Annie Oakley's Arc

Chapter 7 of 13

The paint horse brought them back to the small town by late afternoon. Lainey lifted Annie down at the cottage door and carried her inside. The vines by the window shifted in a low wind. Annie kept the moose pressed to her chest. Lainey set her on the bed and pulled a quilt to her waist. Annie started crying before her head hit the pillow. Not loud. The tired kind, the kind that came from a body that had nothing left to hold it back. Her stomach still hurt. Her mouth tasted like metal. The ride had shaken every sore place loose. "I can't eat," she said. "I'll bring it up." Lainey sat on the edge of the bed. "Doctor said you have to." "I know what he said." Annie pressed her face into the moose. "I can't. I try and my throat closes." Lainey watched her for a moment. Then she stood and walked out the front door without a word. Annie heard her boots on the path, then the door of the other cottage, then boots again. Lainey came back holding a small horse plushie. It was covered in paisley, red and blue swirls stitched close, a wild red mane sticking up between its ears. She sat down and set it on the quilt beside the moose. "This is mine," Lainey said. "I've had it since I was your age." Annie touched one of the stitched flowers. "It's pretty." "I get a nervous tummy too. Before I perform. Before hard things." Lainey did not look at her while she said it. She looked at the plushie. "I hold this. It helps. I don't know why. It just does." Annie stared at her. "You get scared?" "Every time." "You don't act like it." "I hold the horse before I go out." Annie wiped her nose on her sleeve. She picked up the paisley pony and set it under her chin next to the moose. The two plushies fit there together. Lainey went to the kitchen. Annie heard a pan, then the crack of an egg. Lainey came back with a small bowl. Soft egg, a spoon, a cup of milk. "Small bites," Lainey said. "You hold him. I'll hold the bowl." Annie kept one hand on the paisley pony. She opened her mouth. Lainey fed her one slow spoonful. Annie waited. Her stomach turned once, then settled. She took another. She ate half the bowl before she stopped. She drank a little milk. It stayed down. "Good," Lainey said. Annie held the paisley pony tighter. "Can I keep him tonight?" "Keep him as long as you need." Annie closed her eyes. The pain was still there, but smaller now, folded down under the weight of food and the two plushies against her chin. She slept before Lainey took the bowl away.