Targeted
By Friday afternoon, Colonel Rogers had yet to have a chance to speak with
General McLeen. It was to no surprise that she would be busy. After all,
her troops had come and they needed to be trained for more battle. Even
though she assigned one of the colonel's to train them, she was still quite
busy. Everyday brought new wagons from Saratoga filled with papers,
muskets, and ammunition.
McLeen was always surrounded by her officers and was either working with
her troops or doing paperwork. She was quite good with the men. They didn't
snigger at her or give her dirty looks at all. No, they stood straight as
boards as she passed them and obeyed her every command. Though the
atmosphere was different when they were resting, they still respected her.
She'd go up and down the lines and speak words of encouragement and comfort
to her soldiers and they'd smile and talk to her as if they had known her
since she was young, actually she was pretty young. She had to be around
twenty-two years of age and she didn't sport moles like some of the other
women.
On Fridays, though, you could find her in the courtyard practicing with the
sword and pistol since it was her 'day off'. She was excellent at the sword
but not very good with the pistol. She always missed the target by a couple
of inches; and saying a 'couple of inches' was just being nice. That is how
Major Tavington found her, practicing with the pistol. He winced as she hit
a statue a couple of feet away from her target. The head of it blew off.
"Nice hit, general." He said. She swung around and smiled.
"I am so horridly bad with a pistol, but good with the sword. Does that
mean anything?" she said, coming towards him.
"Just that you need more practice and a teacher."
"Oh, and you think you can teach me? I thought you disapproved of a woman
being an officer. Or was that Rogers?" she strokes her chin and quickly
reloads her pistol and fires at something random. The bullet hits another
statue right in the center. "I can only shoot well if I am distracted, but
that annoys the piss out of me."
Tavington is astounded at the surprise of a lady using such vulgar slang.
She raises an eyebrow and laughs. It is a sweet sound. "What, never heard a
lady use such language?" she laughs again and reloads.
"Here allow me to teach you." He says and asks her what the target is. She
points at an unbroken statue. He positions her in front of him and steadies
her now trembling arm that has the gun in it. "Now, you want to keep both
eyes open so you can see around you as well as in front of you. You never
know if someone will come up at you from the side." He pulls back the
flintlock and aims the gun for the center of the statue. He then looks at
McLeen and says, "Ready?" She nods and he makes her pull the trigger. They
both stumble back a little bit and wait for the dust to clear so they could
see where she hit.
"Holy shit and Mother of God! I hit the center!" she cries out and runs to
the statue.
"Now let's see if you can do it by yourself. Remember, both eyes are open."
"Alright." She says backing up to where he is. She reloads, pulls back the
flintlock and aims. For the second time she hits it dead center, but a
little to the right. No matter, if it was a human he would have been dead.
"Blimey," says a voice behind them. Both swing around and see an officer
staring at the statue in shock. "General, you actually hit the mark!" The
man has an Irish accent. He has graying brown hair and dark brown eyes.
"Yes, Lieutenant, I sure did. Of course with the help of Major Tavington
here." She says happily. To Tavington she says, "This is my second in
command, Lieutenant Jimmy McCaffrey. We just call him Lieutenant Jimmy
though unless at a formal event."
They shake hands and give each other their greetings.
"Well, I have to get back to work. I just came by to tell General McLeen
that a Colonel Rogers wishes to speak with you." Jimmy says. "Good day,
Major Tavington, General McLeen." He says and walks off.
"What is it with that man? I don't see anything so great about my tactics.
They just come up in my mind whenever we go to battle. Well, I better go on
then. Thank you for the help and lesson, major."
"When will I see you again?" he asks.
"Hmm. Probably sometime really soon. After all there is that damned ball I
am expected to go to. Have a wonderful day, major." And with that she left
the courtyard and headed to the Colonel's office inside the great mansion.
