Magpie's Song by Allison Pang

Author:Allison Pang [Pang, Allison]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Allison Pang
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

“Another moment, if you would?” Dr. Barrows asks me.

I cross my arms but remain standing on the scale as he scratches out a new set of numbers in his notebook. He smiles up at me, pleased with my apparent progress this morning.

The scale creaks when I step off it and hastily throw on a loose sweater. “Eating enough for you, now?”

“Well, you’re still dreadfully underweight, but it’s a definite improvement.” He moves to examine my face, lifting my lips to prod at my gums. “Still fighting some borderline malnutrition, but that’s not unexpected given your circumstances. I’ll inform Molly to include some additional vegetables in your meals. Don’t want you getting scurvy, now do we?”

“As long as it’s not rotting, I’ll eat anything.” I don’t have the faintest idea of what scurvy is, but I probably don’t want it.

“Well that’s good,” Ghost mutters from where he’s sprawled on my floor, flipping through one of the miner’s notebooks. “How do you feel about rats? There are instructions in here on how to make snares.”

“Wouldn’t be the first time.” I shrug, ignoring the way Ghost pales. I roll my eyes. “Joking. Even as bad as things are here, I’ve yet to stoop to eating rats. Though I’ve thought about it awful hard a time or two,” I admit ruefully.

“It’s more of a pest-control entry, but seeing as we don’t really know how the food situation will be, it might not hurt.” Ghost waves me over, choosing to ignore that last bit of my response. “And you might want to take a look at these.”

I peer over his shoulder at some pictures. “Mushrooms?”

“Yes. There are a few different types that grow in the caves beyond the mines proper. Some of them appear to be poisonous, so memorize it carefully so you can avoid those.” He bookmarks the page for me.

“How reassuring.” My mouth purses. “Suppose it’s a good thing Archivist Chaunders gave us those books, aye?”

“Indeed.” Dr. Barrows stretches, his gaze growing distant. “I took the liberty of paying a visit to her this earlier this morning. Fascinating lady, to be sure. Perhaps if I’d gone there in the beginning, we wouldn’t be where we are now.” He catches himself a moment later and shakes his head. “Well, there’s no use on ruminating over the past, is there?”

Unexpected irritation skates through me. “Probably depends on your past.”

Ghost flips to another page, glancing over at his brother. “Molly know you went?” he asks, wisely keeping the conversation focused on the problem at hand.

“Of course.” The doctor gathers his things. “I’ve two patients to see to this afternoon and dinner with Chancellor Davis this evening, so I don’t expect to be home until very late.” His brows rise in sudden enthusiasm. “Hopefully with some of this new information, I might convince the Chancellor of our progress.”

“Dinner with the Chancellor, aye? Someone’s fancy.” I mock curtsy at him, my wrists arched in a little flourish.

“Fancy is as fancy does,” he retorts. The Mother Clock sounds out the hour in the distance and the doctor sighs.

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