SOLDIER AT THE DOOR

by Barbara Healy in Fate magazine

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For four years when I was a child ny family lived in rural Kennesaw, Georgia, the site of a Civil War battle. The house had a long drive and a fenced yard. From the front door you could see the whole length of the drive. There were windows on each side of the door. We often heard a knocking at the door or the ringing of the doorbell, but when we answered it no one was there.

One winter night in 1968, however, that changed. My mother and I were home alone when the doorbell rang. We could see through the curtains that someone stood outside the door, but it was late and we were cautious. With the chain still on, we opened the door and saw a young man, blond and about 20 years old. He was wearing some sort of military uniform and a long gray overcoat. He looked disheveled and he was barefoot. He asked for Jimmy and said that he had served with him in the war and that Jimmy had told him to come by if he were ever in town. My father, James Lloyd Thomas, had served in World War II — but everyone called him "Tommy." My mother scolded the stranger, saying that he was too young to have served with my father, and she slammed the door. As soon as she slammed the door, we looked out the windows and the young man was gone. He hadn't had time to make it down the drive. Although there was snow on the ground, there were no footprints anywhere.

Was he a wandering soldier from the fateful battle of Kennesaw Mountain, which took place only six miles from our house?

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