Secrets of Goth Mountain

by Gary J. Davies

  ****

  Ann Goth finished applying first aid to a raccoon, and was moving on to her next patient, a wounded grizzly bear. “Take it easy, big fellow,” she mumbled, as she sent calming waves of thought into its mind, damping its fear and anger.

  The gunshot wound was serious, but with her help the kidney and blood vessels were soon patched up well enough for the great beast to limp away into the woods. “Who’s next?” she asked Mary White Dove.

  “Got a fool policeman here who dropped out of a tree and hit his head,” Mary explained, as two braves carried an unconscious man in uniform to her.

  It was a very bad concussion. It was a close thing, but between Mary’s initial first aid and Ann’s prowess, the man was saved and soon healed. “Next,” Ann finally announced.

  “How the hell do you do it?” asked her next patient. The man had arrived with compound fractures of both legs, and was now being helped to his feet. “The guy before me was near death, I know he was, and I should have been laid up for at least six months. You took away my pain immediately somehow, without any drugs, then you reset bones and mended bone and flesh in minutes.”

  “Indian know-how,” Ann replied.

  “Thank you, whatever it was,” he said, as he was led away.

  Several of the larger wounded animals healed themselves rapidly without Ann’s help and returned to the fray. Ann could sense that they were shape shifters of the People. Two of the most badly wounded regressed into Sasquatch form as they healed, before returning to bear, elk, wolf, or cougar form. Several of the People silently exchanged greetings with Ann, whom they had not seen for many years, including Fen, who had been one of Mark's closest friends.