Lieutenant Kenneth Ford

ID 163322

10th Battalion

CEF,

France

January 4th 1917

Daddy,

I am nine months old and my favourite things are mashed-up bananas, applesauce and creeping around the house. Sometimes I even hide from mommy, but my giggle tells her where I am.

I weigh nineteen pounds and twenty-nine inches, sometimes I like to pull myself up by the coffee table and take a few steps while holding it.

I like bath time, but I like it more if I join Mommy's bath time with her. My hair is fine and a golden copper that sometimes curls if momma doesn't brush it.

Some of my favourite people are Grandpa, Grandma and Auntie Minnie. Aunty Di and Nan are nice as well when I remember them. Mary Vance likes to sneak me ice cream, so I also like it when mummy takes me to town for tea parties with her.

I can't wait to meet you one day Daddy.

Love Seffie.


Christmas and New Years passes without much fanfare for most residents of Ingleside, the shadow of death outweighed the first Christmas for Seffie who would be hardly old enough to remember it anyway.

Letters from Ken finally appeared, dirty, bundled together, but all in one piece and Rilla devoured them, reading them aloud to Seffie when she was willing to be cuddled.

"Daddy, that is daddy," Rilla pointed to photographs when talking about Ken as she noticed that Seffie was beginning to understand who different people were to her. She kissed the copper hair starting to have a little curl at the ends.

Snow falls in blankets that winter of 1917, and despite the cold Rilla would bundle up Seffie and take her outside, holding her above the snow, letting her touch it and lay in it for a moment. Rilla joined her at one point, making snow angels in her winter wear.

"Get that baby out of the snow, it's the middle of February," Father practically yells when he sees them outside when coming home from a call.

"She's perfectly warm and content," Rilla argues back as she moves the little covered arms to make angel wings. "Isn't that right Sweetie?"

Seffie who was more a bundle of knitting and cloaks laughed and giggled at her mother.

Father shakes his head and pulls off his leather gloves Rilla notices and frowns. She scoops up Seffie.

"We were just having a bit of fun?" She tells him as if she is apologizing to him. His temper has been shorter since the telegram about Walter, and by the looks of it, his last case didn't go well. "She's not even a bit cold, I promise."

Father's looks soften but still shakes his head. "There is plenty of time for playtime in the snow when she is older Rilla."

Rilla only sighs defeated and follows him inside. She unwrapped the blankets, and cape, and untied the sack she had Seffie in and put her on her shoulder, but her restless legs seemed to jitter as she paced the living room for a minute. She gave up and went to get their winter things once more. She told Mother she was going to pop in to visit Minnie tied Seffie into a large scarf around her body wrapped her coat around them pulled on a dark green tam over her ears and pulled on her winter boots.

"I wasn't expecting you," Minnie says letting her into the small house.

"I was restless and father practically scolded me for having Seffie outside in the snow for a few minutes." Rilla sighs and sinks into the offered chair and takes the cup of Tea, after unwrapping Seffie and putting her down on the floor on the blanket near them where Little Jims plops down and pushes his blocks at her. "The house hasn't been the same since Walter honestly."

"Understandable," Minnie nods her head, sitting down. "Everything else is fine though?"

"I suppose so? Nan and Di were home for Christmas and gone again, Shirley and Clem are closer than ever. He wants to propose but doesn't know which is crueller to leave her unattached and let her go if she finds someone else, or if he dies, or to leave her with a promise he doesn't know if he can't keep?"

"There is no right answer to that," Minnie sighs. "She is a nice young lady from what I saw her of her."

"She is," Rilla nods her head. "She is supposed to come to visit next time he comes home, he wants Mom and Dad to get to know her better."

"Very considerate of him," Minnie hums, "Still very young the both of them."

"Shirley is nineteen, I mean…he'll still have to figure out a career I suppose but according to Clementine he's a wonderful teacher and he can do well in that career if he wants to continue."

"Do you really see your brother being a teacher forever?" Minnie raises an eyebrow and Rilla shakes her head. "What does Ken plan to do when this is all over?"

"Last time we spoke about it, he wanted to be a lawyer or something?" Rilla responds after a moment of contemplation of old conversations.

"I can somehow see that," Minnie says with a hum. "It's an honourable job, and he did an honourable thing when offering you marriage, it would suit him well."

Rilla nods her head, turning to look at the little ones who let out a squeal. Rilla smiles softly, before abandoning her tea cup and moving to sit on the floor and Minnie soon follows her.


"The Tsar of Russia has abdicated," Rilla reads out loud in shock. "The one grand duchess is my age. I hope they find safety."

"I am sure England will take them," Father says without emotion. "The children at least, as they are innocent in it all."

"Ken wrote, he's up north somewhere, around Belgium most likely," Rilla says quietly. "The news…it feels like something is building. Mrs. Meredith said that Jerry was also around the same area by his letters."

"Something is always building," Father sighs getting up. "All we can do is pray for our men." He leans over to kiss Seffie's head where she sits in the highchair with her breakfast.

Rilla sighs, at the subtle but not-so-subtle rejection of the conversation about the war and opens up her letter that he had brought from the post office.

Rilla Ford,

Morgan Rd,

Glen St Mary, PEI

Canada

February 18th 1917

Rilla,

We, Canadians are going to change this war, I can feel it in my bones and I am not sure if that is a good thing or not. We lost so many good men in the Somme, and now we are here and I can't help it to wonder if it is all worth it or not. I can't give actual details, but I can tell what it feels like to me.

The winter here was decent compared to what most of us Canadians are used to, it's already blooming in March here, though it still snows occasionally overnight here and there. It reminds me of home that is for sure, those endless weeks of fools spring, only to have another snowstorm. Northern France will have those days I have learned.hough while cold, we Canadians do tease the British and the French we come across by mentioning this is barely cold to us. On the first warm day we had we were all jumping in a nearby pond for a wash like it was nothing back.

I had to wipe away a tear upon seeing the photo you sent of Seffie with her little letter. I dug out the last photographs you sent me and just tried to see how much she has changed and grown, knowing she has grown again since it was taken. I know the choices I made, and I stand by them, but some days, most days I wish I was there, I wish I could hold her and talk to her, love on her…have her know me beyond photos and stories and letters.

I miss you as well, of course, I can't believe how long it's already been, how Seffie is already almost turning one in a few short months. This only reminds me of the vibrant memories that burned into my mind while they are dusted in vignettes in my mind now, the memories are of our time together, and the feeling of your kisses and body next to mine.

The trench is still cold these days, especially at night. The Christmas parcel has been all but eaten and used up. Most days I wear two pairs of socks with a pair of boots that is a half size larger than my usual size. I think of you on cold nights and how you would curl up to me at night in your sleep.

Bleaker would tease me for being sentimental, but before every battle, every raid, sound of a horn, I think of you, I think of Seffie, my parents and Persis. But it gets me through the blood and deafening sounds of shells and artillery.

I love you, Stay well, and kiss Seffie and give my love to her as well.

Kenneth


The news of Vimy Ridge was splattered on every newspaper and Rilla's stomach plummets every time there is a telephone call. Each new evening and morning brought more, and when newspaper headlines, and updates on the news from the day prior. The first time she sees Ken's battalion mentioned she feels nauseated and drops the paper in shock.

Her body shook involuntarily as she tried to process what it said.

Five days, it took five days before the word of Walter had gotten to them. Five days it took for news of Jerry Meredith being shot in the back and being seriously injured in the first part of the battle that led to victory.

She still had three days left until she could breathe again, knowing he was most likely safe.

A victory, a victory at what cost? Could there truly be victory in war if all around them was the constant threat of death?

She thought her sister would welcome the companionship, instead, Nan was red-eyed and irritable whenever Rilla came around as they waited for the mail together.

The casualty lists came out and Ken wasn't among them, Rilla managed to finally breathe, no news was good news in cases such as these. Though in the early hours of the morning, a telegram comes through the telephone from France.

Safe. Don't worry. I love you, Ken.

"Why don't we make some candy for him?"Rilla asks trying to cheer up her sister. "He'll pull through, didn't Mrs. Meredith say the doctor had a good prognosis didn't they?"

"He was shot in the back, how good is that?" Nan retorts getting up from her spot.

"When Ken was…"

"Don't you dare compare his bicep too narrowly missing his lungs and heart to a bicep wound!" Nans warned her. "He wasn't knocked out and left thinking he had died from the blast."

"Nan, please I am just trying…I understand what you're going through."

"You have no idea what it feels like!" Nan shouts.

"Do I not have the father of my child out there as well, I know exactly what it feels like to have Hades playing his games with the man I love, that isn't a personal thing Nan!"

"Oh yes, you perfectly safe Lieutenant who never gets hurt badly, always slightly away from the danger, unlike the other men around him."

"Excuse me?" Rilla sputters at her sister taken aback by the outburst. "He is out there with the rest of the junior officers risking their lives like everyone else, just because he got a commission and Jerry didn't doesn't make him any more safe they anyone else!"

"Girls!" Mother's voice raises behind them. "This is not how young ladies act, nor sisters."

Rilla looks at her sister, and Nan looks back at her before turning on her heel and stalking away, Rilla just sighs as a shriek from the living room calls out for her.