by Chloe Garner
“Are you going to put her down?”
“Not any time soon,” Sarah said, speakin’ the truth faster than she knew what it was. The corner of his mouth came up, and he dipped his head to her.
“She did miss you. Everyone could tell it was you she was looking for.”
“Someone’s got to be the one lookin’ out for her,” Sarah said.
“I need you to check on the train tomorrow,” Jimmy said.
“Like hell,” Sarah answered. “Send someone else. I got interviews to do and boys to keep alive.”
“Related?” Jimmy asked. “Was it their fault that the men were as ill as they were?”
Sarah shook her head.
“Yes and no. Prob’ly could have cared for ‘em a heap better, but the sandworms were what laid ‘em low. Thomas picked ‘em up, there at the end.”
“Sandworms…” Jimmy said, tryin’ to place it.
“Water here’ll be structured right to not get ‘em, even in floods,” Sarah said. “You’ve never had ‘em. I have, once, but Doc caught ‘em easy enough. Not a danger to life or health, with the right pill. ‘Least Thomas ain’t gonna have to ride to Jeremiah to get ‘em.”
Jimmy lifted an eyebrow, but didn’t comment on that specifically.
“So he’s going to be okay?”
“He’s gonna be coughin’ up little worms in his cereal bowl tomorrow,” Sarah said. “But he’s gonna be fine.”
Jimmy nodded.
“What of the others?”
“You want my read on it, we got two dead by mornin’ and another three in the next week. After that, we ought be in the clear, and most who got sick’ll rise to normal, span of two weeks.”
Jimmy nodded slowly.
“What could I have done better?”
“Send more level-headed men to watch over ‘em and keep ‘em fed and hydrated? Hire someone what knew how to install a water pump to screen for sandworm larvae? Build a fleet of boats for sailin’ about durin’ floods.”
He frowned.
“You think that’s a joke, but it’s actually genius.”
She frowned.
“Boat won’t run on flood water. Too much unpredictable sludge in it. You ever watch a cow try to swim it, you’d know that.”
“Just not a big enough boat, yet.”
“Ain’t that deep ‘a water,” Sarah said, sittin’ down on the bed and pushin’ her boots off with her toes. She tossed her hat onto the nightstand and slipped out of her duster one arm at a time, switchin’ Ellie from one side to the next to do it. Jimmy took the duster from her and hung it at the door.
“It’s a solution,” he said. “And I’ll look into the water system. I assume you aren’t going to tell me any more about your judgment?”
She shook her head.
“Nope. Nothin’ ‘till I got the sense I got the whole story and I know what I’m gonna do about it.”
He came and knelt on the floor in front of her, lookin’ up in her face over top of Ellie.
“May I ask that you tell me what you’re planning on doing, before you tell anyone else?”
“You gonna try to change my mind?” she asked. He pressed his mouth.
“I might want to discuss it with you,” he said. She didn’t like him there, below her like that. It was too honest, too real, and at the same time, so unlike him that it felt even more powerful that he could do it and not change.
“I ain’t gonna change it, once I know what I’m gonna do,” she said.
“I wouldn’t ask you to change your decision unless I could change your mind about how you see what happened,” he said. “Think of me as an advocate for them.”
“You gonna appoint an advocate for the men what died?” Sarah asked.
“It would be fair,” he said. She shook her head.
“Too much stirrin’ what’s already too big a mess. Ain’t how it’s done cause ain’t how it works.”
“She says, dismissing a legal system that evolved for hundreds of years before we even brought it with us.”
“What do you know about law?” Sarah asked.
He snorted, true humor.
“You could say it’s my last name,” he answered. She tipped her head, and he shrugged, standing.
“’Spose you want me to write it out and let people talk ‘bout it, too,” Sarah said.
“I’m not saying I don’t understand why you do it the way you do. I’m asking for an opportunity to talk to you before your decision is already public, because we both know you won’t change your mind once you’ve said what you’re going to do.”
She twisted her mouth.
“Ain’t gonna fight you on it no more, so I ain’t gonna say no, but I won’t say yes, either.”
He sat down on the bed next to her, stretchin’ his shoulders back and watchin’ the door.
“Anything else Doc said?”
She shook her head.
“Granger’s doin’ fine, all considered,” Sarah said. “And Willie and Paulie scarce blinked when I commandeered the tavern for the sick.”
“They’re less adversarial than you make them out to be,” Jimmy answered.
“When they know they’re gonna get to send you the bill for the downtime,” Sarah said, just seein’ it, then.
“Good business,” he said.
“Joiner girl is marryin’ one of Apex and Thor’s mine workers,” Sarah said.
“Good for her,” Jimmy answered, and she shook her head.
“Tyin’ your fate to a prospector is like bettin’ on the wind,” she said. “Like as not gonna end up broke and alone where you don’t know where you are.”
“I take it that’s Nina Joiner’s opinion, as well?” Jimmy asked.
“Nina says we got a lot of provin’ to do,” Sarah said, and Jimmy nodded.
“Once we get money rolling in through that mine in real quantities, a lot of sins are going to be forgiven.”
“If,” Sarah said. “If you get money goin’ in, without all of us gettin’ dead.”
“Pythagoras is backing a banking venture,” Jimmy said. “I’m going to buy the absenta up in the mountains and handle it myself. No absenta goes east without my mark on it, in controlled boxes. It isn’t fool-proof, but it’s getting close enough that I actually believe in it.”
“Ignorin’ that you just double-crossed Descartes,” Sarah said. “And he’s got the means to stomp all of us like bugs.”
She looked down at Ellie as the infant began to squirm, cryin’ in pitiful little noises until she opened her eyes. Delighted, she cooed and giggled, wigglin’ more. Sarah didn’t like puttin’ adult ideas onto what a baby meant, ‘cause they were mostly just hungry and needy, and doin’ anything they must to get that taken care of, but she knew what everyone else had been seein’.
“If it comes to it,” Jimmy said, his tone severe, low. “You run. No final stand at my side. Not anymore. You take her, you take Gremlin and Flower, and you take to the mountains. Far enough that they’re never going to find you. You can live up there a long time, and then when you’re ready, you just go blend in somewhere else. Keep her low, and they won’t come for either of you.”
“Play a dangerous game, Lawson,” Sarah said. “Better if you came, too.”
“I’m not going to back down from the bets I’ve lay, this town, or my family. But Ellie… She gets out, and the one who’s most likely to be able to keep her alive, come anything, is you.”
Sarah nodded.
“I understand.”
He leaned over and kissed her temple as someone knocked on the door. Jimmy lay his forehead against the side of Sarah’s face just for a moment, then rose and let in two women with trays. They lay them on the bed, and Sarah took the bottle, mixin’ it and offerin’ it to Ellie, who grabbed hold of it with inept little hands and sucked on it with noisy satisfaction.
One of the women paused to look down at the baby, and Sarah held off lookin’ back up with hostility for a good several moments. The woman stepped away
with a nervous, apologetic smile.
“She’s a beautiful baby.”
“Ain’t mine, but thank you,” Sarah said, and the woman dipped her head low, backin’ out the room as Jimmy held the door. Sarah scooted back on the bed, holdin’ Ellie on one knee and a plate on the other to eat. Jimmy came and took Ellie, sittin’ her against his elbow where she could see the room while she took her bottle. Sarah weren’t convinced the child actually saw much, but she sure liked lookin’.
“You got a play, when Descartes catches wind?” Sarah asked.
“I need to turn him back against his brother, but I haven’t figured out how, yet,” Jimmy said.
“Oh, good,” Sarah said. “Lit a stick of dynamite, threw it in a box of dynamite, and now you reckon you’re gonna figure out somethin’ useful to do with it.”
He grinned, honest grin, and shook his head.
“It was never going to be easy,” he said, lookin’ down at Ellie. “But I haven’t lost yet. I always put that in the assets list, when I’m making my decisions.”
“Meanin’ you feel invincible and don’t reckon the risks apply to you,” Sarah said. “Comfortin’.”
“Tell me about the men,” Jimmy said. “If I get them here, tomorrow, say, what are they going to want to talk about?”
“Hangin’ your brothers,” Sarah said.
“What else?”
“Rations,” Sarah said. “Tania told me they come wanderin’ up here lookin’ for food what ain’t what Granger’s givin’ em.”
He nodded.
“All right. What else?”
“Jobs. You hear it, same as me. It’s all anybody cares about.”
“I can’t rush that,” Jimmy said.
“Could be employin’ ‘em elsewise,” Sarah said.
“I put up bounties,” Jimmy said. “I’ve even had men forming businesses trying to claim them.”
“But?”
“We need a proper blacksmith, we need a chemist, we need a building concern. These are skills. You don’t just show up and say you are that.”
“What of the sawmill?”
Jimmy shook his head.
“I haven’t forgotten, but it’s a long way out.”
“They need buildin’ supplies and the means to buy ‘em,” Sarah said. “They need food, they need clothing, and they need jobs. None of which we’re any closer to gettin’ ‘em than we were ‘fore the flood hit. Now they’re just mad and scared and more desperate. Ain’t a good time to be negotiatin’ to get ‘em calmed down.”
“It’s exactly the time to negotiate with them,” Jimmy said. “Because it’s the time they’re most interested in talking to me, and the most interested in what I have to say.”
“And what’s that?” Sarah asked.
“That we are allied,” Jimmy said. “If I succeed, they will succeed. If I fail, they will all die.”
“Sounds like ultimatums to me,” Sarah said, and Jimmy shrugged.
“Only if I must use them that way.”
They both shifted toward the pillowed end of the bed, Sarah with her meal in her lap and Jimmy with Ellie, and Sarah tipped her head back.
“Bringin’ the storm down on us,” she said.
“Where we’re strongest,” he answered. “It’s going to happen one way or another.”
“Doesn’t mean I have to like it,” she said, lookin’ over at Ellie. “Lise is goin’?”
“First train,” Jimmy said. “You can get her to the station yourself, if you think it’s going to make it through tomorrow.”
“Almost makes the trip worth it,” Sarah said.
He smiled, layin’ his head back.
“I’m tired,” he said. She nodded.
“Gonna get worse ‘fore it gets better.”
He smiled at the ceiling.
“It was a good time, while it lasted.”
“Got the right things done, I hope,” she said, and he smiled again.
“To the crib with you,” he said to Ellie, standing after another moment. Sarah finished her meal in big bites, goin’ to change into her night clothes as Jimmy settled Ellie, then they turned out the lights. Mornin’ came swiftly.
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Just after first light and breakfast, Sarah took Gremlin into town, checkin’ first at the rail station, but findin’ the rails still too far under sand to expect the train that day. Previous year, they’d paid men to clean the rails most of the way to Jeremiah, but Jimmy had funded the line for a cleaning car this year, and it were just a matter of waitin’ long enough for the sand to dry all the way down, so the car could sweep it out without gettin’ gummed so bad it stopped.
“One more day,” she told Gremlin. “Only gotta put up with her one more day.”
She took the horse back into town and went to stand at the front of Granger’s shop. As she stood, men accumulated around her, sensin’ she were goin’ to say somethin’ worth hearin’. Once she had enough of ‘em waitin’, she held up a hand.
“You know who I am,” she said. The buzz of activity at the end of the street quieted as more men drifted down the road toward her.
“My name is Sarah Todd, and for quite some time now, I’ve acted as law in this town. I ain’t concerned with minor stuff, the scuffles and the minor theft, even so much as those might change the course of a life, but takin’ life, even in Lawrence, we don’t overlook that. I know men died at the shelter up in the hills, and I know it ain’t clear-cut that they was in the black wrong, when it happened. Long as I’ve been doin’ it, it’s been my job to suss out what actually happened and find the justice to it. If it means hangin’, I don’t shy away. Ask Granger or Doc if you need to; they ain’t gonna lie to you. If you seen what happened, not heard, but seen, I’m gonna be in Granger’s office ‘till supper, listenin’ to any truth you feel right to bring me. Ain’t gonna tell nobody who told me what, ain’t gonna discuss with nobody what I know or what decision I’m comin’ to. Ain’t my way.”
She turned, takin’ out the paper she’d got from Thomas and handin’ it to Granger, who’d waited outside, listenin’.
“If your name is on that list, you are invited to dinner with Jimmy Lawson and myself tonight. No threats, no promises. Once I’m done with interviews, someone’ll be down from the house with a cart, and we’ll ride up to the house together. This ain’t an invitation I’ve ever turned down, myself, but I leave it up to you whether you want to eat with the man or not.”
She scanned the crowd, readin’ faces, then nodded and went into the shop, through to Granger’s office, and sat, waitin’.
Took ‘bout twenty minutes for the first of the men to come sit ‘cross from her, fidgetin’ and mumblin’. First three wasn’t much help, but the fourth had a fire in his belly. Apparently he’d worked for Thomas and had been passin’ messages among various men durin’ the curfew, and he reckoned he were the reason Wade and Rich had targeted the first couple men they had.
“They didn’t kill people because they were doing bad things,” the man said. “They killed the ones who were going to make sure that the rest of us had enough to eat.”
“Doesn’t look to me like you starved,” Sarah said.
“They were using food to control us,” the man told her, leanin’ forward. “Thomas was doing his best, but they’d lock the supply room while we were passing out meals and refuse to let us back in unless we answered questions about who was where and who was doing what.”
Sarah could just see how that would go over.
“You answer ‘em?” Sarah asked. He looked to the side.
“No.”
Yes.
“And the men you were helpin’,” Sarah said. “They just wanted to leave the supply room open, so anybody could go in and feed themselves?”
He shifted again.
“You couldn’t just do that,” he said. “We all know that.”
“No,” Sarah said. “They wanted to control it, themselves.”
He scratched the back of his neck.
>
“You thought they’d do a better job ‘n Rich and Wade were doin’?”
“We thought they’d be a lot less likely to beat us with the butt of a gun for talking back.”
“Only ‘cause they didn’t have guns,” Sarah said. He swallowed.
“Whose side are you on?” he asked, tryin’ for pluck.
“I ask the questions I ask,” Sarah said. “You tell me the truth, I’ll know the truth.”
“But you aren’t asking the right questions,” he said.
“What ones should I be askin’?” she asked. He shrugged.
“I don’t know.”
“You get beat into doin’ the job you was doin’, ‘cause everyone was afraid of catchin’ sick?”
He looked at his hands. She nodded.
“You see how that makes you a questionable witness,” she said.
“I’m telling you the truth,” he said, and she nodded.
“But you’re advocatin’ for the men what beat you and made you risk your life instead of them riskin’ theirs.”
“Not these ones,” he said. “They stood by, sure, but they can’t police everything. None of them made me do anything.”
“And that makes you trust ‘em? That they didn’t beat you?”
“No,” he said. “They’ve been helping us. All of us. You don’t have any clue what’s going on out there, do you?”
“Welcome to tell me,” Sarah said.
“We came back to nothing,” he said. “Ed and Ezra, Torque, the rest of them, they’re making sure that we have something. A place to sleep where the sand doesn’t pile over us, overnight.”
She nodded. Didn’t bother her none she weren’t gettin’ credit for keepin’ ‘em in building materials, nor was Granger. Men knew where they were gettin’ their gear from, up at the top. Men down here just needed someone to look up to. Chain of command.
They lived like dogs. They needed masters, but Sarah didn’t need a pack that size.
“I mean to speak with ‘em, and so does Jimmy,” she said. “What are they gonna tell me I need to hear?”
“We’re dying,” he said. “And the Lawsons killed more of us, for no reason.”
“And there weren’t an insurrection up and down the hallways usin’ you for conduit?”