given to understand that soon another sibling will
be joining us. My brother and I hope it's a boy, my three sisters,
quite naturally, want a girl.
    I see my teacher who we all love and who
loves all of us, leaning against a brick wall of the
horseshoe-shaped building, watching us as we play. She seems to
revel as much as we in the warmth of the sun accompanied by a
steady, cool breeze.
    The snows of winter receded, finally, into a
beautiful Spring. The Rocky Mountains can be seen at a distance,
gradually shrinking - then disappearing from view into the northern
and southern extremities of my vision. The foothills expose verdant
green under the soft glow of yet snow-capped peaks that alternately
glisten, then nearly disappear, as threatening clouds enshroud
them.
    The richly unique smell that portends a
coming rainstorm carries with it the promise of plenty of puddles
of water to be alternately avoided, then jumped directly into, as
my sister and I splash one another on our way home.
    Today our teacher gathered us around her on
the floor for what was an exciting step in this first week of our
kindergarten adventure. She taught us our first school song on an
upright piano, situated against the play kitchen in a corner of the
classroom:
     
    Abraham Lincoln is kind and good,
    His honor and love for many.
    To help us remember this president,
    We put his face on our penny!
     
    It's a melodic, wondrous song. I'm sure that
I'll remember and treasure this song - my first song of school -
all the days of my life. How thrilling it is to sing without care,
such youthful joy!
    Inlaid in the middle of the floor are large
tiles in a circle with the letters of the alphabet. Daily we walk
around that circle to play various games. The idea, no doubt, is
for us to actually learn the alphabet. I'm pretty sure none of us
do, at least not the first time we walked the circle, singing as we
moved from letter to letter.
    Snack time is a favorite part of the morning
for all of us. We always drink milk with crackers. Then we retrieve
small rugs from our assigned cubby holes to lay on the floor for a
nap.
    Nobody wants to take a nap. Playing and
singing our new song is much more to our liking. But once laying
down and at rest it isn't long before the stealth arrival of sleep
steals playtime from us without conscious consent, graciously
compensating with the dreams of children that are instantly
forgotten upon awakening.
    ~ ~ ~
    Male Voices:
    "He might come to shortly."
    "He had bettah. I have some questions for him
b’foh we hang the slave-lovin’ bastard either as a spy, or for
treason."
    "We should know within the hour if he will
recover or not. I'll give you regular reports. Right now my focus
is on our own boys."
    "Doctah, do yah best. We need to lahn who is
wahkin’ with him. Those damn Quakahs and ho-a Jews and
freedom-for-slaves Yanks will yet be the death of me 'lessin I can
be the death of them fust. I want our own boys to be a priority
too, but without neglectin' this man. We need to know who he is,
and what the hell he's doing heya."
    "I’ll keep you informed of any important
changes Major."
    "Do that doctah. I’ll be in the officah’s
tent fuh the next while."
    ~ ~ ~
    My leg is on fire. There are dozens of mounds
of fire ant colonies in a field on the other side of the school
area where bicycle racks hold the transport of those lucky students
to whom we all look up. Had I been bitten by ants today? I must
have been, nothing else could account for this burning pain.
    We are not supposed to go into that large
field, but I have to cross it to get to the opening in the corner
of the chain-linked fence of the school to walk to and from our
home.
    Daily I find myself inexorably drawn to the
ants, not unlike a moth irresistibly to the life-consuming flame. I
know I ought not to get near them, having oft paid