The King’s Gambit
6: Antietam James Rada, Jr. Lou Preston eased his sedan onto the gravel drive of his family house on the edge of the National Park Service property for the Gettysburg Civil War Battlefield. Late afternoon sunlight filtered through pines, casting shifting patterns of gold and shadow across the yard, while the faint tang of damp…
The King’s Gambit
Seeking A Second Opinion James Rada, Jr. Lou Preston set aside his great-grandfather’s leather-bound journal, its cracked spine and yellowed pages whispering of decades past. Harley Preston had plunged into a Civil War conspiracy so obscure that no historian had ever glimpsed it—secret peace negotiations between Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis. That lack of recognition…
The King’s Gambit
4: The Visitor James Rada, Jr. Lou Preston slept uneasily. Four generations of Prestons had lived in this house on the edge of the Gettysburg battlefield, sometimes overlapping with as many as three generations living here at one time. They had gotten under each others’ feet. They had gotten on each others’ nerves. They knew…
The King’s Gambit
3: Becoming a Spy Lou Preston eased into his high-backed leather chair, the supple hide yielding under his weight as the morning sun slanted through the lace curtains of his Gettysburg study. Motes of dust drifted in golden beams, swirling above stacks of books and papers. He’d spent decades in this room—first immersed in research,…
The King’s Gambit
James Rada, Jr. 2: Peace Negotiations Lou Preston perched on the creaking attic floorboards of his family’s weathered house, just south of Gettysburg. Sunlight slanted through a dusty dormer window and illuminated the motes dancing in the stale air. He swept his gaze over the tangle of moth-eaten furniture, battered cardboard boxes, and heaps of…
The King’s Gambit
1: Inheritance Armies had marched past the simple large two-story home in Gettysburg, their boots trampling the grass into dirt and then mud on the third day of the battle. Soldiers, both Union and Confederate, had died in the back yard and the front yard, their final breaths drawn beneath the shade of ancient oaks.…
The Way to LA
Jame Rada, Jr. 7: War’s end Bill Wivell knew sending Celine Winfrey off on the train to California had been the right thing to do, but it didn’t make him feel any better, despite the fact that he had recovered from his bout of Spanish Flu. As Bill lay in bed alone at night, he…
Cranberries
by Stephanie Weisgerber of Sabillasville Long ago, God reached down into Earth’s deepest closet Intending to make a unique new deposit There he found pits of sand, peat, and gravel The legacy of glaciers, long miles having traveled They leisurely sank as they melted away Leaving traces of minerals and mud that betray The pits…
The Way to LA
Jame Rada, Jr. 6: The Grippe Bill Wivell nearly died of all things, the flu. Had he been coherent, it would have shamed him. He’d never lived down his single bad ear; in Thurmont, people already called him a slacker for being turned away from the Great War. Now, bedridden by an invisible enemy, he…
The Way to LA
Jame Rada, Jr. 4: 5: The Letter Two weeks had slipped by in Thurmont as Celine Winfrey remained with the Freeze family. Dawn after dawn, she rose to the sound of locomotive whistles and settled at the little kitchen table, waiting for word from California—any word. Bill Freeze had mailed a letter, addressed to her…
The Way to LA
Jame Rada, Jr. 4: A Walkabout Bill Freeze opened his eyes, then closed them and rolled over when he remembered it was Sunday. It was the one day a week the Railroad Diner was closed. The trains still rumbled and rattled as they stopped at and left the Thurmont station of the Western Maryland Railway,…
The Way to LA
Jame Rada, Jr. 3: A Different Courage Celine Marcon…Winfrey… she had to remind herself that she was now Celine Winfrey and married…awoke in the morning with a cooler head. The dawn’s pale light filtered through the thin curtains. She watched as the bright rays slowly reached across the bed until they reached her face. “Celine…
The Way to LA
Jame Rada, Jr. Waiting for Word Bill Freeze stopped in the soft glow of the diner’s overhead lamp, leaning against the doorway to the kitchen. Through the steam-laced air, he watched Celine Winfrey move with deliberate care as she stacked the last customers’ soiled plates and mugs onto a metal tray. She wasn’t the swiftest…
The Way to LA
James Rada, Jr. 1: The Woman on the Platform The black iron steam engine eased its persistent chug as it approached the Western Maryland Railway station in Thurmont from the east. When the wheels finally stilled, a riot of screeches and groans emanated from the trucks as they reluctantly slid along the cold, hard iron…
The Ghosts We Carry
A serial fiction story for your enjoyment written by James Rada, Jr. THE CLASS OF ‘16 7.To Fallen Friends Brian Peyton first sensed the pain deep in his body—a searing, relentless throb on his right side that pulsed with every breath. Each inhalation sent sharp, hammer-like jabs of agony from his ribs, rippling outward until…
The Ghosts We Carry
A serial fiction story for your enjoyment written by James Rada, Jr. THE CLASS OF ‘16 5: Domino Effect When Brian Peyton first heard the distant, mournful cry of the train whistle blend with Will VanSant’s frantic scream over the phone, his heart pounded with urgent resolve. Without a second thought, he snatched his keys…
The Ghosts We Carry
A serial fiction story for your enjoyment written by James Rada, Jr. THE CLASS OF ‘16 4: Second to Fall Will VanSant pulled into the parking lot of the Sleep Inn & Suites in Emmitsburg with a heavy heart, the warming morning air punctuating the stark reality before him. Tucked amid half a dozen unoccupied…
The Ghosts We Carry
A serial fiction story for your enjoyment written by James Rada, Jr. THE CLASS OF ‘16 3: The First To Fall Brian Peyton’s eyes followed his former classmate, Thomas Hardcastle, as he hurried from the 10-year reunion of the Catoctin High School Class of 2016. Thomas’ complexion was pale, and Brian couldn’t help but wonder…
The Ghosts We Carry
A serial fiction story for your enjoyment written by James Rada, Jr. THE CLASS OF ‘16 1: The Reunion As the morning light filtered through the curtains of his hotel room, Brian Peyton slowly stirred awake. He groaned, his head pounding from the excess of whiskey he had consumed the night before. With a heavy…
The Ghosts We Carry
A serial fiction story for your enjoyment written by James Rada, Jr. 1: Returning Home As the sun began to set on Friday evening, cars started rolling into Thurmont, bringing with them alumni from all over who were returning for their anticipated Saturday reunion of the Catoctin High Class of 2016 at Thurmont Ambulance Company…
