Holy Water
By Alana Church
Lake Ithaca, Minnesota. May 8, 1919
“Charlie? Charlie!”
At the happy shout, the young man turned around on the train platform. He squinted through the bellowing clouds of steam from the huffing engine, glimpsing a familiar cloud of black hair through the tangled clots of people disembarking from the passenger cars.
“Maggie!”
With a shout, his older sister threw herself into his arms, her arms wrapping around him tight enough to cut off his breath. “You're back!”
“Obviously,” he said with a tired smile. He took in his sister, his first glimpse of family in nearly two years.
She looked almost the same as she had when he left for Europe. A little heavier, maybe. Her thick black hair, a gift from their Chippewa grandmother, was the same shade as his own. It w
