Dixie's Greens 7: The Drill

>As Dave's station wagon came to a stop, a couple of the uniformed men casually approached the side
>"Hey, Dave!" the one in officer's garb said into the open window, "I thought you'd be back in Rhode Island by now!"
>"Well, I'm sahrry to disappoint, Paul!" he replied while opening the door
>Exiting the vehicle along with him and Dixie, you got a good look at the group
>At the center of the wide field were six tents spread around a dying campfire
>The few people visible in the distance were out of uniform and busy enjoying their flame-cooked breakfast
>"THIS is the whole regiment?" Dixie muttered at your side, "Looks more like a detail to me. It's a damn far cry from the original 12th."
>"Dave, you didn't tell me you were bringing a war hero with you today!" Paul exclaimed with a smile
>She chose to ignore his very common reaction and instead addressed the problem she saw
>"Your unit looks a bit light, mister," she pointed out, "you missin' people today?"
>It took the man a second to check his mental attendance
>"...Oh yeah, we're missing some people."
>"How many?" she asked
>"Joey, I think, is home sick with the flu, and Emma's coming a bit late this morning."
>"...Perfect," she mumbled

>About a half hour later of talking to the reenactors, another car slowly parked in the grass nearby
>They seemed like decent guys, and Dixie clearly agreed, judging by how her mood improved
>Their ages ranged from 15 to 71, but they each had plenty of expertise about their hobby, explaining how they typically drill and what gear they carried
>Dixie looked right at home interacting with them, trading short war stories and historical anecdotes back and forth, but her positive attitude wouldn't last long
>Out of the car stepped a skinny tan girl with messy black hair, late teens if you had to guess-
>Wait, you recognized her! That's Emma from 3rd period English class!
>"Sorry I'm late, guys!" she announced as she slipped on her kepi, "Good news, though! My arm AIN'T broken after all!"
>While you weren't that close to her in school, you could tell something was wrong with her left arm the day prior
>She had it tightly wrapped in a towel, and made some off-the-cuff remark about "throwing a punch too hard" when you asked her
>"Hey, Anon!" she greeted, slapping you on the shoulder with a grin, "Didn't expect to see you here, man! You just join?"
>"No, actually, I'm here for Dixie. She's the one joining today."
>Emma looked behind you and saw your bot in her iconic uniform sitting by the fire, still in conversation with someone
>"Oh, that's cool! I don't think I ever got the chance to meet her!"
>"You can go over and talk to her, if you want," you told her, "I think you and her will get along nicely."

>Dixie stopped talking to her acquaintance when she saw the girl approach with a spring in her step
>Before she even opened her mouth, Dixie knew there was something *off* about her; something that couldn't be explained
>"Hey there! It's a pleasure to finally meet you, Sergeant Major!" she said, quickly grabbing the droid by her wooden hand
>"Well, thank you," she humbly responded, repeating her typical shpiel, "it was my honor to serve my sta-"
>Emma unexpectedly swung her free arm over Dixie's shoulder and gave her hard back two strong pats
>"You don't got to be fancy around me, bro! Anon's told me so much about you, not counting what we learned back in freshmen-year history, of course."
>Separating from her new "bro", Dixie stumbled back a little
>"Wait, you know Anon?"
>"Hell yeah, I do!" she began to unintentionally exaggerate, "He's my best buddy! We have the same gym class, he helps me with my English assignments, and he especially loves to talk about you!"
>"He does? I don't think he's mentioned you to me before, Miss... uh..."
>"Barnes, Emma Barnes. He should have said something about me by now, 'cause I saw him cheering me on during our last few practices and competitions!"
>"Competitions?" Dixie asked, her smile diminishing
>"Yeah, I'm on the girls swim team!"
>She then confidently added: "I actually won a gold medal in the state finals last year."
>Dixie went silent for a moment and hoped to God that this... swimmer... was only Anon's FRIEND and nothing more
>Wanting to remind this girl that his heart was already taken, she immediately decided to brag in response
>"Awards are real neat, aren't they? I won a gold medal myself, ages ago, but for somethin' other than swimmin'."
>"-I know, for saving Grant's life," Emma answered with a weaker grin, "I had to write a paper on it in history last month."

>"Stack... arms," Paul ordered yet again
>She and the rest of the regiment were starting to lose their patience, having stacked and unstacked their muskets for the past half hour
>She quickly threw the butt of her musket down by her left foot and leaned it out and to the right
>Grabbing the rifle of the soldier to her right, she positioned it a few feet in front of her and interlocked their bayonets together
>Without needing verbal permission, Emma pushed her own bayonet through the small gap in the two others
>To complete the stack, Dixie grabbed Emma's gun and placed its butt between the right soldiers shoes, tightly locking the three muskets together
>It was remarkable seeing how disciplined she was under orders, knowing how "free-spirited" she usually is
>She admitted to you earlier that she built up over a century's worth of rust on her skills, but it could not have shown less today
>She drilled, ordered, and shot like she was fresh off the Gettysburg battlefield!
>"For the love of God, Paul," Emma broke the silence and begged, "can we PLEASE be done soon?"
>*sigh* "...Okay. We'll take arms and then call it a day. Take... arms."
>With a huff of impatience, Dixie took apart the stack in just about five seconds
>While her trio were waiting for the other groups to finish, she looked over at you and subtly waved with her empty hand
>You smiled and gave one in reply, but Emma thought it was addressed to her, and parroted your motion behind Dixie's head
>Once everyone was back in "order arms" position, Paul prepared to give the long awaited command
>"Break ranks to the rear..."
>The whole regiment was in anticipation for that last word to be said
>"..."
>He was deliberately taunting them by not saying it
>"...Y'know, funny thing happened to me on the way here," he began
>Some of the soldiers snickered while others groaned
>"Just friggin' say it, Paul!" Dave pleaded
>"-March!"
>Everyone broke rank and exhaled in relief that the drill was finally done
>"Hey, everyone! Don't forget now," Paul announced, "we gotta be on the field at Sharpsburg by 11 the latest!"
>"The what now?" Dixie asked, completely out of the loop
>"...The Battle of Sharpsburg reenactment next Saturday! Why else would today's drill be so long? What, Dave didn't tell you?"
>"I'm sahrry," Dave chimed in, "it totally slipped my mind today, but I cawlled in and reserved your spawt last night. I don't mean to spring it on yah, but you don't have to come if you don't-"
>"You kiddin'? I'd give anythang to be back in 19th century combat! ...Or at least, as close to it as I can get."
>Paul chuckled and wiped his forehead with his gray woolen sleeve
>"I guess we solved that little problem right away. We'll see you there, I suppose!"
>Marching towards you with an excited grin, you didn't exactly feel as upbeat
>"Shit, you think Dad will be willing to drive or fly us there and pay for a hotel room?" you asked
>"I'm sure he'd be thrilled to!" she joked, ignoring the possibility of him saying no
>As you both headed for Dave's car, you felt a hard poke in the back of your shoulder
>Stopping and turning around, you saw Emma standing there, nervously scratching her sweaty neck
>"Hey, man," she said, "if you and Dixie go to Sharpsburg, would you mind if I... tagged along with you guys? My mom and dad told me that weekend would be too busy for them to take me."
>Judging by Dixie's body language the whole day, it was obvious that she was uncomfortable around her, for whatever reason
>However, you would just have to tell her that bringing Emma there was the kind thing to do
>"Yeah, come with! It won't be a problem at all!"