One Tin Soldier
Part of the Countdown to Christmas collection
Josiah had asked the Seven to meet him at Nathan's on Christmas afternoon. JD, Buck, Chris, and Ezra were gathered around the little wood stove and the mood of the room was relaxed and friendly when Vin arrived with a parcel under his arm.
"What's keepin' Josiah?" Buck asked him.
"Still had some things to finish up at the church after services." Vin accepted a cup of hot coffee from Nathan and took a seat amongst the little group.
JD sniffed the air. "What's that smell? It's nice."
Nathan grinned as he prepared another pot of coffee. "Like it? I got a Yule log burnin'. It's a old tradition back on the plantation. We'd pick out a log, y'see, and all year we'd soak it in mulled wine and spices and such. Then we let it dry out. We used to burn it in the big hearth. It had to be the biggest log we could find. As long as the Yule log burned, the slaves got paid for any work they did."
Ezra sat with his legs stretched out, ankles crossed. "How long'd it burn?"
"Not long enough."
Vin opened the parcel in his lap.
Buck looked over curiously. "Whatcha got there?"
Vin opened it and began handing a small package to each of the Seven. "Don't know. Josiah asked me to bring this and make sure we each got one."
"Should we open them?" asked Chris.
Vin shrugged. "He didn't say."
They each slowly unwrapped them. Each package contained the same thing: a small, time-worn tin soldier.
JD held it up, puzzled. " One tin soldier? What's this for? "
Buck studied it. "'Spose he was drunk when he wrapped 'em? Maybe it was supposed to be something else."
Vin shook his head. "Looked fine when I saw him last."
Ezra turned his over in his hand. "They're certainly old. And well-used…In this condition, they would have limited monetary value as 'antiques.'" He looked around at the others. "So what's the point?"
Chris calmly sipped his coffee. "Guess we'll find out when Josiah gets here."
"I see you opened 'em," said a deep voice from the doorway. All heads looked up as Josiah entered the room.
JD held the toy soldier up. "Thanks, Josiah." Though it was clear by his expression, he wasn't sure what he was thanking Josiah for. A subdued chorus of "thanks, Josiah" followed.
Vin looked at Josiah. "You gonna clear up the mystery?"
Josiah grinned and sat down. "All right." The boys waited silently as Josiah got comfortable.
"My father was a missionary. As you can imagine, missionaries and their families don't have much to do with presents and such.
"But I remember one Christmas when I was boy…My uncle... Sent me one dozen little tin soldiers. Fine ones, they were. We traveled often and, of course, we were always livin' in the poorest part of anywhere.
"Here I was with these wonderful tin soldiers. And the boys I played with barely had anythin'. So I hit on this idea. I gave one to each of my friends. And we made a rule. We were all gonna be generals, see, and anytime one of us had the idea to go fight a battle--for a good cause of course--we all had to get together and each bring our soldiers. 'Cause if we didn't, we couldn't raise a big enough army."
Josiah leaned back with a contented sigh and looked around him. "It was sort of a way of bringin' all my friends together..."
The End