Wan by Dawn Promislow

Author:Dawn Promislow
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Freehand Books
Published: 2022-02-15T00:00:00+00:00

WE ALL HAD COLDS that winter. One after the other, the children, then Howard, who never got sick, then me. Josias started coughing too, I’d hear him at the back of the kitchen, or in the yard, a hacking cough. Sidney came, Sidney was called each time, Sidney with his bag, his thermometer, his soothing voice. Sidney examined Josias in the kitchen, Josias sitting on the kitchen chair, I and the children watching. I’d never seen Josias sick.

Only Emily didn’t get sick. Emily was strong.

One day though she came and told me Joseph was sick, he took a long time coming to the door this morning, he’s coughing, he said he doesn’t feel well, she said. I gave her a bottle of aspirin and told her to make him a large pot of tea, honey and lemon, I told her to go a few times a day, not only twice, her usual visits. I told her to ask him about a doctor, what to do about seeing a doctor. This was a new problem.

That night I told Howard. We could ask Sidney to come and have a look at him, he said. Are you crazy, I said. I don’t trust Sidney. We can’t take Sidney down to that room, I said. I had an image in my mind: Sidney, his trousers and buttoned shirt, his balding head, his black doctor’s bag, walking unsteadily down the dry winter grass, to that room. The heater with its glowering red bar in the corner against the wall, next to the kettle, and the small, white fridge. What would Sidney think?

It was out of the question.

We worried about this for several days, as I urged Emily to keep taking Joseph lemons for his tea, then soup, the same broth she had made for all of us. I had watched her in the kitchen over her huge pot, filled with beef bones, carrots, celery. The pot simmered for hours as Emily tended it, stirred it, then the beef bones were lifted out onto a plate: giant bones, steaming. And I — I scooped the silky marrow from the bones, and spread it, warm, on thick slices of white bread. I ate it.

A life-giving soup. I felt myself revive, become stronger. I saw I’d need strength.

What I didn’t see was just how much strength I needed.

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.