The Beaten Territory by Randi Samuelson-Brown

Author:Randi Samuelson-Brown
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Gale, Cengage Learning
Published: 2017-10-15T00:00:00+00:00

It was a bit odd, visiting her mother’s grave daily, but it was as close as she could get to a sense of belonging.

A cold gust of wind blew from the north. The clouds rising behind the mountains were deep and dark. She pulled her shawl closer. Errant grasses sprouted through the brushing of snow, bending under its weight. Clods of dirt and stones poked through at intervals, serving as punctuations of remorse and loss.

Pearl worried that she was set square upon that same path.

She patted the mound that covered her mother. “I’m back again.”

But her mother never answered. Yet the wind blew through the pines, and sounded as lonely as Pearl felt.

Her illusions were slipping away through her fingers. The fading light dipped behind the mountains and drew her back up the rutted tracks to Leadville. She picked up her pace as she neared the business district, managing to step lively and toss out a few sassy remarks. She entered the Fortune Club from the alley and found Sadie at her ledger with some whiskey in front of her. God, it was depressing looking at the older woman, and her mood took a dive. Pearl pulled up one of the rough stools and sat across from the madam.

Sadie raised her eyebrows a fraction and poured her a drink. “The dead don’t have to talk, you know.” She pushed the cork back into the bottle, a decisive and practiced movement.

Pearl considered the shadowy corners where the light didn’t reach. The cleaning woman didn’t reach there, either. She brushed away a stray lock of hair. “A clairvoyant woman once told me that if I ever found her, and that if I tried to talk to her like I would have in real life, she might manage to give me a sign.”

Sadie snorted. “She wouldn’t have been able to formulate a sentence, toward the end, much less send out any signs from the beyond. She had enough trouble making it up one side of the street and down the other. Now, do up your hair and paint your face. Try to look attentive, for Christ’s sake. You should be pulling in more money.”

Pearl tossed back the drink in one motion. “Fuck it.”

“Exactly,” Sadie replied, approving.

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