The Contract Surgeon by Dan O'Brien

Author:Dan O'Brien
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Bison Books
Published: 2022-02-18T00:00:00+00:00

Months at a desk in Washington had dulled my senses but in these last few days I had relearned how to feel, smell, and hear the subtleties of the plains. I was home.

Fanny, wise woman that she was, had known that I’d had enough of crowded urban life and encouraged me to join Crook’s command. She would go back to Michigan to wait for me. When I’d boarded the train in Washington, she kissed me full on the mouth in front of everyone on the platform. Her fingernails dug into the back of my neck and her hot breath was in my ear. When I looked I found that she was crying. “I’ll walk out to Otter Point every Sunday,” she whispered.

The thought of Fanny revisiting the site of our first intimacy, on the shore of Lake Huron, still thrills me. How absolutely surprised I’d been to see poor duped James Martin’s two-horse gig picking its way to the survey crew’s camp at the mouth of the Detroit River. I was pleased when James and three friends disembarked with picnic baskets, but my heart sped up when Fanny appeared from among them.

We’d spent the whole day together, walking the shoreline, telling each other what had been happening in our lives. James paced near the fire but Fanny paid him no mind. Near nightfall, after James had pleaded to start back to Detroit, Fanny led me out to Otter Point, a mere quarter mile from the camp. When we came to the large flat rock that marks the point, Fanny moved close enough that her perfume made my head light. The sun was setting, its last rays warm and soft. She stood looking up at me and I leaned toward her lips.

I tried to bring myself to ask her for a kiss but as soon as the thought was in my mind my hands were along the sides of her face. I brought her close and kissed her too hard and too long. When I pulled back she was smiling.

I was frightened by my passion. “Oh God,” I said. “I’m sorry.” But Fanny held a finger to my lips and it was all I could do to keep from kissing them, too.

”No,” shed. “I wanted you to kiss me.”

“But it was wrong. I’m so sorry.”

Fanny laughed. “You’re joking,” she said.

Lord, how I wanted to explain away my ardor. But James Martin had found us. “Well, I’m not joking,” he said. “We have to leave for the city immediately. It is getting dark.”

“Yes,” I said. “Yes, you must be going.” James reached for her arm; she let him take it and lead her toward the waiting gig. But her eyes continued boring into me. She smiled over her shoulder until they were out of sight. Though my fascination with the Great Plains compelled me to take other surveying jobs, Fanny and I were married within eighteen months.

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