"Divided We Fall"

Louis Johnson

"Jon and I breezed through the first couple of chapters of the diary without incident. I was amazed at how lucid his memory was when asked to explain the contents of the letters that he'd written at the beginning of the war. With his eyes glued to the ceiling, he recanted the nights he'd spent traveling in caravans around the country and how bad the officers had treated him. He told me how he was forced to stay awake for days on end and how the officers used scraps of food to taunt the Mulatto men; he spoke of these things with no emotion whatsoever.  His words were robotic, but crisp-so crisp that I could actually feel the hunger pangs. I was starting to feel like I had the makings of a damn good story in front of me. There would be stumbling blocks ahead....

            Jon and I had become very good friends in the weeks that we'd known each other and with each passing day my level of confidence rose. I was starting to feel like I was born to write this book. Each night before bed I'd sit and marvel at how much material we had accumulated. I was on the brink of writing America's next epic. Then, we got to Lala's portion of the diary. Clearly, Jon was still in love with her and probably would be until the day he died. I didn't know what to do. How could I talk about this without giving the old man a heart attack? After much thought, I decided I'd let Jon make the call. It would be his decision whether we'd include Lala's letters. It made my heart glad when he stated that it would be a disgrace to Lala if she weren't allowed to tell her part of the story. So, at the sake of Jon's heart, we continued. And it wasn't that bad. Sure, a few tears were shed, but not enough to amount to anything. Time had healed the wound, but the scar was still there. Speaking of scars..." Louis Johnson 

Louis Johnson began writing his blog in January of this year:

http://lou-thisismyworld.blogspot.com/2012/01/future-is.html

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