The Modern Deity's Guide to Surviving Humanity by Tanya Huff

Author:Tanya Huff [Palmatier, Patricia Bray & Joshua]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: SF&F Anthology
Publisher: Zombies Need Brains, LLC
Published: 2021-04-21T00:00:00+00:00

Doc Saturday’s Midnight Medicine Show

Mike Marcus

Reggie stopped outside the beat-up Winnebago behind the red and white striped circus tent, watching the crew move equipment ahead of tonight’s show. He’d do anything for Doc, but damn he hated his boss’s camper. There was just something about it that sent a chill straight down his spine. In the midday sun, it was just another camper with fading paint and peeling bumper stickers. But at twilight, it gave him the heebie-jeebies; the windows vacant eye sockets in a vehicle-size skull, the bent bumper a twisted, toothless grin. The hair rose on Reggie’s neck as he stood there finishing his cigarette, putting off climbing inside to wake Doc for the show. He took a final puff and dropped the butt to the ground, grinding it into the dirt with one worn loafer. The camper’s heater pumped a thin stream of steam out the vent pipe on the roof. It was 65 degrees outside, but inside Doc had the heater running full tilt.

“Doc! Hey, Doc. Time to get up,” Reggie said, holding the aluminum door open behind his lanky frame as he stepped into the dark Winnebago and raised a window blind. “It’s an hour till showtime. Looks like we got a big crowd tonight.” The heat inside hung like a wet, heavy blanket and smacked Reggie in the face as soon as he opened the door. If he let the door close behind him, the camper transformed into a sauna. Doc said the heat reminded him of home, though he never mentioned where that might be. Reggie assumed it was somewhere in Louisiana from the Cajun patois that peppered his speech.

“Close that door, if it do ya’, Reverend,” muttered a deep voice from the bed in the far corner of the room. The mattress and box spring stacked on the floor consumed much of the space that doubled as living room and bedroom. A thin sheet covered the large black man from the waist down and one thick, tattoo-covered arm was thrown across his eyes. “You know that cold doesn’t agree with me.”

Reggie took a deep breath of fresh air and closed the camper door. He peered out the small dirty window at the former circus tent that housed Doc Saturday’s Midnight Medicine Show. The sound of the show band’s brass horns slipped into the camper over the hum of the heater. Most of the show team were already in the tent, but a few were still puttering around the mishmash of cars, trucks, and campers haphazardly scattered around the grass lot. A full moon was just starting its ascent above the tree line. Full moon shows were a bit unpredictable, but wasn’t that always a risk with Doc?

“You should know, we had to run off a townie earlier today,” Reggie said. “He was looking for his wife. Said she came to last night’s show with a girlfriend and never came home.”

Doc chortled and pulled back the sheet from the other side of the bed, revealing a shapely bare female back, her face hidden by a tangle of red curls.

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.