Charlotte by JS Anthony

Author:JS Anthony [Anthony, JS]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-04-25T14:00:00+00:00

22

Charlotte climbed reluctantly up to the wagon seat. She didn’t want to leave. She’d made the illusion of a home here, with him. She was still vibrating, still filled with a steady buzzing hum as if there were cicadas in her blood.

“Will we cross the creek today?”

“Tomorrow.”

Before they left its banks, she would wash out her clothes one more time, fill the canvas bags with water, harvest edibles. She had searched over the crops in the field but nothing was close to ripe. The corn would be a feast for the birds and raccoons if left till the ears came in, but the squash blossoms were already withering on the vine.

At the last minute, she got back down and dug in the back of the wagon. As Chace waited, she took one of her iron fry pans into the house and set it in the fireplace.

“What was that for?” he said.

“In case someone else comes along and wants to cook and they don’t have a pan.”

He nodded, ignoring the vast empty land all around them.

Without discussing it, they set up their traveling day as before. Charlotte took the reins in the morning, Chace stayed close, he took the reins in the afternoon and she rode the mare up ahead, keeping in sight. The skies were gray and a light rain fell, but only enough to cool off the horses and damp down the dust of the track.

Chace stopped early, holding back as much as he possibly could. Charlotte gathered wood and built a fire. She had the urge to bake. When Chace came back from hunting, he had squirrels.

“Lean day,” he said.

“I’ll fry them in bacon grease and I made honey cake.”

“I don’t know why the white man thought he needed all those guns. All they had to do was send you in to cook and none of the members of the tribes would be able to get up on their horses.”

“It’s not that bad.”

“In that way, it is that bad.”

In the evening, they played cards.

“I can’t handle so many wild cards,” he said.

“We’ll get serious then.”

“I already was serious.”

“Five card stud,” she said and he looked at her hard.

“We have to talk sometime,” he said as he dealt out the first cards.

“Please not now.”

“Okay, but soon.”

She won three games out of four and had a pile of twigs.

“We should up the stakes. Play for branches or something. What I need is a town to be in. I imagine they don’t let women into poker games but I could maybe be a dancehall girl.”

“You could not be a dancehall girl. We’re switching to blackjack.”

“Why couldn’t I? They put their hair up and wear those satiny kinds of dresses don’t they? Do they dance? I could stand behind somebody and tell him what cards to play.”

“They go upstairs.”

“Upstairs?” What did that mean? And then it came to her and she felt herself flush with color. Then suddenly she was studying him. How did he know these things?

“Have you ever gone upstairs?”

“If I had, I wouldn’t tell you.

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