Annie Oakley's Arc

Chapter 2 of 13

The morning after her singing at the little stone church, Annie lay curled on a straw tick inside a cottage with flowering vines on the walls. A woman in the village had given her the bed for the night. Annie had not eaten since the coins were pressed into her hand. She had thrown up twice already, once behind the cottage and once into a tin basin. Her mouth tasted like river water. Her hands would not stop shaking. Lainey Willow knelt beside the bed with a wet cloth. She was taller than Annie and a year or two older, blonde, still in the fringed vest she had worn at the church. She had slept on the floor by the door with her boots on. She wiped Annie's forehead once and set the cloth on the basin's rim. "It wasn't the biscuit," Lainey said. Annie shook her head against the tick. "Forty men," she whispered. "At the mining camp. No pews. No walls." "Thought so." Lainey sat back on her heels. "You sang fine yesterday." "I couldn't open my mouth. You had to hum first." "And then you did open it." Lainey passed her the tin cup. "Drink slow." Annie drank. Her stomach held. She stared at the low ceiling and tried to picture the ridge road. The picture made her throat close again. She set the cup down before she dropped it. "I can't go up there," she said. "I thought I could. I can't." Lainey did not answer for a while. Outside, a hen scratched at the doorstone. Finally she said, "Then don't go up there today." "They're expecting me." "They're expecting a preacher. They've been waiting a year. They can wait a week." Annie turned her face toward her. "A week." "Sister two towns over first," Lainey said. "Smaller room. Fewer faces. You practice the being-sick part where it costs less." She almost smiled. "Work up." Annie thought about it. The sister's town was flat country. No ridge. Maybe eight people in a parlor. Her stomach loosened a notch, enough to notice. "I'd still throw up on the road," she said. "Probably." Lainey stood and dusted her knees. "I'll ride with you as far as the fork. I've got my own trail after that. Something's been hitting farms at night three weeks now. I mean to find it." Annie looked at her. "By yourself?" "Mostly." Lainey picked up the basin. "You sit up when you can. I'll saddle your horse." Annie sat up slowly. The room held still. She swung her feet to the floor and found them under her. She would ride to the sister's town today. The mining camp would come after, or it would not. She would learn which by going. She reached for her hat on the peg by the door.