Carefully dissecting the pages of the book to make sure I understood it enough to not make a fool of myself in front of Mr. Thornton and Mr. Belmont who wrote about books for a living. I wasn't too fond of my odds but if they disliked my thoughts I was sure there would  be no holding back and that might prove of some satisfaction.

"Where are you going?" My aunt asked me three days later.

"To church?"

"Maybe some other time? The weather does not look favorable."

"Aunt I promise it won't take long. I just need the walk. I'm so used to it in Whitby."

"Do make sure though to grab a heavier coat, the staff were complaining about the weather today."

"I will, thank you." I nodded.

"Will Sir Crawford be joining your walk?"

"No, just me and God this time." I hated how she pushed Sir Crawford to my company as I did not internally scream about having to exchange small boring pleasantries with him still I smiled saying my goodbyes and headed outside where an unusually thick fog covered the London air.

Coughing my way to Belmont's house there was a frenzy happening which I had no idea of its meaning but people ran inside their homes and I walked towards Belmont's house.

"Miss Stanton?!" He was confused by my presence.

"What is happening? What is this horrible fog?"

"Come in this instant. Do you have no idea what's happening?" He hurried me in to shelter me in his house. "How can you risk your life so recklessly?"

"What are you on about Mr. Belmont?"

"The fog is war, no doubt war has come too close to home once more."

"War? Does that mean we are under attack?"

"Yes so come on in at once please," Mr. Belmont ushered me inside the house in a hurry then locked the door as I observed the gun on top of his table.

"A gun?"

"One can never be too careful." Mr. Belmont looked up at me as I tried to digest the fact that our country was at risk and so might be our lives.

Joshua faced it everyday, not only faced it, he was in the middle of it. Sent to into a fight we hoped for a victory that wasn't guaranteed. I was not scared for my life or at least not enough that I could focus on it, only on those who were fighting for us.

"Are you alright?" Mr. Belmont asked.

"Yes, I am not scared." I looked him straight in the eyes and he smiled.

"A brave man will endure a thousand deaths, see a million triumphs before a coward ever even tastes true freedom or joy."

"I don't believe that is how the saying goes," I smiled back.

"I know I think the original is nonsense so I made my own."

Mr. Belmont joked and I laughed when a loud knock put us at our guard and instead of asking who it was he motioned for me to get down behind the table.

"Shhh..." He whispered while taking focused steps towards the door with the gun.

It was a knock so loud it almost blew the house down and I prepared myself.

"Open up!"

It was Mr. Thornton's powerful voice from the other side so Belmont opened the door and I lifted from behind the table where I thought at this point was ridiculous.

"Tommy what are you doing here?" Belmont asked him surprised of his coming.

"I thought I'd come tell you the news but..."

Mr. Thornton saw me and looked back at Belmont like the sky had fallen apart now that my presence had been established.

"What is she doing here? She should be with her family!" Mr. Thornton complained about me.

"I did not know what was happening before I came so can we please move on?" I said already irked about him.

"How could you not know? Do you not see the fog?"

"Ugh..." I gasped annoyed.

"She's not originally from London she does not know these things," Belmont explained it to him.

"Of course she isn't," Mr. Thornton sized me up.

"Are you implying I lack some kind of smart only because I am from the country? Are you so narrow minded as to believe such a cliche?"

"I meant it is obvious by the state of your shoes."

"What of my shoes?"

"You are no lady who only walks around the park at midday or you wouldn't be wearing those scuffed shoes." He pointed out my favorite pair of shoes as if they were a shame and I looked away.

"Ah Mr. Thornton you and you're obliviousness," Mr. Belmont also noticed Mr. Thornton's lack of social graces.

"Either way it's a bomb, dropped in Westminster, they said it's the worst one we've seen since 1915."

"So people are injured, and dead." Belmont stated.

"Yes too many," Mr. Thornton said.

"The Great War, will it ever end?" Belmont asked the same question I asked Joshua so many times.

Joshua was at the disposal of our country somewhere I did not know. It had been too long since I had word from him and this was the perfect moment to make me nervous about the lack of news. I told myself to press on to hope and faith that everything would be all right. I would not sit here in a panic like every other person did, I'd overcome the distance and the unknown by picturing him coming back safe and sound.

"Miss Stanton?" Belmont asked me, "would you like to take a seat?"

"No thank you I am fine here," I tried to see out the window but there was nothing to be seen.

"We should get her home, she cannot stay here with us, who knows how long she'll have to stay." Mr. Thornton tried to find a solution to get rid of me.

"We can't, the safest place for her is here, for all of us. If there's been a bombing at Westminster we need to wait until we have news it is safe to go out there."

"But Belmont, her family."

"Will be relieved when she comes home whole. You've seen what bombs can do to our men. Do you want to be responsible for her?"

"Then I'll go tell her family where she is so they do not worry."

"Enough of your bad ideas Tommy. Take a seat. We never know how close to our doorstep the war is so please lock the door and let us prepare ourselves for a long night."

Belmont made us close the windows, the doors, and settle down by his fireplace which he lit to keep us from shivering on that January winter day.

"Shall we discuss the book to pass the time?" Belmont offered.

"Um hm," I nodded.

"Why not?" Mr. Thornton agreed.

"Alright um well Tarkington right? American.  The novel is also set in America so there's obviously a vast difference from how we view social classes and society during such a time. They are the moderns and we the traditionalists holding on to our pre-war, victorian times, still." Belmont opened the conversation.

"How so?" I asked.

"In every level Victorian era has been hard to shy away from. The Queen has come and gone. King Edward VII too. And yet the same things are still ruling society. Where is one from? Last name? Traditions which are almost impossible to keep up. Yet the country riles behind King George the fifth as the world melts into battles and divisions. Living in war brings society to hold on that much harder to older values. Unable to move into the next era." Belmont kept going.

"And what is the next era?" I asked.

"Certainly not an era where gentlemen sit around all day lounging, spending, gambling, ordering around servants and luckily for the reader Lucy knew this. She knew those days were far behind them. George is made ridiculous by the attempt to hold on to those notions that he was above it all. Above working. Above wealth. Above people." Mr. Thornton directed his comments at me as if I were some type of George to him. Is this really who I was to him then?  

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Copyright: All Rights Reserved to A. Sena Gomes.