from a shelby to a solomons

intro

Charlotte had always given her brothers loads of trouble. She never wanted to do what they said, though they tried by all means and measures. After the death of her mother and the disappearance of her father, her brothers took responsibility of taking care of her and her younger brother Finn. Though she was the only girl, Charlotte was never her mother's favorite. Baby Finn would receive all of the attention from their mother, and Charlotte was strangely ok with it. While girls her age would usually want to have tea and play dress up, Charlotte preferred being one of the boys. While her mother was doting on baby Finn, Charlotte would be out in the stables with Tommy, wearing britches, and learning how to ride horses. 

When her brothers left for the war when she was only 13 years old, Charlotte became much more independent. She would go to the stables alone, she would saddle the horses, and ride them during the night. After her brothers left, she would sneak into their bedrooms, stealing the clothes that they had to leave behind. She would pair Tommy's pants with John's shirt, and that is what she wore most days. In school, she stuck out like a sore thumb, and after some nasty boys in her class made fun of her and pulled her hair, Aunt Polly made sure that Charlotte wore a dress to school every day. And every day, Charlotte protested and kicked and screamed, giving Aunt Polly a load. 

During the four years of the war, it was just Charlotte, Finn, and Aunt Polly. Though Aunt Polly was always extremely busy with family business, she never let Charlotte help. Finn was just 8 when the war started, and couldn't care less about being involved in the family business. Polly never let Charlotte help, but promised that Tommy would let her when he came back. 

When the older Shelby boys came back from the war, they were all different. Arthur was more violent, John was more impulsive. And Tommy - at night, Charlotte would hear him screaming sometimes. She would run into his room to see if he was ok, and he always was. He was always just laying in his bed, sweating. After the war, Polly moved out of the business house, and Tommy moved in. He insisted that his younger siblings stay there with him; he wanted to have them under his eye at all times. And so, in the house , it was only Tommy, Finn, and Charlotte, and Finn somehow was able to sleep through Tommy's recurring nightly screams.

Charlotte was not deployed during the war, but she changed just as much as her brothers who were in France. Tommy became more reserved and authoritative, and Charlotte became louder and rebellious. Their personalities, once basically the same, had divided and they had become like opposites. But still, amidst their often occurring screaming fights, Polly could see that Tommy and Charlotte were the same. They were both fighters, and they both wanted their own way.