“The mail man is here. Go get the mail. I know there is a letter from your brother today.” Said Mathilda while she was whipping her eggs. It was little Joe’s birthday and he was sure to get a cake this year. Joe was playing in the back yard. He was only eight and had done all his chores. Pop was back in the barn fixing old John’s shoe. That horse threw his shoes every month. He was more problems than he was worth. But they had no money to replace him. They had to wait and see for the harvest.

“Grace, get the mail, Girl. I reckon I told ya once. Don’t make me call your father.” Said Martha.

“Call me for what? Luv” George came back from the barn with good old Pop and they were dirty from head to toe but they left their shoes by the door. No one was going to dirty Martha’s floor.

“Nothi’ng, the mail man just came, and I know Johnny send us a letter. That’s all.” When Grace saw her Pa, she went running to get the mail.

“Good girl, see luv, no need to worry the child just need a little motivation.” Said George kissing his wife. The family stood together but it was dry times, hard times, sad times, dead times. Many young men gone, too many to be counted. Families waiting, for the return of their love one. The mail man became a beacon of hope. Will he bring a letter from a far away land? Will he have a post card with a few words written in the back. Carly came running back. She only had the Sears Catalog and a letter from the bank, and they knew what the bank wanted.

There was a car driving in the direction of the farm. But it was far away, in the distance, but it drove steady closer and closer. Until it reached the farm. The farm house was like any two floor old farm house in southern Mississippi. They had a picket fence and the mail box was next to the fence door. Martha kept busy making her cake, there was no latter today, but there was sure to be one tomorrow. Johnny was a good boy and he promised he was going to write, and he had sent a letter every month thus far.

George and Poppa were washing their hands when in front of the house the faraway car stopped. The Kitchen looked to the back of the house. No one noticed when the men stepped out of the car. The men straighten their clothing and positioned their hats correctly. They had to look pristine in this official business. They knocked on the door and waited. They had a paper in their hand. This was an important paper, an official paper. 

“Grace go open the door luv.” Said George from the Kitchen. The Girl opened the door and she found two tall men looking down at her.

“We are looking for Mr. George Kinley. Is he or the Mrs’s here?” said one of the men in a very serious voice. 

“Pa, there are some men here to see you.” Said Grace.

George stepped out of the kitchen to the living room of his home to see the men. Pop followed him. All stood quiet. All was too quiet. Martha stopped what she was doing. Suddenly a cold sweat came to her forehead and it went down her back. It could not be. That so familiar fear that was always there nagging at her heart. She felt it. The devil had taken her heart out of her chest and was squeezing all the blood out. She did not want to step out the kitchen, but she had to. She cleaned her hands walked to the hall down to the living room and she saw the men. A Captain in the Army handing her husband a letter. They received the one letter no parent would ever want to receive. The one message that changes the lives of an entire family. 

Martha opened her mouth in a silent cry. Nothing came out of her mouth. A scream that stood in her chest for five ten seconds. But when George touched her, realization came to her. All the emotions of a mother from the moment the midwife had placed Johnny in her arms the love of a mother to a child that shared her soul for nine months was infinite. That love came out pouring out in a sudden scream and tears. Martha turn around and climbing haltingly up the stairs while wailing, she then prayed no other mother would have to go through this torment. She prayed for the end of the war. But mostly She prayed for her own life, because she could not know how she was going to be able to live without that piece of her soul that she had just lost.