THE TIES THAT BIND
Chapter 1: Secession
January 1861. South Carolina, Mississippi, Florida and Alabama have already seceded from the Union.
"Willy, that's all fine and well," I spoke as I pulled my handkerchief from my pocket and wiped the back of my neck. The Texas sun was almost unbearable today, to the point of making it hard to breathe. I s'pose that could also probably be on account of what my little brother was tellingme, but more on him in a minute.
"You know Pa's stubborn as anything and if you go in that there house," I pointed toward our porch, "and start talking this damn Yankee politics, he's gonna blow his top."
"I know, Jas!" he was so darn excited, I felt bad trying to quell him. He was popping up and down with every step like his knees were coiled spring. "That's why I'm talking about it with you now! I gotta tell someone, now I'm back and we won't be able to talk again to until midnight when Mama and Pa go to sleep."
"All right then," I replied, not seeing a whole lot of good coming out of this situation. I replaced my hat on my head, made my way up the stairs and held the door open for my brother.
Willy was so different now. From his close-clipped hair to the way his shoes sounded against the wood of the porch. Shoes. Willy didn't wear boots anymore. I still say shoes don't make any sense down here in all this dust, but a man's entitled to his own footwear, I s'pose.
This was Willy's second time back from Up North. He had just finished his second year. Now he was back home to be a doctor. Pa couldn't afford to bring him home nearly as often as Mama would like. But Willy had spent his last nickel to get back home before spring. Mama nor Pa knew just quite yet. Willy had wrote me a few weeks back, letting me in on his plan so as I could pick him up when he got the train.
Of course, Lucy sticks to me like glue most days and I couldn't very well keep it from her for long. I don't know why she wanted around me so much. There was close to six years between us. Mama calls her a 'free bird', only when Pa's not around of course, maybe that's why.
Anyways, Willy finally got here. My tongue would color black all over if I said I wasn't happy to see him come off that rail car. You see, Willy and I are only two years apart. And we never did grow up in one of the cities - or even the towns - around here. It was mostly just us and the ranch. Sure we had ranch hands but when Willy and I were young they certainly weren't no fun for games or other entertainment. And I'd missed him while he was gone. Two years is a heck of a lot longer then you might suspect. So much around us had changed. And listen to Willy for near a moment and you'd know things around him at school had been changing.
Like I said, I felt that grin stuck to my face. Wouldn't budge for anything. Until Willy started talking politics.
Now, I like to think myself open minded enough to listen other people's ideas without getting in a royal huff about it. There are lots of things I don't agree with Willy about, but he's my brother. And I like to peek inside his mind, see how he thinks about stuff, how his teachers and his education have influenced him.
But as I said, our Pa was stubborn as anything. Mama insisted his skull was made of oak. And while I never did see him as an intolerant man I know he didn't like change. Pa also didn't like Yankee smart alecks.
We read the broad sheets whenever we could get them in from town and there was more than a fair bit of trouble brewing. Sometimes I don't think Willy saw that, living in that university and all. The way I see it is that you can't have man from one place telling everybody else that they have to do things his way. Because we aren't all close to being the same and down here we don't take too kindly to being ordered about; we made our own way about this place for long enough. And now business is all set up, we got people and the government telling us how to run things. From my experience it's best just let people be. But you just wait and see, the government ain't ever taken one lick of good advice - leastways when it comes to ordering people about.
Dang… I wasn't even born in this country. My folks moved out here way before we were a 'state'. Back 'fore almost '46 we was our own separate country. I'll be branded crazy before I deny a lot people in this state'd rather go back to those days. You see, this new country we joined ain't looking so much better for the wear. The whole damn place is falling apart.
Governor Pickens must be made of tougher stuff. Secession. It's on everyone's mind now. No one's saying much about it outside their own homes. Can you blame us? We ain't crazy, times are hard, but secession… that there is an act of war, it is. It mighta seemed like a good idea or something to toss on the table, but now who knows? Most people seem to suspicious to talk about.
But things can't keep going as they been. It's a hotbed of contention down here, I suspect it won't be long before this whole mess explodes.
Anyways, Pa would be fit to be tied if Willy came in, going on about Lincoln and right of the Executive and industry and Federal mandate. I was just giving him a proper warning. He was pretty excitable, after all.