Letters and Crosses

by Stranger-jkl

The year? 1917. The place? Ypres. The setting? The Great War. Follow a Canadian, as he tries to survive in the trenches. Along the way, he'll meet a Polish man who uses a shovel instead of a bayonet, a Canadian pilot who is partly blind in one eye, a American lieutenant and his English right hand man, and a German orphan, and the Prussian soldier who's taking care of him.

3. Chapter 3

Dear Jacqueline,

Kirkland is dead, and Jones has lost the will to fight. Kirkland was hit by a rifle round, straight to the heart, piercing through his cross pedant, and killing him instantly. I hope whoever is Up There takes good care of Kirkland. I also met a German and his Prussian brother, Ludwig and Gilbert, respectively, Ludwig was shot through his arm, and needed a couple of stitches to close the small hole. Ludwig is barley sixteen, and Gilbert is around seventeen, Jacqueline, they are kids! Fighting other kids! Ah, well, Ludwig is fine, but Gilbert is shaken up, I can tell, he's scare that he could have lost his brother. As a tribute to Kirkland, Feliks prepared all the British and Canadians Burtons, as a nod to Kirkland's like of the drink, and to honor a tradition in the trenches, of sorts. When a dead British man is mentioned, he is mentioned as 'going for a Burton' and the mourners are 'raising a Burton'. So, up went the glasses, even one from Jones! I guess the grudge didn't really matter, I don't know, Jones seems sad, I hope he gets better.

Raising a Burton in memory of you,

Stephen Matterson

A/N: The term I was referring to, was 'Went for a Burton ' as, Burtons was most of the alcohol in the British trenchs, and a glass was raised every time a British soldier died. I hope I got this chapter right, if not, then tell me in a review or a PM.