The Listening Sky by Dorothy Garlock

Author:Dorothy Garlock
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9780759522282
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Published: 2009-09-26T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 16

JANE did not know if she was awake or asleep. She opened her eyes and saw nothing but darkness. Her head pounded with a pain that throbbed through every part of her body. She gradually became aware that she was sitting on the floor, her back and head leaning against something hard. Her legs, folded beneath her, began to cramp. She tried to straighten them and discovered she was in a small boxed-in place.

As her mind cleared the stench of the- outhouse was strong and repugnant. She realized where she was. But what was she doing on the floor between the seat and the door? She tried to get up from her cramped position. Her head seemed to weigh a ton. Her hand reached out for something to pull on and found a rough board, but her strength was gone and her head felt as if it were being pounded on with a hammer.

She sank back down and put her hand to her face to pull away whatever it was that clung to her cheeks. Her fingers slid across her face and followed the thick substance into her hair.

When she realized what her fingers were trailing through, waves of shock, terror and nausea swept over her. The heavy cloud of horror that dropped around her came close to robbing her of her senses. She grabbed at her skirt to wipe away the bodily waste from the cesspit, only to discover that it was not only on her face, but on her hands, her arms, and her clothing.

Sobbing with terror and shame, Jane slid down onto the floor of the privy. She drew her knees up to her chest. Hysteria spread through her brain like a vicious serpent, engulfing her. It was more than she could endure. She slipped back into blessed darkness.

T.C. sat at Doc’s desk in the surgery and listened for any sound of movement upstairs. Maude had been in the kitchen when he returned to the house and told him Jane had gone to bed. He had feared she would not be here.

The lamp shone down on his dark head as he bent over the papers he had taken from the leather folder Doc had entrusted to his care. He finally put them aside and leaned back in the chair. He couldn’t concentrate on figures and legal documents when his mind was awash with thoughts of Jane and her odd behavior.

His father had insisted that he leave the Wyoming Territory and see some of the world before he settled down. He had visited the big cities in the east, had traveled across the ocean to London and Paris. While in that dazzling city, he had decided that there was no place he’d rather be than home.

T.C. had been a lumberjack, a drover, a teamster and a lawman and had spent some time at law school. He had met women of all types, from society matrons and their pretty but useless daughters to ranch and farm women who were as handy as their men with a gun.

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