Andy Anders orphaned at a young age played baseball and is in love for the first time in his life with Angela. All he knows are hard times trying to make ends meet working odd jobs for the miserable, horrible, deceitful Mayor of Mercyville.
But all...
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Since Andymoved into the Mercyville Inn, he overslept every day for the last eight years and today was no exception. He rushed around his room throwing on his clothes. Now late for work at the mayor's office, he half jumped down the attic ceiling ladder and raced down the top two flights of stairs. From the second floor, he slid down the banister to the lobby and launched himself at the front door of the inn.
His Aunt Abby lovingly hollered at him as he flew by her, "Stop right there, young man! You got a note from the mayor this morning."
He almost fell over in mid-stride and came back to her. Smiling, he gave her a polite kiss on her cheek.
"What does it say?" Andy asked his Aunt Abby.
"It says, Andy stop sliding down our banister or you'll break your neck one of these days."
Teasingly, he quickly responded, "I don't think the mayor cares about my neck. Does the note really say that about sliding down the banister?"
Aunt Abby shook her head. "Here take it and find out for yourself. You know how to read. After all, ever since you moved in with me eight years ago, you have read every book I own and some twice. Now get going! You are already late for work."
He grabbed a cookie from the plate on the guest's sideboard, and tore open the envelope:
Andrew, go to Train Station at 6:45 and pick up Captain Olson bring him to New City Hall. Honorable Mayor Katz
Andy popped open his gold pocket watch; it was already 6:35. "Hmm, just enough time to pick up the carriage from work. Oh good, I can see Angela when I drop the captain off this morning." Smiling, he stuffed the cookie into his mouth and the note in his pocket.
Bolting out of the inn, he slammed the front door behind him and dashed down the sidewalk. He almost ran into the bundled up and bonneted members of the book club as they all came up the sidewalk, arriving early on this chilly morning.
The door bounced open. Abby shook her head as she went to close the door, smiling, "I give up. Even after eight years of living here, Andy will never learn how to close a door without slamming it," She was still laughing as she welcomed the book club members.
The train from Washington D. C. chugged north through the night, arriving in Hartford, Connecticut in the pre-dawn light, and then making a quick stop at the Mercyville Train Station to let off just one passenger, before proceeding northeast onto Providence.
Captain Nickolas Oldstone arrived at the train station to change the future of Mercyville forever. He knew about the long-time allegiances of Mercyville with the south. After all, it is the cigar wrapper capital of the Union, being questioned because of its close ties with the Richmond slave trade.
As the six forty-five train pulled into the station, Captain Oldstone got up and folded up his copy of a Hartford newspaper.
When he was ready to disembark, he slipped the paper beneath his arm. Anyone could quickly read the front-page headlines filled with the news of the rebel's firing on Fort Sumter and the Special Session of Congress calling for war and President Lincoln issuing a call for 75,000 volunteer troops.
The captain tidied up and brushed his slept-in tailored dress uniform and straightened his medals. He had earned his medals proudly during the Mexican-American War of 1846. General Winfield Scott, Old Fuss and Budget, always stressed to him to make sure his medals were always perfectly pinned to his dress jacket, all in a neat row.
Captain Oldstone brought with him none of his staff for this part of his journey. In fact, for security reasons, his arrival in Mercyville was kept a secret. He traveled alone and carried only his carpetbag filled with the paperwork and documentation he needed to accomplish his mission.
As he stepped off the train, he was greeted by the fast-talking mayor's aide, who was already starting to rattle off a deluge of words barely audible over the noise of the busy train depot, "Captain Olson! Captain Olson! Hi, I am Andy Anders. Mayor Katz sent me to pick you up and bring you over to the new city hall. Do you have any luggage?"
"Greetings Andy! I don't have any luggage except for my carpetbag, and my name is pronounced Oldstone and not Olson, and to be more precise, I'm Captain Nickolas Oldstone."
Andy nodded his head in reply as he took the carpetbag from him, "Right this way to our carriage sir."
As they headed down to the station platform, the captain inquired, "Andy, before we start off for city hall, does Mercyville have any newspaper offices? I have some printing I need to do."
"Yes, sir! We have two fine papers for you to choose from, either the Mercyville Post or the Mercyville Republican. Let me get you one of each from the Station Master."
Andy ran off before the captain could say another word and he returned with both of them, "Here you go, sir. With the compliments from Mayor Katz."
"Thank you, Andy. Oh! One more thing. I need to know what your true feelings are about the Rebellion. Where do your loyalties lie? I have to know that I can trust you. Give it to me straight."
Quite assuredly Andy quickly replied, "Sir, after what I have seen up here in the shade-grown tobacco fields of the Connecticut Valley and the Connecticut River ports, I am definitely ...
