For the Brand by Ralph Compton

Author:Ralph Compton
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group

Chapter 11

Willis had never been struck speechless before. He had been confused a lot, as he was until the woman from Texas lifted her veil. He had often been stumped by things that other people seemed to savvy. But he had never been as astonished as he was at that moment, so astonished his mouth fell open and a bewildering array of emotions buffeted him like the strong winds before a thunderstorm.

Laurella Hendershot sat completely still, her eyes slightly averted, apparently waiting for him to say something. Her hands were folded in her lap, her fingers clenched so tightly her knuckles were white. When he did not say anything, she said, “Well? What do you think?”

Willis didn’t know what to think so he blurted, “How?”

“When I was ten I was out ridin’ with my mother and a rattler spooked my mare. I was thrown off. Before I could get out of the way, the mare kicked at the rattler and hit me.”

“Dear Lord,” Willis breathed.

“Repulsive, aren’t I?”

“No, not at all,” Willis said, and fought down a shudder. “Half your face is right pretty.”

And it was. The right half of Laurella Hendershot’s face was smooth and unblemished, the right half of her mouth full as ripe cherries, her right cheek as round as a walnut, her eye a striking shade of blue. The left half of her face, however, was something that would give children nightmares and make adults queasy. Her left cheek had been caved in by the mare’s hoof, leaving a sunken hollow laced with lines, as if the skin had partially withered and died. The left half of her mouth was grotesquely twisted, the left half of her lips flattened as thin as a flapjack. Her nose had a crook in it. Her left eye, as a result of the hollow where her cheek had been, drooped lower than her right eye.

The effect was shocking: as beautiful as could be on the right, as horrible as could be on the left. Willis blinked and tore his gaze away and frantically sought to collect his wits. “When you were ten, you say?”

Laurella Hendershot lowered the veil. Her chin dipped and she nodded. “My whole life was changed from that day on. I didn’t know it at first. I was so young, I thought things would go on as they had before.”

Willis had to clear his throat to say, “They didn’t?”

“Little girls are treated special. Their parents fawn over them. Other folks treat them as princesses. I was used to that—used to smiles and praise and love. So when I started to notice the new looks, it was like being stabbed in the heart.”

“The looks?”

“It was in their eyes. Deep down in their depths, they thought I was hideous.” When Willis went to comment, she held up her hand. “No. Don’t make excuses for them. You weren’t there. You didn’t experience it.” Now she was the one who had to cough. “People I had known since I was old enough

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