Delivering Virtue by Brian Kindall

Author:Brian Kindall
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: dark comedy, dark humor, zealots, dark humor books, american frontier world, american magical realism, historical fiction 19th century series, novel of the west, satire adventure, western pioneer trail
Publisher: Brian Kindall

*****

My shinbone hurt.

And my ribs.

It seemed that my tumble down the embankment earlier in the day had served me poorly in my physicality. I wanted Turtle Dove to work her magic, maybe re-stitch my broken wound, or at least apply one of her hot-coal tincture treatments to my forelimb. I longed for that intimate torture, that feminine attention. It placated my manly afflictions, and kept my more base intentions at bay. But I was being cursed with an abnormally pungent and magniloquent case of intestinal turgidity, and I did not dare get too close to my affianced, as I could not bear another of her giggle-ridden spurnings.

I sat on the opposite side of the fire, safely back from the flames, gurgling with discomfort, secretly questioning the Almighty’s design for the gut-works of a man.

Virtue caught my eye.

What an angel.

Her beatific smile alone was almost enough to ease any man’s ailment.

Even in my distress, she made me think of blue butterflies.

I stood carefully, and then walked over to our makeshift livery, preparing for the next day’s journey. I synched and braided a loose strap on Puck’s sawbuck, making it more secure for the rigors of a rough ride. I turned my own saddle over in the near darkness, plucking the horsehairs that had worked between the seams in the leather, and then rolling them into a ball. Busy work, to be sure, but it served to keep me away from the girls. I looked over at the fire. Turtle Dove and Virtue were up to their usual business, laughing in a pidgin mix of Blackfoot and French (what I had come to call Frenchfoot), gabbing, I supposed, about girl stuff. I carelessly flopped my saddle over on the log, and when I did the stirrup swung down and whapped me directly on my injured shin.

I did not call out, but held my cry of pain inside of me. My eyes watered and I clenched my jaw, bending over with both hands gripping my knees. It hurt terribly, but damned if I would let on like some namby-pamby. For the benefit of the group, I had to make a show of strength that might be undermined by such a pusillanimous display of physical anguish. My worth as a leader had been compromised enough these last days, what with my humorous apparel and battered face and body, and now I needed every edge I could get if I were to reinstate my aptitude as the Blessed Deliverer.

I sat on the log, writhing.

I peered up into the sky, not as a romantic, but as a tortured sentient creature with a grimace needing a point upon which to focus. I did not even bother to seek out my own blue star. It was surely lost in the soup of stars swirling before my eyes. But then I was fairly astonished to spy a meteor blazing a quick bright path across a distant corner of the heavens. Its appearance served me like a tap on the

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.