Mitchell Smith by Snowfall

Author:Snowfall
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2012-06-03T17:15:48+00:00

CHAPTER 12

Garden Mary, having lost none of her people, came smiling to the Trappers’ camp in the evening. She crossed the creek bridge, then walked up along the bank with May and eleven other plump girls dancing and singing around her. They were singing a very old Warm-time song, ‘Dancing in the Dark,’ though their melody sounded odd.

Musicians came behind them, playing flutes and deep-bellied drums. And there were other Garden people following with skewered goat meat and birds to roast, a pot of trade-honey, and a small keg of vodka. Four men came last, carrying someone sitting up in their arms.

Mary One-eye walked into the camp, calling out that she’d brought celebration girls, celebration food—and the Garden’s doctor, to help tend the injured.

This doctor, a withered elderly woman in a green robe, was the person carried by the four men. They put her down on a stool at the nearest Trapper fire, and set a small leather chest in the snow beside her…. Catania had never seen this woman before. Her wrinkled skin was painted with green leaves. She had no feet; the stumps of her ankles were sheathed in beaten gold.

Mary came to Catania and put an arm around her waist. “Now,” she said, “—you will see how scientifically medical we are. And all learned before your three fine books.”

“Her feet….”

With a one-armed hug—a strong fat-woman’s hug—Mary stood on tiptoes to whisper into Catania’s ear. “Wouldn’t it have been foolish for my Lady-aunt to allow knowledge to walk away?”

When Mary let go, calling for pepper for the goat meat, Catania went to the doctor and bowed as the Garden people bowed, in respect for her age. She couldn’t bow to the old woman’s skill until it was shown.

“Welcome, colleague,” Catania said, since that had been the doctor-to-doctor greeting in a copybook, The Mag—Magpie’s?— Obsession, by Douglas. A wonderful book of secret kindnesses and successful surgery for blindness, unfortunately not given in detail.

It seemed to please the old woman. “Dorothy is my name,” she said. “Fat Mary mentioned hatchet wounds.” Her slurring Garden voice seemed to have withered with her.

“Hatchet wounds and knife cuts. And some penetrating injuries by arrows—four, one with the head resting in bone, the tibia.”

“Ouch,” the old woman said.

“Yes … ouch.”

“And you’ve done what?”

“In the open wounds, bleeding vessels pressed to clot, or burned shut. Some cuts cleaned and sewed. Hatchet wounds cleaned and left open to rest for two days before sewing.”

” ‘Cleaned.’ ” Doctor Dorothy shifted on her stool. “Anyone can say ‘cleaned.’ “

“I clean with poured boiled water, then vodka.”

“That’s all? No little friends from the forest? No green helpers? No dust from correct fungi?”

“No. I believe that simplest is best.”

The old woman smiled her first smile. “Doctor,” she said, “—all simple people believe simplest is best.”

Because the woman had no feet, and was so old, Catania kept her temper.

“I’ll look at your arrowhead stuck in bone,” the Garden doctor said. “Bring him to me.”

“Her.”

“Bring her to me. We’ll deal with that, first.

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.