First There Is a River by Kathy Steffen

Author:Kathy Steffen [Steffen, Kathy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Historical, Fiction
ISBN: 9781605428604
Google: IR1Y_QKJkWMC
Amazon: 1932815937
Barnesnoble: 1932815937
Goodreads: 7942245
Publisher: Medallion Press
Published: 2007-07-15T04:00:00+00:00

Gage finished checking the supplies from the boatyard. He made sure the materials were what he ordered: solid oak, tempered steel. All top of the line. The one thing Gage and the captain saw eye to eye about was the quality of anything that became part of the Spirit. He finished at ten minutes to four and decided to quit early. A first for the engineer.

He went to his cabin to change clothes and wash away the grime from his shift. He stripped off his shirt and let it drop to the floor, then leaned over the basin and washed his face. Soap mixed with dirt flecks swirling in the water with no direction to go but down. He caught his own eyes in the mirror’s reflection.

“Yoder ain’t a man you want to work for.”

So why was he going? He worked hard for his excellent reputation on the river. He could get hired on any boat he wanted. Why the Ironwood? Why Yoder?

“Because that will hurt Briggs the most,” he said to the face in the mirror. “And we can’t forget you’re runnin’ from covetin’ another man’s wife.” He looked at his image in disgust and finished changing. He left his cabin, never once looking again in the mirror.

He walked to his destination as fast as he could, his pace slowing when a red and white painted barber’s pole came into view. He fought the urge to turn back, to return to the Spirit. To go home. The bench outside the shop sat empty, but inside, two men sat with their backs to the window. He took a deep breath and crossed the muddy street. His boots thunked when he stepped up on the sidewalk. One of the men in the window turned. Snake.

Gage saw Yoder, sitting like a king in a brown leather barber’s chair. A little balding man in an apron scurried inside the shop, tidying up as he chattered away. Yoder’s eyes met Gage’s through the glass, and a cold smile erupted on the captain’s face. Gage opened the door. A bell above him tinkled.

The shop smelled of soap and men’s cologne. Gage kept his eyes on Yoder, but he was uncomfortably aware everyone in the shop stared at him. The man in the apron gasped and stepped back against the wall.

“Hello, Dimitri.”

Gage paused for a second, then realized the captain spoke to him. Because folks had called him Gage for so many years, his birth name sounded foreign to him.

“Captain,” Gage replied.

“I haven’t seen you since you rammed my boat.”

“I weren’t pilotin’ at the time, sir.”

Yoder laughed and nodded to the man in the apron. The little man slid against the wall to the door, keeping away from Gage. Even though Gage was used to strange reactions, the man’s efforts to steer clear of him seemed extreme. Gage waited until the bell tinkled to speak.

“What can I do for you, Captain?”

“Well, that depends.” Yoder sat back and crossed his legs, as relaxed as Gage was nervous. Gage was reminded of a mouse sitting before a hawk.

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