Battle of Lookout Mountain by Gilbert L. Morris

Author:Gilbert L. Morris [Morris, Gilbert]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-0-8024-7885-6
Publisher: Moody Publishers
Published: 1996-11-13T05:00:00+00:00

10

“You Mean–She Might Die?”

A dull September sun threw feeble gleams down through a bank of white-gray clouds. Ezra Payne, who had been weeding the garden, looked up and frowned. Then he turned to his companion. “Leah, it looks to me like we are gonna get some rain.”

Leah was wearing a pair of Royal’s ancient overalls, bleached almost white from many washings. She straightened and glanced at the sky. “I hope it doesn’t rain like it did last month. We needed it then, but we don’t now.”

Ezra smiled down at her, admiration in his eyes. “That was a toad strangler, wasn’t it?” Then he pulled another weed, studied it thoughtfully, tossed it aside. Looking back at Leah, he said, “You’re worried about Sarah, aren’t you?”

“Of course I am!”

Leah’s tone was short, and Ezra said quickly, “That was a dumb question. Of course you’re worried. We all are.”

“If there was just something we could do!” Frustration swept across Leah’s face, and she kicked at a large cucumber. It had grown too big to make good eating, and now it split in two. The broken halves went skidding across the dark ground. “There’s not anything anyone can do—even the doctor.”

“She seemed a little bit better this morning, I thought. At least that’s what your ma said.”

“I wish they’d let me go in and see her,” Leah muttered.

“But you might catch it too. I wouldn’t want to see that happen.”

“Ma is worn out with taking care of her. I’ve tried to look after the house as well as I can, but I want to see Sarah.”

“I expect your ma knows best. Too bad your pa’s gone on one of his trips to the army. You reckon he’s heard of the sickness by now?”

“I doubt it. You know how slow the mail is with the war and all.”

They worked their way down the long rows, gathering the late harvest. Soon Leah’s bag was filled with squash, cucumbers, and okra. “We’ve got enough here—let’s go to the house, Ezra.”

“All right. I guess we got plenty.”

Soon they were sitting at the table on the back porch, cleaning and trimming vegetables.

Ezra held up a long piece of okra. “I sure do like fried okra,” he said. “Nothin’s much better than that to me.” He saw, however, that Leah’s mind was elsewhere. Feeling rather helpless, he said, “I guess it’s a good thing the Tollivers were able to keep Esther and Morena. Sure wouldn’t want them to get sick.”

“Yes, it was nice of them.” Leah’s voice was short.

The dreaded smallpox had swept through the community. Whole families came down with it, and the doctors knew little to do.

“I’m going to get that new kind of medicine that keeps you from getting smallpox. If Sarah’d had it done before, she wouldn’t be sick now.”

“I don’t know …” Ezra shook his head doubtfully. “The way they explained it to me, they scratch your arm and put in some blood from a cow or a horse that’s been infected with smallpox. That

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