Free The Girl in a Coma by John Moss Page B

him.”
    â€œWell, I’m sorry for that. But I’m not surprised.”
    â€œAnd he killed Noah Shantz.”
    The officer looked shocked. Then he offered a grim smile.
    â€œWell, he won’t be hanged,” said the officer.
    â€œAnd why not?” Rebecca’s mother seemed almost afraid to ask. She did not approve of hanging, but she believed in stern justice.
    â€œPrivate Panabaker tried to leave us. It was the day after the soldier with the scar on his face got away. Corporal Jonas.”
    â€œAnd what happened to Private Panabaker?” Rebecca demanded.
    Her mother had never heard a woman, never mind a girl, talk to a man as his equal. She gazed at her daughter with proud concern.
    â€œPrivate Panabaker cannot be hanged because he was shot for desertion,” said the captain.
    â€œOh,” said Rebecca.
    â€œI will tell the elders that Jacob is innocent,” said her mother.
    â€œIt is war. Mistakes are made. People die,” said the British officer. “I am sorry. If I live to see the end of it, I will join you in Canada.”
    â€œYou are a Mennonite?” Rebecca couldn’t believe it.
    â€œNo, I am a Loyalist from Connecticut. My family is already in Halifax. But I am a soldier first. I know my duty.”
    Rebecca and her mother exchanged looks of puzzlement. They excused themselves and walked close beside each other down Main Street and out of town. Jacob Shantz was redeemed.
    â€œI will tell his family,” said her mother. “Perhaps now that his father is gone, he will come back.”
    â€œ Mutter. Jacob Shantz is dead.”
    â€œ Ja, ” she exclaimed. “ Es ist so .”
    When they reached the gate of the Johannes Haun farm, Rebecca and her mother briefly touched hands. As Rebecca leaned forward, her mother looked down at the silver medallion on her bosom, with the amber gleaming at the center. Her eyes widened but she said nothing. She reached out and touched the medallion with her fingertips. She smiled shyly, then turned and walked slowly down the lane to help load the Conestoga wagons. She stopped suddenly and turned back.
    â€œRebecca!”
    â€œ Mutter? ”
    They approached each other. They touched hands but did not embrace.
    Her mother whispered: “I am not permitted to talk about Christian. You must look out for him.”
    â€œI don’t understand.”
    â€œHe left Bible College last year. He is a soldier, an officer.”
    â€œFor the British?”
    â€œNo, meine liebchen , my little sweetheart. He is a Captain in Mr. Washington’s Army. He fought in the very first Battle at Concord. We do not talk of Christian, now. It breaks my heart.”
    Suddenly, her mother hugged her. She wrapped the gray shawl around Rebecca’s shoulders. Then she turned and walked briskly down the lane.
    Rebecca returned to the hotel.
    The next morning she set out for Philadelphia.

Twelve
    Allison
    It is an exciting world for an intrepid potato! Certainly not boring. It’s exciting for a girl of sixteen walking back into a war. Rebecca has cleared the name of her friend, Jacob Shantz. She will find her Captain William de Vere.
    And I am still alive!
    Wait. You’re going to want to hear this.
    Jaimie Retzinger is sitting beside me, yapping away. He hardly used to say anything at all. Now he won’t stop talking. I want to go to sleep and finish the walk to Philadelphia with Rebecca. We’ve been through a lot together. And if she’s going to be my great great great, great great grandmother, I’d like to be there when she falls into her lover’s arms.
    But Jaimie Retzinger has a pretty good story about me and I nearly missed finding how it turned out. He saved my life.
    Here’s what happened, as far as I can tell.
    He has been visiting me almost every night since I was shot. He comes late because he’s going to night school. He wants to get his High School Equivalency. The