Chapter 9 – The Last Days

And so time passed, in a flurry of Red Cross activities, countless visitors who encroached on Ingleside and the manse with curiosity and well-meaning wishes, and the stentorian voice of Norman Douglas heard all over town, usually booming on about the Germans' incompetence.

"You can be sure that those Huns will be licked in a matter of months," he bellowed in Carter Flagg's store. "Throw in more chaps like Jem Blythe and Jerry Meredith and gad, I wouldn't bet a penny on the Huns surviving till Christmas! I'm telling you, Ellen," in an aside to his wife, who stood beside him with her eyes on the ceiling, "don't you tell me that those Huns with their cocked up mustaches and big guns can touch a single one of our Islander boys, eh, Flagg?"

Nobody could stop him whenever he was in any of his tirades, and Carter Flagg had confessed to Mr. Meredith in church the previous day that he was quickly going deaf from the decibels that Norman constantly released in his store.

"I'm going mad, I swear, Reverend," he said, a complete expression of defeat on his face. "Now, I like the man, but if he continues shouting away at the top of his voice in my store, I shall be hard of hearing very soon."

The saintly minister had assured him that keeping a listening ear open to any brethren who wished to speak was the best thing that any Christian could do, but Carter Flagg hadn't looked convinced.

Orders had come in soon after the boys' return from Charlottetown, dictating that Jem and Jerry were to leave in a week's time for Valcartier training camp in Quebec. Upon hearing the news, Four Winds turned itself inside out in lavishing dinner invitations and all sorts of unnecessary gifts on their two soldiers. Mrs. Leo Elliot has constructed a banner saying 'Good luck, Jem and Jerry' and put it across her front lawn to the initial scandal of the Glen – now, many households were following suit and putting up banners with similarly encouraging words. Mrs. Michael Crawford from over-harbour had sent over a large encyclopedia of European history to Jem, saying that it would be beneficial when he went sight-seeing. Jem and Jerry had hooted long and loud over it – and 'The Encyclopedia' was now a standing joke between the two of them.

"These last days before Jem and Jerry sail for Quebec will probably never be relived again," Di wrote in her journal four days after the orders arrived. "I should enshrine them in this journal before everyone forgets them – then again, I don't think anyone will. Has a bigger thing ever exploded across the Glen? Suddenly, the doors of Four Winds have been thrown open to the world, and mass dispatches-reading sessions take place in all the households every morning. The names 'Tennenberg', 'Samsonov' and 'Hoffman', which, a month ago, would have incited the mildest of mild interest among the men, are now dropped casually from the mouths of housewives at the marketplace. Mrs. Leander Crawford, in particular, prides herself on being an expert in reading maps and predicting military moves. Mrs. Leander Crawford, who once cried because Faith publicly spoke up in church!

"We're seeing everything through new eyes, realizing that, no matter how secluded we were in the past, we're now tied to the rest of the people in other lands through an irrevocable bond called war…the most heartbreaking thing on earth. And yet, underneath it all, I suspect that many of us are enjoying this.

"Susan has tucked 'The Encyclopedia' into the garret for now. 'There it will stay, until it has any use to us,' she said. May Mrs. Crawford never know what has become of that monstrous book! What do people think, I wonder? Perhaps their enthusiasm have been fanned by the fact that Jem and Jerry do so dazzle all the old and young ladies alike in their khaki. Even Mrs. Sophia Crawford is smitten by the image of Jem in his uniform, though she'll die rather than admit it.

"Masses of gifts are bestowed on Ingleside every day, and mother is almost at a loss about what to do with all of them. Paperweights, ties, pens, even a pair of shoes personally given by a very demure Irene Howard…how we do dislike her!...Carter Flagg is indeed doing brisk business.

" 'However can Rilla be so infatuated with Irene?" I said the day Irene brought the shoes over and spent half an hour trying to flirt with Jem, who fended her off on every attempt.

" 'Who can understand fifteen?' Nan said tolerantly. 'We were fools at fifteen, too.'

"Now that I think of it…we were! Crying into our pillows at night if some boy or other hadn't walked us home from school that day, trying to avoid studying as much as possible, sneaking down to the kitchen to steal some of Susan's cookies and getting heartily scolded by her – oh, ignorant, foolish, wonderful, untainted fifteen! It will never come back to us again.

"Lately, Nan has been having bad bouts of insomnia. I hear her walking the floor every night, up and down, in an endless refrain. Mary Vance called to report that Mrs. Alec Davis said she didn't think Nan would make it through the war – 'she has been looking so peaked lately' – and I was so furious I just slammed the phone down. We don't need comments of that sort! But mother is very worried about her, and I only wish that Nan didn't take this half as badly as she is…

"Father is keeping a close eye on her and I think he will administer a dose if she doesn't sleep tonight. Just yesterday, during dinner, when we were talking about Jem's imminent leave for Valcartier, she burst out, 'There isn't enough time…there isn't enough…' and rushed from the room.

"Jem's attitude towards Faith has changed very much. They were always good to each other, but in public, anyone who didn't know them personally would have thought that they were simply chums. All that is different now – nobody could possibly mistake them for anything but lovers. He always holds her close whenever they're together, and he doesn't venture out much without her – it's bittersweet, seeing their devotion and knowing that they'll be parted so soon. We suspect that they're finally engaged, but neither of them has anything to say on that matter, so we leave it be. Walter seems to have accepted it, but sometimes I see a look in his eyes that makes me so incredibly sad…

"During times like these, I can almost be glad that I don't have anyone special to worry about – and yet…perhaps…but no, I won't write it down. Women, as Miss Cornelia declares, must be decent or nothing good will ever come out of the world.

"Ken came to visit us one evening when the Merediths were over. He'll be leaving for Toronto a few days after Jem and Jerry go – and then what should we do with ourselves? Poor Ken was rather bewildered when he first stepped in – ever since word came from the Red Cross headquarters that sheets and bandages are needed, Ingleside has practically been awash in cotton, sheets, needles and thread. Even Faith has forced herself to learn sewing – she always managed to worm out of it before.

" 'Our fair ladies are contributing much more to the war effort than we currently are,' Jem said as Nan tried to clear a seat for him.

" 'You could always help in the sewing,' said Jerry blandly.

" 'So I would, if Nan would let me near a needle. She says she doesn't need my help.'

" 'The last time you mended Faith's socks in Redmond, Mrs. Meredith said they looked as though they had been darned by cavemen,' Nan reminded him. 'Nobody would want your brand of sheets, Jem.'

"Jem just laughed. He and Jerry are in supremely good spirits nowadays – they take almost everything as a joke, and their favourite subject is 'potting Huns!' Ken was all too eager to indulge them in that and they were off, talking about Tennenberg. Halfway through, Walter got up and walked out…I don't think they even noticed him. I hardly know what is going on with Walter now – he's in his own world most of the time, usually dark and brooding, and I know he feels so badly over all this. He doesn't go about with Jem and Jerry like Carl does, and he never talks about the war if he can help it.

"Eventually the three boys got to talking about Jem and Jerry's enlistment, and it was rather painful sitting there stitching and listening to them threshing out all the details.

" 'Have you and Jerry been posted to the same battalion?' Ken asked.

" 'We don't know,' said Jerry, 'but it would be bit of a bother if we weren't, now, wouldn't it?'

" 'Rather,' said Jem. 'He would be lost without me.'

" 'I'd be lost with you,' Jerry retorted. 'Remember, I'm the map reader here.'

"Ken suggested terming their going as 'The Great Adventure' – he longs to go with them, too, and he would, if not for his ankle – but Faith severely vetoed that idea. She was the only one who kept up with their conversation – Nan and I gave up after a spell, and Una didn't say a word throughout.

"Sometimes I wonder whether we're going through all this worry needlessly. After all, everyone except Kitchener of Khartoum says that the war will be over by Christmas, and if that's so, Jem and Jerry won't get anywhere near it. Oh, how I hope that will be the case, and Kitchener is wrong!

"Walter, Nan and I leave for Redmond the coming semester. I remember how Jerry used to talk about it all the time, saying how fun it would be for six of us to be together in Kingsport, but now…there will only be four of us, including Faith. There will be a shortage of boys in college if the amount of young men enlisting is any proof to go by. It seems strange to be entering college under such circumstances – so vastly different from what Nan and I envisioned before.

"Speaking of differences…we never did manage to go on that boating trip. Somehow, I feel that it will never happen. It seems as though many years have passed since we sat together and planned that trip. War had really been the last thing on our minds then – just vacation, and the loveliness of being young and carefree – and yet, it hasn't been many years, nor even weeks…simply long days when too many things have happened. War has entered our realm of peace and tarnished it. The world, as we know it, will never be same again."

Di put down her pen and looked out of the window. She could see Jem and Jerry strolling down the lane to Ingleside – the two of them were scarcely ever apart now, preferring to receive all the accolades and adoration together. Even in identical uniforms, their differences were so very clear – Jem, his cap set at a jaunty angle, walking as though the world held for him some personal, hidden joy; Jerry, a step slower and more deliberate, every inch the image of a romanticized intelligence officer.

In them, she saw Canada's heartbeat; the young men who came forward in droves in answer to their country's call, willing to fight and lay down their lives for their homeland. How many would lie beneath white crosses before the war was over?

In the kitchen downstairs, Anne Blythe was saying to Susan, "Only two more days before they go, Susan. My little baby of the House of Dreams…and Mr. Meredith's firstborn son. If this war is recorded in history, will anybody ever care that a little village in P.E.I loved and sent two of its boys?"

"Nobody may ever care, Mrs. Dr. dear," said Susan staunchly, "but we shall always care for them, bless their souls."