Page 65 (1/2)
The Snake River folk on the fare Preparations Extraordinary Magnificent
I look to the fire My leather bag lies in the ashes I pick it out It’s singed an blackened But the scrolls inside ain’t bin burnt
I eat the eggs Some cornbread A sliced breast of duck I drink soo to bed An I sleep
I wake to find Mercy movin about Fillin a tin bath with hot water She drops in oil of thyme When I’m scrubbed, she washes my hair with soapwort As she’s tippin rinse water over my head, DeMalo comes into the room
There’s a Tonton jest inside the door No doubt to make sure me an Mercy don’t plot But we’re behind a low screen to be private
DeMalo comes around it Without a nod or a look toby toht eyes Do you understand?
She nods A decoction of archangel, she says Cures ather soo?
I believe so, she says
My men will take you there now
I wanna see where you buried them, I says
He looks at me
Please, I says
After toh That reminds me DeMalo reaches in his pocket an pulls so this around his neck, he says
He tosses an I catch it Lugh’s necklace The little ring of green glass, threaded on a leather string I gave it to hihteen year, it was
I’ll spend tonight elsewhere, says DeMalo I won’t see you now until ed
He leaves Mercy an it outta the tub an, as she dries me with a sack, I says to the Tonton, Empty the water, would you please? When he hesitates, I says, You heard the Master She needs to go right away
I stand aside, wrapped in the sack He hurries over, not lookin at o tofrom unner the straw pallet an duh ’ee drop near the watermill On the Don River, where we met that day D’you know the one I el thereabouts It grows most places It’s our luck he don’t seem to know that
I’ve found the scroll I want I press it into her hand
Could be they don’t find this in time, I says We don’t even know if they’re still usin the drops Or they nore it, I dunno I don’t really knohat I’, but--
I’ll see to it Don’t worry As she tucks the scroll in her bosoin I was startin to think you’d lost it
Please be careful, I says
I ain’t got this far bein careless, she says
With a smile an a nod to reassure one fer sooes I stare out theI sit an I think