Still Valley

A humorless Rebel soldier and his partner are by themselves, looking over a town that may be in the hands of Union troops during the Civil War. The young associate is frightened and worried about his own skin. He is reprimanded and shouted at by the more experienced soldier, who leaves in disgust to investigate the placement of the troops. He is all blood and guts. When he arrives in the town, a strange sight appears to him. A troop of Union soldiers in uniform are caught in mid-step, frozen in place. He walks among them shouting and threatening, but there is no movement. As he investigate the town center, he is met by an old man who tells him that he has caused all of this through the use of black magic. Not just that but because the old man feels he will die before the day is out, the soldier is given a book of spells. The kicker is that he now must align himself with the devil. What happens when he returns to his commanding officer is part of the anti- climactic resolution to this story. This is reasonably well done and a moral tale, but there is something lacking in the delivery.