Leanna Dove's Arc

Chapter 1 of 4

Leanna Dove had spent her whole life picking up people the world dropped, and this morning the person was her own little sister. Lyndsey had thrown up since dawn. She hadn't eaten since yesterday morning, when the sickness first hit. Leanna sat on the edge of the lower bunk and pressed a cool cloth to her sister's forehead. The bunks stood inside the tour bus, the long coach Leanna half lived in now, always parked somewhere near the next singer who needed her. Lyndsey curled tight around her stomach. "It hurts here." She pointed low, near her side. "Not like a normal ache. Worse." Her voice cracked. Then she started to cry. Leanna knew that kind of pain. She had seen it in singers who went on stage empty, their bellies swollen and sore. "Lie on your left side," she said. "Come on. It takes the pressure off." Lyndsey turned. Leanna guided her knees up and tucked the blanket behind her back. "Small breaths," Leanna said. "I'm right here." She stayed until her sister's crying slowed, then stopped. Lyndsey's face went loose. Her breathing evened out. She was asleep. Leanna sat still a moment longer. Then she remembered Annie. Annie Oakley lived in the cottage next door. She was a singer the radio had quit playing. Her label stopped returning her calls and never told her why. Leanna had come to this town for her, to help her stand back up. That morning Annie had mentioned her own stomach was off. Two sick women, one street apart, and only Leanna to check on both. She eased off the bus and crossed to the cottage. She knocked soft. No answer. She tried the door and it opened. Annie sat on the floor by her couch, both arms wrapped around her middle. Her skin looked gray. A bowl sat beside her on the rug. She looked up slow. "Leanna," she said. "I couldn't get up." Leanna dropped to her knees. She touched Annie's stomach and felt how tight and swollen it was. Worse than Lyndsey's. Much worse. "When did you last eat?" "I don't remember. Two days, maybe." Annie swallowed hard. "It came on quick." Leanna's chest went cold. This was not one nervous stomach. This was two women, sick the same way, at the same time. Something was making people ill in this town. "I'm getting you help," Leanna said. She helped Annie onto her left side, right there on the rug, the way she'd just settled her sister. Annie's face eased a little. Then Leanna stood. She had two people down now, and one of them could barely lift her head. The clinic was two towns away. She couldn't carry them both, and she couldn't leave either one alone. She looked out the cottage window toward the bus. She had to choose who to move first.