When the war started in 1861 I was twenty-three years old. Our small family farm was just ten miles from the Potomac River near Bath, Virginia. I pitched in with the farm work, but spent my days in a one-room schoolhouse teaching grades one through eight. Since I had no time for politics and thought […]
I drink too much and I do a little pot. Sometimes I ramble on about the jungle war I fought when I was young, about Viet Nam. Folks hereabouts think I’m crazy and stay away. That’s just fine with me. It’s one reason I live alone in a cabin on the mountain. I’ve seen things […]
When I hired Dan for day work on the construction crew, he couldn’t speak a word of Spanish and few of us spoke English. I was surprised to see an Anglo waiting on the corner with the hombres, but I took him on because I’d seen him earlier with Senora Maggie, my mother’s friend. He […]
I first met Dan Fields on a freezing winter night. His huge black dog had me pinned down so that I couldn’t run like my two friends had done. My gimpy leg and empty belly put me at a disadvantage and I was caught trying to drag off a sack of food. I know now […]
Animal guides have served man since the beginning of time. Having sharper senses and often greater physical abilities, animals guides can act as protectors and are beneficial to their human partners. The animal that chooses a person has affinity with that person, often displaying similar character and personality traits. In this personal relationship, the power or […]
I took one look at Dan and knew he was a Fields. I also sensed he had something to hide, but most of the Fields clan do. It’s strange how sharp your senses get when you’re close to death. My body was riddled with cancer and I had little time left. As it turned out, […]
From the time I was a little girl I could work magic. The “knowing” came down to me from my mother’s people all the way back through our Scotts ancestors. I already knew the herbs and roots needed for simple remedies and spells, but my Aunt Minna showed me the powerful ones, like witch hazel, […]
When I first saw Dan Fields in Shepherdstown, he was wearing a worn dirty CSA uniform and looked starved. Waiting at the end of our mess line, he stood out from the other men. I understood why he’d gravitated to our reenactor encampment. We wore the uniforms of the 12th Virginia Infantry, CSA and we had […]
By the time I was six years old, I knew that Granny would never love me. All of her love went to my cousin, Dan, who was homely as a toad compared to me and not nearly as clever. I was a year older and bigger than Danny, so I hit him whenever Granny wasn’t […]
The first time I met Dan Fields I read his palm and knew he was not from our world. I sensed that his energy came from an older simpler time. He was a man in transition, struggling to find his way. He was a traveler. When he showed me his granny’s cross set with a […]
