Sarah Greenwod's Diary - Star0912 (reading list txt) 📗

/> 1st Act: Boston Harbour shall be closed until the damage has been paid for. No supplies will be sent out, or sent in.
2nd Act: Town Meetings are henceforth banned.
3rd Act: British soldiers accussed of manslaughter, shall be tried in England, not in the 13 Colonies.
4th Act: More British Troops shall be sent to America to enforce these new laws.
We’ve been suffering. Everyone has. I am tired of all of this. Patriots are helping each other but that doesn’t help that much. Pretty soon, we are all going to run out of food supplies sooner or later. I am 19 now. I should have been courted a very long time ago, but Mother doesn’t want me to. There is no one for me to be courted to.
Father is more irritated than usual. With town meetings banned, there is nothing for the Patriots to do. There are many Loyalists who have thought that Boston has gone too far. In heart, I am one of those people, but my family and everyone else in Boston are Patriots.
Please god. Dear god, please help my heart decide.
April 18th, 1775

Father is going to be sent to war. Mother was in tears. We are in war! War I tell you. At these times, I do not know what to think anymore. My heart is torn in two. Should I be more worried about Father, or my only love Carter?
They are both on opposite sides. I do now know what to do anymore.
William is 10 now, and understands what’s going on.
“Will he die?”
“He might.” I reply.
William looks out the doorway, waving to our father as he leaves for the army. This war is so important to him. Mother is in a state of depression. Elaine and Edith are both now 20. Elaine’s beau came back for a short while. They both got married, but then he had to leave again. Elaine is now with child.
Edith frankly, doesn’t really care much. I asked her what she was to do now, and she said, that maybe when the war was over, she would become a teacher.
June 14th, 1775

Father has sent us a letter today in the mail. He is safe, and he says that they have won their first battle. They only lost around 50 people. That may seem to be alot to you, he wrote, but it is not bad, but fairly good. The next battle he is going to participate in is in 3 days time. He misses us, but he wants us to remember that he is doing something good for America.
I ponder over that. If it was good for America, than he wouldn’t have participated in the Boston Tea Party. I am scared for the future. The future is scary, as we don’t know if Father will die today, tomorrow, or will survive.
July 8th, 1776

Everyone in town is rejoicing. The Declaration of Independence has been approved, thus seperating us from British rule. There is to be parties, and music festivities all night long. Elaine is upset about this.
“Poor Colin must get his sleep!” she cries out in fustration, as she tries to get her son to sleep.
Should I too be upset, or should I be happy?
September 15th, 1776

Father has died. He was killed in the Battle of Long Island, along with 300 other men. It was the British Victory. Mother is crying, and has locked her room so no one can enter. Only Elaine.
“I’m going in. Take care of Colin for me.”
Edith cries. William doesn’t cry, but instead sits on the bed, looking down into his hands.
I on the other hand, have no emotion. What kind of daughter am I? Not crying about her own father’s death. Although this has been a shock. I wonder how all the other people cope with this.
Novembor 19th, 1778

I don’t know what to do anymore. Felicity and I walk down the deserted town of Boston together, and sit on the beach.
“Will it ever be the same again?” she wonders aloud.
“I don’t think so.”
“Why not?”
“It just doesn’t seem to be.”
“True.”
Then she stands up, and walks down to the water, and stands in the middle, her dress soaked.
Felicity lifts her hands out on the air, the wind running through her brown hair.
“I WISH THE WAR WOULD END!” she shouts really loudly, at the ocean.
Even though we are both 23, we can’t help but have childish thoughts. I join her out there in the ocean.
“You make a wish too.”
I lift my hands out, the salt spray staining my skin.
“I wish that everything I ever loved, and had would return back to me.” I silently pray, my head lifted toward the setting sun.
August 23rd, 1780

Today we are celebrating my 23rd birthday. How ironic isn’t it, that I am 23, and my birthday is on the 23rd. Mother made me a small cake, since flour is scarce. William made a desk, with a chair for me. Elaine made a wreath of daisies for me with mint leaves adding a green background.
Edith had made a sketchbook for me, bound with leather.
“Happy Birthday.” Colin said, as he gave me a rose.
I smiled.
“Thank you Colin!”
I lift my nephew into my lap, as he plays around with his toy.
“He looks a lot like Doyle.” Edith comments.
“He does, doesn’t he.” Elaine smiled, turning away from cooking.
Mother came down the stairs. “Your present is ready.”
I walked up, and into my room, and behold. A beautiful gown, rhinestones lined up against the sky blue cloth.
“It’s beautiful Mother, thank you.”
She hugged me tightly. “Happy Birthday, dear.”
January 19th, 1782

I have been so busy, I can’t believe I have not written for over 2 years. It’s amazing how time flies so quickly. Anyhow, William and I made a surprise for Mother. We had Elaine, Edith, Colin and Mother go on a trip for Mother’s birthday. She had asked why we weren’t coming, and we replied because this is our early birthday presents to all of you.
But really, we were renovating our house. In the family, William and I are the strongest, so we put it at that.
“But you will owe us, sometime in the future.” William told Elaine and Edith.
“We know! I mean shopping, and glorious things! I can’t wait!”
Our house was very cramped, and had only 3 rooms. Elaine and Edith in one room, William and I in one room, and Father in one room. But since Colin was born, things have gotten out of hand.
We are adding another room on the left side of our house for Elaine and Colin, and another very large room for mother, so that I can have mother’s room.
“Brilliant!” William had told me, when I told him what we should do.
Since William was now 17, he could handle saws, and cut wood a lot better when he was ten. He cut down trees from the forest in the back of our house, and sanded it to perfection. In 2 weeks, we had finished. Even the furniture. We met Mother at the edge of New Hampshire, and blindfolded her as we rode the carriage. At the house, Mother was over-joyed as she looked at her new room. Elaine screamed with joy, hugging William and I, and spinning around, tossing Colin in the air. Edith was happy too.
“Now I don’t have a hogging sister in my room, and my nephew.”
The day was happy, and I believe it made up for the happiness we lost when Father died.
September 17th, 1783

The war is over. I can’t believe it. It’s over. Finally. The day before Felicity had come, running, out of breath as she hand delivered one paper to our house. She collapsed onto one of the chairs, as I went to go fetch her some water.
“What is it?” I asked, as she gulped down the water.
“The war,” she said, taking another breath, “is over.”
“What?!” I jump almost a thousand feet back in astonishment.
She smiled breathlessly, tears in her eyes. “It’s over. The Treaty of Paris, the one they’ve been talking about since April? It’s been signed! The war, it’s over.”
I sit down, waiting for a moment, letting this all sink in. We were finally free, my heart leapt with joy, and I called for William, and told him the news. He too was exasperated and he and I danced around the living room. Mother asked what we were doing, and we told her the news. She cried with joy, dabbing her eyes with her apron.
“His death was worthwhile.” she sighed, smiling.
Everyone in town that day rejoiced, with lights in the air, gatherings, and dances as we happily embraced the coming of Independence. Finally we had been freed.
December 14th, 1788


It’s been 5 years. Life has been peaceful. I have been married to my childhood love, Carter Smith and I have a daughter Abigail. I would never want Abby to experience what I had to. Carter agrees, since he went to war and came back alright.
Mother died the year after we received Independence, but we weren’t all that sad. She had missed Father so much, we felt happy for her.
This is the last page in my journal, but I feel that grandmother is happy about the amount I have written, I mean there is so much.
Sometimes I go out, by myself, and look across the water. Father used to love the ocean, the salt spray reminds me so much of him. I miss everyone, but I think that things have turned out for the best. Thank you, Mother, Father, Grandmother, Grandfather, Edith, Elaine, Colin, William, Carter, and most of all Desmond. But now I must go, Abby is probably getting hungry. Thank you.
Imprint

Publication Date: 10-20-2011

All Rights Reserved