The Novel Life Of Coral Ambrose by Bonnie Ballou

Author:Bonnie Ballou [Ballou, Bonnie]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, epub, mobi
Publisher: Gage
Published: 2015-11-25T00:00:00+00:00

"What do you think of this staircase, Coral? Isn't it a beauty?" The balusters had been carved from the pale wood of a beech tree and capped with a handrail of ebony. The carved pinecone atop the newel was truly the work of a great artist. Each riser was pale beech and the treads themselves ebony. The woodworker was so proud of his efforts he didn't even notice the bloody gouges on his hands.

"I've never seen a more beautiful staircase. I can hardly believe it's to be mine." She rubbed oil on her hands and took his scabby, oozing hands in hers. He complied without comment. They were all used to her ministrations by now.

"Why don't you notice you're hurting yourself? Are you so absorbed in your work or do you not care?"

A stonemason working nearby called over, "He just wants you to hold his hands."

The woodworker nodded.

A farmwife stepped into the nearly completed infirmary holding her hand to the side of her face. She spit a pacifier into her hand and said, "Pardon me, but when you have time, would you please help me with my tooth? It's awfully sore. It's bringing tears to my eyes, it hurts so much."

"Of course, I would be happy to."

"I can't pay you today, but when the turnip harvest comes in I'll bring you a bushel. Two bushels. All the turnips you can eat. You write a note and I'll make my mark."

"All right, we'll worry about that later. First, let's fix that tooth." The woman opened her mouth and pointed.

All of her teeth were stained and twisted and Coral was jerked back to modern thinking again. Those teeth were disgusting. It was because people in this time didn't brush their teeth or floss or go to orthodontists. Did she want to leave? All she had to do was touch that book. No, not yet. She felt that something needed to be done. This story had scarcely started.

She lightly touched her healing fingers on the woman's cheek over the painful, rotten tooth and held them there for a few minutes. The healing of bone and tooth was more time consuming than mending soft flesh. "It's better," the farmwife said eventually.

"Just a moment longer." Then it was safe to press the cheek more firmly with the palm of her hand until she could no longer feel energy passing through her.

"Oh, thank you so much! Now I'm going to cry from relief. Write a note and I'll sign it."

"All right, I'll do that." She took a scrap of paper from the purse at her waist and scratched a tiny note that read, “Pay me what you wish,” which she handed to the farm wife. "I never caught your name."

"Agnes."

"Agnes, would you mind if I asked you a question? I keep seeing people with pacifiers in their mouths, and I saw you had one when you came in. I've never seen adults using them anywhere before I came here. Why do you do that?"

Agnes shook her head.

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