Chapter Five
The Angel
Oscar looked doubtful.
“Oscar, I been riding since I was five. I can do it. I could probably ride that horse with one hand tied behind my back and a gash in my side.”
That made him laugh but he rolled his eyes. “All right, all right.”
“Help me into the shade o’er there where the horses are grazing. I need to sit against one of them trees for a bit. And cover the blood that’s on the ground here with some dirt. The last thing we need is to attract the local wildlife.”
Oscar went a bit pale. He helped me into the shade then went back to cover the evidence of my injury. He went o’er to his horse and spoke to her in quiet whispers, scratching her behind her ear. Then he came and sat down beside me.
“How long we gonna rest?”
“Maybe a half hour, to make sure the bleedin’s really stopped. Then we best get goin’.”
We sat there, in the middle of the day, swatting away the mosquitoes that somehow found us wherever we were. They didn’t bother me as much as they did Oscar. I supposed he tasted better.
In a moment, he stood and started to do a little dance, swatting at the annoying insects and cussing like a sailor. ’Twas too amusing for words, and I couldn’t help laughing. But the sharp pain in my side took my breath away.
“Stop it, Oscar. Stop.” I raised my hand in protest, and to block the image of him waving around like a windmill. “I need to be still.”
“Are you laughing? Are you laughing at me, Jimmy Downing? You fucker.” He stopped his frantic dance and stared hard at me. “I saved you from bleedin’ to death and you’re laughin’ at me.”
“I’m sorry. You just— You looked—” I grimaced with the pain of laughing and tried to calm myself down.
He strode o’er and stood in front of me, his arms across his chest. The mosquitoes buzzed around him like devoted acolytes, but he ignored them, except to twitch his head and blow at them when they came near.
“How do I look, Jimmy? Like a fella who’s plumb tired of traveling and only wants to get to where we’re goin’?”
“You look like you’re showin’ me…some kind of new dance.”
“New dance? I’ll show you a new dance,” Oscar said, falling to his knees in the dirt.
He came close and put his mouth to mine so’s I’d stop making pained noises, and I did, opening under his kiss and trying to catch my breath.
When he pulled away, he glanced down at the bulge in my pants that I couldn’t hide and the pain didn’t hinder.
“Well, I guess you really are okay, then, if you can laugh and get hard. Can we get going? Now?”
I sighed, cupping his chin and kissing him sweetly before I nodded.
“I reckon. You need to help me up onto my horse.”
Oscar rolled his eyes. “Come on, Old Man.”
* * * *
Turned out riding with a jagged gash in the side of your vulnerable underbelly was a tricky and tortuous business. I had to keep my elbow pressed down against the bandages else ‘twould seem like my insides were at risk of comin’ out, and the movement of riding would be too much.
Thank goodness Dixie was a steady horse and didn’t give me any trouble. As long as I could keep my seat, we’d be okay. But as we went along, hiding the pain I was in from Oscar got to be more of a challenge.
I saw him eyeing me from time to time, as Dixie went o’er some difficult terrain, and I winced or grimaced. ’Twasn’t until we had to wade through a mountain stream that I let go a whimper so pitiful it made me blush with shame.
When we got to the other side of the water, Oscar grabbed Dixie’s bridle and led us up onto the bank.
“Jimmy, I can tell you’re strugglin’ with it.”
I nodded. “I’ll be okay.”
My voice sounded rough and far away, and I hoped I wasn’t about to pass out.
“How about I lead Dixie, then you only have to hold on and not fall off.”
I frowned. “Oscar, that’s gonna add time onto this journey that we ain’t got.”
He narrowed his eyes. “Jimmy Downing, you listen here. It won’t be much good to go fast and have you fall or faint before we get there, will it?”
We stared at each other—a battle of wills that I generally lost when Oscar was this determined. And I didn’t have much fight left in me.
“Sure. Okay.”
Oscar gave a curt nod and moved Onyx closer. I passed him Dixie’s other rein.
“Thank you. Now concentrate on keeping your seat, and I’ll get us there. I promise.” Oscar looked about him, then back at me. “I know the way, now. I’m sure of it.”
I hoped he did know the way, because I was barely able to keep my wits about me with the throbbing agony of my injury.
I wondered if he’d been honest that it didn’t look like a deep gash, because right now it felt like it went through all my inner organs and up into my chest. ’Twas probably the pain making an echo of itself, as it tended to do in situations like this.
At least, I hoped that was it. I wondered what Miss June would do if the bandage came off and my kidney tumbled out.
I worried about Oscar having to manage leading both Poke and Dixie and also guide his own horse, but there wasn’t much I could do but keep from falling, like I’d promised.
The rest of the journey seemed to take forever, but I managed to stay conscious, though the pain was brutal.
We rode into the town of Telegraph Creek as the sun was setting.
There were only a handful of streets in the small village, and it didn’t take us long to find The Angel.
In a world where most of the big cities had electricity, folks in towns like Port Essington and Telegraph Creek still lived the old way, without the new-fangled conveniences that still seemed like magic.
The gas lamps shining in the building’s windows, and the shadows of people moving about inside were a salve to my fretting, and I knew we were finally safe.
We rode the horses directly to the stables behind the building. I caught a glimpse of William and tried to speak, but a jab of pain prevented it.
“William! Thank Christ!” Oscar said. “Can you grab these horses? I gotta help Jimmy.”
“Oscar! Where did you two come from? ’Course I can. What happened to him?”
Strong hands grabbed my arm as I swayed and slid toward the ground.
“Easy, easy,” Oscar murmured as he helped me down as carefully as he could.
I hissed as he put pressure on my injury, but there was no way he could avoid it.
“Fell down a mountain, the git,” Oscar said with some irritation, and I was glad to hear it.
If he could be mad at me, it probably meant I wasn’t dying.
I tried to laugh but ended up groaning at the sudden increase of pain in my side.
I couldn’t get to a soft bed soon enough.
“Sorry. It’s all right. We’re here now,” Oscar murmured in my ear as he held me.
I sank against him, clutching his narrow shoulders, glad he was stronger than he looked. At least the movement of the horse was gone, but I’d have to try to walk in a minute, and I wasn’t too sure I could do that.
“I’ll go get Miss June,” William said. “’Tis so good to see you!”
The thump of William’s boots up the wooden steps and the creak of the door as it opened, then the slam as it shut behind him sounded in the evening stillness.
“Oscar, I-I’m so sorry to be a burden.”
Oscar huffed and held me tighter. “Quiet now. You ain’t a burden to me, Jimmy,” he said. “I reckon I’m glad to have a chance to make up for all the times you’ve had to help me out. Can you walk, if I help?”
“Maybe? We can try.”
Oscar moved us forward, one slow step at a time, while I grimaced and hissed.
“How’s the bleedin’? The bandage feels wet.”
“It ain’t too bad. Anyway, Miss June will fix you up.” There was a vulnerable quiver to Oscar’s voice, and I wondered if he was being honest. The bandage felt cold and clammy against me under my jacket, and maybe he couldn’t see it all that well in the darkness.
The door banged open, and I heard a familiar voice, but ’twasn’t Miss June’s.
“Jimmy? Oscar! Oh fuck, it is you!”
“Trick!” Oscar said, with so much relief I could feel it.
“What happened?” Trick said, concern in her voice.
In a moment, soft, strong hands grabbed my arm on the other side of where Oscar was holding me.
“Hello, darlin’,” I managed to grunt.
“He was in a rush and slid down the side of a mountain,” Oscar explained.
“Oh hell,” Trick said. “Miss June’s comin’. Don’t worry, Jimmy. We got you.”
With Trick’s help, I made it up the steps and inside the back door, where I heard a familiar voice through the haze of pain.
“Jimmy! Oscar! Good gracious, what on earth?”
“He’s got an awful gash in his side, Miss June,” Oscar said. “I reckon he’ll need stitches, and it seems to have started bleedin’ again.”
“All right. Trick, go get Gus. He can carry Jimmy upstairs.”
I tried to protest but Miss June and Trick shushed me. “Never mind. You let Gus carry you. You won’t be able to climb the stairs.”