charlotte tarvers is only 14 when the war breaks out, but 17 when she signs up. she's heard the stories from her parents, lovers who found each other by chance on the front lines in world war one in the country of france, now passing down the storie...
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" i don't know if we each have a destiny, or if we're all just floating around accidental-like on a breeze, but i think maybe it's both. maybe both is happening at the same time."
-forrest, forrest gump
***
September 1st, 1939
" Momma, who's Hitler?" asked the 14 year old girl, with the french braids, as she sat side by side with her mother at the kitchen table.
" Charlotte, remember what I said dear, rappelles toi?" her mother said looking at the child.
" No." answered Charlotte with a small huff. Her mother was smart, and intelligent, and she said a lot of things, Charlotte just wished she remembered them.
" Hitler is a man of power in Germany, it's why your father and I left France when we could. We had 3 babies, we didn't need anything happening to you three." Charlotte's mother explained, as she went and put dishes in the dishwater, turning up the radio slightly.
" Why did he invade Poland? What was he trying to accomplish?" Charlotte asked. Charlotte had always been a fairly curious girl, and when it came to history and science, she always grew particularly more interested. Charlotte's mother felt that in some ways, she failed as a parent because she couldn't explain things like this to her own daughter.
" I don't know. But I know we are safe. And that we shall pray every night for the ones who suffer." her mother said. Charlotte smiled at her mother looking up from her book.
" MJ and I were thinking of going out and buying some new clothes before school started." Charlotte exclaimed looking up from her homework and a bowl of cereal.
" When?" her mother asked, as she began picking the leaves off of the strawberries in their garden.
" Maybe tomorrow or the day after." the young girl answered to her mother.
" That's sweet of her. How's her mother?" Charlotte's mother asked.
" Better." Charlotte answered, and that was the only truth she could really give out in that moment. Mrs. Miller was a religious woman, but she knew where to step in and not let anyone give her a load of bull crap, and Charlotte had always loved that about her best friend's mother. Mrs. Miller had taught the two best friends many things, about life, boys, and people. She grew up in the late 1890s, and fought on the American side helping with nursing in The Great War. Charlotte stood and began helping her mother pick off the leaves from the stems of the strawberries.
" John Henderson's been ignoring me like the plague." she said sadly. Her mother besides, MJ, was the only other one who knew about the crush on John Henderson.
