Decisions and Murder (Life of the Ordinary Americans #2 and 3

Dear Journal,

                        After leaving the ship, my parents have caught the diseases that have been circulating. I hoped and prayed that they could get better each day that passed, but luck wasn’t on my side. Each miserable day passed and they continued to get weaker and weaker until they were no more. I really did hate living in America, but as long as I had my parents, things didn’t seem so bad. I lived in the streets, defenseless and about to give away my last bit of hope to the lies the Virginia Company told me. I was on the verge of death since I hadn’t eaten in weeks and had to force myself to drink water until I met Elizabeth Faye. People in Lancaster aren’t exactly the nicest people, but Elizabeth had taken me under her wing and allowed me to live with her at her farm where I help out. She and I have even solved a case together and found out that a rich man, named Eustice Fairbanks, was the one who dumped pig manure on King George III’s statue.

Elizabeth and I are now known throughout all of the thirteen colonies for being able to solve the crime with the pig manure on King George’s statue. Even though what I thought was incorrect, Elizabeth was able to bring justice by having Eustice arrested and still give me credit because I helped her throughout the investigation. I never thought that solving such a small crime would make us become so famous that we would be going to Williamsburg to see the governor, Robert Dinwiddie. On the day Elizabeth and I had to leave to Williamsburg, we were escorted to one of the most magnificent places I’ve ever seen. And to think that the governor lived in there! The governor’s palace was nothing like any other building in Lancaster where Elizabeth and I live. Everything was so much nicer here, it was spacious, the grass seemed greener, the skies seemed bluer, it was incredibly tall, and the design of the palace was so lovely I would’ve thought that the king lived there if I hadn’t remind myself that the king lived in England and that I was here to see the governor.

            After going through so many stairs and hallways, Elizabeth and I were led to a large room that was beautifully made with the polished wooden furniture and the shiny tiled floored. Waiting for us there was a rather plump man twiddling with one of the gold buttons on his gray suit, waiting for Elizabeth and I to arrive. His pale blue eyes looked up when he heard us walking in. He stood up to greet us, and as he did, I couldn’t help but notice how his snowy white wig did a little dance as he stood up. He gave us a smile, “So you two are the young ladies who were able to solve that terrible crime against the king.”

            We both nodded and I tried to hide the fact that it was mainly Elizabeth who had done all the solving. I now know that I need to be careful before making these kinds of decisions. After having a conversation with Robert Dinwiddie about our investigation, there was a knock at the door and a tall and handsome young man walked with great posture. Although he looked like he was doing fine physically, you could sense that he seemed to breaking down mentally. Just by looking at him, you could tell that there was something wrong. The way his eyes looked, he seemed like a child thinking of their explanation to their parents when they do something wrong. You would think that a man like him would be able to walk and do everything with a lot of pride, but in his actions, he looked nervous and unsure with himself. He gave us a weak smile and I could sense that whatever was wrong, was going to have to deal with Elizabeth and I.

            Robert Dinwiddie introduced us to the young man, whose name was George Washington, and tells us that there has been a breakout between France and England because of something that George Washington has done.

            “You see, I was second in command of a small group of men and we soon learned that about one of the British forts was torn down by the French,” George Washington told us, “we continued on west until we found out that a small French force were seven miles away from us. My men fired at French soldiers when they had discovered us, we believed that their me were pretending to surrender so they’d have a chance to attack us. We fought for 15 minutes until we had defeated the French, killing the leader and nine of the men who the Indians then scalped.”

            “That’s understandable,” I tell him and everyone else, “it makes sense for you and your men to want to defend yourselves if the French were going to attack you. They’ve already torn down the fort the British built at the Ohio River Valley, so it makes sense to try anything to keep us from taking the Ohio River Valley from them.”

            “Yes, I agree with you,” he tells me. Then his eyes darken, “when my men and I had reached the French camp, we both fired at the same time and we soon were able to wound the commander, Ensign Joseph Coulon de Villiers de Jumonville. He then asked for a cease fire and began to explain to me what he was doing on his mission, but then the Indian chief of the Iroquois had walked over to Jumonville and said ‘you are not yet dead, my father’ and smashed his hatchet into Jumonville’s skull, killing him. I tried to stop the other Indians, but it was too late, they had already killed all of the other Frenchman. After a while, my men and I return back to our camp and began to build a fort, which I named Fort Necessity. I thought that with this fort we would be able to defeat the French with my 180 men, even f thery had 500 men, but they showed up with twice that number. Ensign Joseph Coulon de Villiers de Jumonville’s half-brother led about 1000 men and we fought for hours in the rain. I was only able to clear a 60-yard field of fire between the fort and the woods. But the French had taken shelter and then shot down Fort Necessity. The fort soon became flooded and ruined our gunpowder and about a third of my men had died or was wounded. Later that night, the French had offered me a chance to surrender and all I had to do was sign a document, so my men and I could return back to Virginia.  But I never knew that by signing that document I would be saying that I was responsible for the death of Jumonville.”

            “How dare they!” I say. I was angry with the French for tricking us like that and making us lose two forts, “They tear down two of forts and lied and tricked us! At least we have a fair fight with them; we don’t have to trick them in order for us to defeat them. They’re basically the reason why all of this had started! They had to tear down our fort at the Ohio River and cause all of this! George Washington…”

            Before I could continue, another man charges into the room without knocking. You could see the anger in his eyes, “George Washington is the reason my brother is dead!” He shouted.

            “You don’t understand, Coulon de Villiers,” George Washington said, but was interrupted by Jumonville’s brother.

            “I do understand. I understand that you are the reason why my brother was killed! After he tried to surrender to you, you decided to kill him! Why would you do that? You even signed a document proving that you are guilty of killing my brother!”

            “I was tricked! I was told by signing that document, my men and I could surrender and return to Virginia. The document was in French, and I couldn’t understand it! I know it was a foolish thing to do, but my men and I were desperate. We didn’t have any gun powder we could use to defend ourselves and I had already lost a lot of men!” George Washington said, defending himself.

            “He is lying! We, French, wouldn’t do such a dishonorable thing! I want this man hanged! ” Coulon de Villiers shouted, pointing at George Washington.

            “No he shouldn’t!” It took all of my confidence to say those three words. So it took more confidence than I had to continue. “ The French is the reason why all of this started. If they hadn’t torn down that fort at the Ohio River Valley, we wouldn’t be having this problem! They’re also the ones who had tricked George Washington and got us into this mess!”

            George Washington and Coulon de Villiers soon started to argue about whose stories were true, after a few minutes, George Washington turned to me, “Samantha, you were able to solve the crime about who had dumped the pig manure on the king’s statue.”

            “If you were able to do that, please tell George Washington that he is the one at fault!” Coulon de Villiers told me.

            George Washington and Coulon de Villiers had asked me and not Elizabeth. What if I chose the wrong person again? Like when I thought that it was someone else who had dumped the pig manure on the statue. What if I messed up and Elizabeth wouldn’t be able to save me this time? I could see the desperation in George Washington’s eyes and how upset Coulon de Villiers was about losing his brother.

             “I’m sorry Coulon de Villiers, but I think George Washington is the one telling the truth,” I tell them. I could see George Washington’s eyes lit up while Coulon de Villiers’ grew angrier.  “If George Washington really is lying, there is still the document as proof that the French had made him sign it without knowing what it really said. There also doesn’t seem like a reason for George Washington to lie either because when your brother died, George Washington’s men were there to witness your brother’s death. He has also admitted to signing the document, which you also saw, showing that he didn’t lie about it. And even if you hadn’t admitted to this, why would George Washington confess to something so foolish to do? Unlike you on the other hand, have a reason to lie because it would show that your people have lied to George Washington and that your brother is the one guilty for this. And you would have a slightly better advantage of keeping the land on the Ohio River Valley.”

            “George Washington should be the guilty one!” Coulon de Villiers shouted, “This girl must be wrong! Since you are the reason my brother has died, you should be dead as well!” Coulon de Villiers tried to attack the defenseless George Washington, but I had to have even more confidence and strength to do something that a woman would never do. I pushed Coulon de Villiers away from George Washington. He landed on the floor and after a moment of shock, he stood up and brushed himself off. He started walking over to me and I thought if he was going to kill me instead, which he could do easily since he is older, larger, and stronger than I am. Before I knew it, I felt my cheek stinging and realized he slapped me. I was shocked; I wanted to get out of there. As the men were distracted, yelling at one another, Elizabeth and I fled the governor’s palace and decided that we should try to forget what had happened. But it’s hard to forget what had just happened when I can still feel the sting from the slap on my cheek.

                     ~ Samantha White

Author's Note

This is the second and third of the prompts combined because I forgot to save the second prompt. it's about how young George Washington had kind of started the French and Indian War and has signed a document saying he is responsible for a man named Jumonville's death. It's not the best of my prompts, but enjoy!

Reviews

[ChrisM]

I enjoyed this very much. It's vivid and realistic. And I learned something that I would never have guessed at. Write on! I just noticed - you're 13? You have great talent! I hope to see you published one day.

[Miiki]

Thanks so much!! And yeah, I'm 13. I'm really glad you liked it and learned something from it :)