In an America that might have been, two war orphans from a divided nation, one in the north and one in the south, meet across a vast battlefield, striking out to forge a future together in the west. It's 1892, the fourth and bloodiest year of the Ci...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
Zeb stoked the potbelly stove that set out the back door on the porch outside of the operating area as Deke and the doctor lifted the stretcher onto the table. The doctor began scrubbing his hands and bobbed his head at Deke. "Boy, roll up your shirt sleeves and then scrub your hands and arms." He stepped away from the sink and just shook his hands to get rid of the drops. Picking up a cup from the drainer by the sink and a gallon bottle from the shelf above, he poured a cup full of some kind of foul vinegar smelling potion. Deke looked at it with distrust.
"Zeb, get down a bowl full of bandages. I'm going to need the needles and silk." Zeb came in carrying two buckets of water and then it was Zeb's turn to wash.
"Oven's still warm. Water'll be hot in ten minutes," Zeb said, over his shoulder as he was scrubbing.
Deke just stood there trying to stay out of the way as they rushed about.
Dr. Balderson pulled down a tray, picked a towel from a roll--top box, laid it flat on top; then he opened a tall square jar with a metal lid and started pulling tools out dripping of what smelled like whiskey. "Young man, get that long--nosed pitcher and fill it from one of the buckets."
Deke picked the pitcher out of the drainer and started to reach for the bucket. "Stop," he said. "Dip it. Don't touch the bucket."
The doctor laid out his tools in a row on the towel in the tray. He turned to face Grace and said to Deke, "Go around the other side. If she wakes, we may need you."
So Deke stood there and watched as the doctor peeled off the scraps of her clothes, cleaning the blood and dirt off, and then cleaning her wounds, scrubbing them with bandage cloth dipped in the cup of potion. When the wounds were clean, he stitched them closed with the silk thread.
They took her to a small bedroom by lifting the sheet off the table and sliding her back onto the stretcher and then off again onto the bed.
By then half the morning was half over. Deke was ready to call it a day then and there, but then he smelled food. Mrs. Balderson had cooked breakfast! But the big shock was when he stumbled over Kay and Charity in the living room.
"How did you find me?" he asked.
"There aren't many horses like Ned. We just kept asking," Charity said.
"You were only three blocks away," Kay added. "So I hear you found yourself a new girl?"
Deke stopped, unable to speak.
"I'm teasing you!" Kay said with a smile.
The doctor came out of the workroom and plunked down in a chair with a sigh. "We may all be in a lot of trouble," he said, which got everyone's attention. "She's young and pretty, and considering the remnants of her dress she worked in a dance hall, almost certainly for Lou. We have a dilemma."
"Lou?" Deke asked.
"Didn't think you all were from here," replied Dr. Balderson. "Lou Blonger, he controls everything that goes on here and indirectly half the territory. No, state. We're a state now." He dropped his head back on the chair and rubbed his eyes with his palms. "Sorry, I'm tired."
