Wash (Margaret Wrinkle) by Margaret Wrinkle

Author:Margaret Wrinkle
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: Grove/Atlantic, Inc.
Published: 2013-02-05T08:00:00+00:00

Part Four

High summer, 1819

Pallas

Just from them telling me about Wash, I knew what the problem was right away. All that putting him on other folks’ people, he’s bound to pick up something and this one was bad.

Thick set, bandy legged man named Quinn stops by Miller’s place, looking for me. He steps right inside my cabin and starts talking. Telling me what the man’s privates look like and how he won’t heal. How he and Richardson need this trouble sorted out because they’ve got dates booked. Commitments to meet. Says they are losing money every day this thing drags on.

I’m looking at the floor to keep anything from showing on my face. I’m thinking of that first time I saw Wash. How he was sitting in that stall where they kept him. How he ran his eyes over me like all I was was parts, just his road to get somewhere, and no me there anywhere.

I was tempted to leave him to wallow in it or else give him something I knew wouldn’t work. But Phoebe always warned me be careful. Told me doing like that would come back around and slap me in the face, even with white folks. She kept telling me let God decide. Said God takes care of most things. If not now, then later. Take this medicine just as far as you feel guided and don’t go no further. No matter what.

Once Quinn started in again, I heard Phoebe saying we got to look out for each other because Lord knows, nobody else will. I started to collect my things and told the man to go on home, I’d be there by late afternoon. That would have to be soon enough because I had some gathering to do.

Soon as he left, I went down by the creek and pulled bunches of prickly ash. Boil the bark for a tea with some left over for Wash to chew. Give him a new stinging to take his mind off that other burning. I had some bloodroot from when I last collected with Phoebe. I can still see her showing me how that thick veined leaf wraps right around its flower standing so straight, like a woman wearing a cape.

As I came back around the side of the hill, there was a patch of goldenseal growing knee high. Same kind of root with a strong dye but yellow. I always kept some of both those roots with me. Ever since Phoebe used that same red and yellow on me when she was bringing me back into this world, they stayed two of my steadies.

I figured I’d have a fever to break so I found some pale pink rocket flowers growing tall by the roadside on my way home. Grabbed hold down low and took the whole thing since greens can’t do nothing but help.

I made it to Richardson’s right at suppertime, handing the reins to Ben, knowing he’d get my horse cooled down good before letting him eat anything.

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