{"id":1181,"date":"2017-02-22T08:25:27","date_gmt":"2017-02-22T14:25:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/?p=1181"},"modified":"2019-02-16T14:30:01","modified_gmt":"2019-02-16T20:30:01","slug":"the-plague-childs-doctor-by-joshua-heston","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/2017\/02\/22\/the-plague-childs-doctor-by-joshua-heston\/","title":{"rendered":"The Plague Child’s Doctor by Joshua Heston"},"content":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]<\/p>\n

Plague Child\u2019s Doctor<\/h1>\n

by Joshua Heston<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cFourteen-year-old Cyrus Thatcher already knows he\u2019s a freak and his father hates him. But when his beloved baby sister disappears and the townspeople won\u2019t help, Cyrus must choose to take matters into his own self-doubting hands. Set in rural Missouri of 1924, <\/i>The Plague Child\u2019s Doctor is a fanciful plunge into fantasy, horror, and Americana in which nothing is as it seems.”<\/i><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Chapter 3<\/b><\/h2>\n

A rain crow called in the humid, hazy afternoon distance and I awoke. The sky through the west window was orange. Wide mulberry leaves brushed the glass. I was naked beneath a worn quilt. Despite the season, a fire blazed in the massive, soot-stained fireplace. Partially rising to one side, pain sliced through me. The events of last night flooded in. Tears returned. There was a soft, heavy sound. I looked down into the eyes of the huge dog, unchained, curled next to the bed. He stared up at me, strange look of adoration in his eyes. One eye was brown; the other white-blue. His massive tail thumped against the stone floor.<\/p>\n

\u201cHound\u2019s waited for ye all day,\u201d came a voice. \u201cNever left your side. I think he\u2019s taking a likin\u2019 to ye.\u201d There was a wry note in the man\u2019s words. Angus rose from a heavy wooden chair near the window, wood creaking. He moved lightly for such a big man.<\/p>\n

\u201cYe have questions, laddie. I know. But first we\u2019ll need to be healin\u2019 ye.\u201d<\/p>\n

A huge wash tub was padded with old blankets, then filled with water. Copious amounts of dried leaves were crumbled into the tub. Angus must have been heating the water all day. Steam rolled and he moved toward me. Unconsciously I shied away.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s no need for that, laddie.\u201d His accent was strange but his voice husky, soft beneath the roughness. He picked me up easily and gently lowered me into the water. \u201cWhile ye are here, ye are safe.\u201d The water stung my skin but not as bad as I\u2019d figured. \u201cWe\u2019re not done yet, laddie,\u201d the big blacksmith said, walking to the door. He turned for a moment and winked. For the first time, I saw him smile. Strangely, I felt I could trust this uncommon man completely.<\/p>\n

Returning with a bundle of cedar branches, he threw them into the fireplace. Tiny needles crackled and sparked. Sweet piney smoke wafted through the room. More dried leaves were added to the water. Lastly, Angus picked up a half-burnt stick from the fire, walked to the tub, and began scratching its charcoaled end against the stones. I peeked over the edge. Odd designs were written all around me in black. I recognized them from my vision in the barn! My eyes must have widened.<\/p>\n

\u201cSigils,\u201d he said simply. \u201cThey\u2019ll protect ye from what ye cannot see. And now, ye have questions. Your eyes say so.\u201d<\/p>\n

He dragged his chair to the foot of the tub, careful not to disturb the markings, and turned the chair so its back was facing me. Then, gingerly seating himself, he leaned in, solid forearms resting on the wood, bearded chin on hands. Blue eyes bored into me.<\/p>\n

Silence. I could hear my heart beating. The soft scratching of mulberry leaves on glass. I took a deep breath and smelled the cedar. For the first time in my whole life, I felt safe.<\/p>\n

Steam rose and my story poured out. My soul bared in the withering light and before the unflinching gaze of the man before me. Everything I had seen \u2014 good and bad. All the strange visions. My confusion. Even Althea \u2014 beautiful, good Althea whom I believed could see the same things as I \u2014 was not someone I could talk to. She was too young and somehow mother had intimated to me my strange thoughts were not to be shared.<\/p>\n

Mother! Father! <\/i>The shock of last night rippled through me again, despite my cedar smoke daze. And then came the shame: I was different. I was strange. I must never talk of these things to anyone. <\/i>My fear must have shown. Angus looked down at me and shifted his weight again.<\/p>\n

\u201cYer a seer, laddie. I knew it the first moment I laid eyes on ye.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m a what?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cA seer. It takes one to know one, ye know.\u201d The mulberry leaves continued to brush the orange glass and this strange man began to speak.<\/p>\n

\u201cSome small part of ye is not of this world, Cyrus, and deep down ye know it. Ye can hear it. Sometimes see it. There are things great and powerful and terrible beyond the world and it\u2019s calling to ye. What ye see doesn\u2019t make a lot of sense yet, but ye are young and ye shall learn. But ye haven\u2019t much time, I fear. I\u2019ve a few days to heal ye and I can do that much. But then, if ye are to save your sister, well, the road is going to be hard. An\u2019 I don\u2019t envy the task before ye.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthea.\u201d I felt as though I was falling in the darkness. \u201cThey took her. I don\u2019t know what to do! I don\u2019t know how to fix this! It\u2019s my fault. I should have protected her. I saw it was going to happen.\u201d The water sloshed in the tub as I tried to rise, falling back against the pain.<\/p>\n

\u201cShhh. You\u2019ve a few days ye must rest, laddie.\u201d I felt Angus rough hand warm against my forehead. The world went dark and bleak.<\/p>\n

\u201cCan you save her?\u201d I asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo, laddie. If it is to be done, only ye may do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The water was now cold and I was lifted, dripping, from the tub and made to stand. Angus tenderly dried me, careful of my wounds. As he patted me down, gently, he continued to speak. \u201cYe are more powerful than I was at your age and ye must begin your journey soon. Know this: these dreams you have, they are true, but it may be the past. Or the future. Or a distant place. That part can be tricky.<\/p>\n

I sat carefully at the old wooden table. I bowl of soup was before me. \u201cThe gypsies in the wagons,\u201d I said, \u201cI saw them from my porch. There was something wrong with them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re not gypsies, laddie. But what you saw is as they truly are.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat are they, then?\u201d I said between spoonfuls. The soup was heavy with chunks of beef. My head began to clear. I had not realized how hungry I had been.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard to say, exactly, laddie. But I\u2019ll tell ye, best as I can.\u201d<\/p>\n

I reached for a thick slice of bread and Angus ladled another helping of soup into my bowl. He cleared his throat and gazed out the window. His eyes took on a faraway quality.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe caravan is cursed. They are outcasts from the Old Country, from the mountains of the south. Theirs is an old magic. Very dark. Very powerful. They\u2019ve come this way before \u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI heard the circus came last year,\u201d I interrupted. \u201cI was across the river. At my grandpa and grandma\u2019s.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI was here,\u201d said Angus quietly. \u201cNew to town. But I knew then what they were and they knew me. That is why your sister walked through my shop before she went to their camp.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShe wouldn\u2019t have gone by herself! I know her! She\u2019s scared of the dark\u2014\u201d<\/p>\n

Now it was Angus\u2019 turn to interrupt.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was alone, Cyrus! Ye saw her footprints. I did as well. She walked in here alone whilst I was sleeping. Hound couldn\u2019t say a word and it took some magic to get that done too. But alone or not, your sister did not leave under her own will. She was conjured.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cConjured?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSpelled. Cast. Bewitched. Call it what ye like. When she was in the circus the night ye all went, they saw her. And they saw you. And they want something very special. I think it\u2019s you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBut they didn\u2019t take me<\/i>! They took her<\/i>! Or bewitched her. Or whatever!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause they know you\u2019ll follow. You said she<\/i> spoke to ye. What did she say?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe gypsy queen? She asked if I would come with her. Said I was a child of light. Said I\u2019d not suffered enough.\u201d I paused, trying to remember. \u201cThat was it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Angus helped me to the bed in the alcove and carefully tucked me beneath worn but clean sheets, drawing an old quilt up beneath my chin. He stood back, looking down, and folded his arms.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd ye didn\u2019t want to go with her?\u201d<\/p>\n

I shook my head fervently, remembering the sight of the terrifying woman in my vision.<\/p>\n

Angus sighed. \u201cShe\u2019s no queen, but any other man in this town would have gone with her in a heartbeat. But then you\u2019d have been no use to her at all. I think they need ye to come to them on yer own, even if it means following to save yer sister.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat do I do, Angus?\u201d I asked. The man had a faraway look to his gaze again.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey knew I was the only one in town besides ye who could not be compelled. If yer sister walked through here, it would make me look like I had something to do with her being gone. And then there would be nothing I could do. If I leave town, that\u2019s all your constable needs to say I\u2019m guilty. But they didn\u2019t count on ye coming to me, laddie. And that\u2019s where this just may work.\u201d He paused for a moment and winked again. \u201cYe are stronger than they figure. Now, rest.\u201d<\/p>\n

As if on command, I yawned. Strangely, the movement did not cause pain.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll be nearby, laddie. Tonight, ye are safe.\u201d He patted my shoulder and in my weariness the world went quickly dark.<\/p>\n

\u00a9 2018 Joshua Heston \/ StateoftheOzarks All Rights Reserved[\/vc_column_text][vc_separator][vc_column_text]Photo at top: “Cottonwood, Summer Sky”
\n<\/strong>\u2014 Joshua Heston, July 12, 2016, near Chillicothe, Illinois[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text] Plague Child\u2019s Doctor by Joshua Heston   \u201cFourteen-year-old Cyrus Thatcher already knows he\u2019s a freak and his father hates him. But when his beloved baby sister disappears and the townspeople won\u2019t help, Cyrus must choose to take matters into his own self-doubting hands. Set in rural Missouri of 1924, The Plague Child\u2019s Doctor is…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2794,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[180,937],"tags":[218,207,228,84,211,222,206,227,210,221,223,219,213,226,229,214,215,216,217,225,220,212,209,208,224],"class_list":["post-1181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arcaneozarks","category-ozarkwriters","tag-althea","tag-angus-mccormick","tag-balloon-burst","tag-balloons","tag-bell-missouri","tag-blacksmith","tag-cyrus-thatcher","tag-greek-statues","tag-gypsy-circus","tag-gypsy-music","tag-hell-hound","tag-holy-fairy-light","tag-influenza","tag-irish-fairies","tag-joshua-heston","tag-plague","tag-plague-child","tag-plague-childs-doctor","tag-plague-doctor","tag-plum-thicket","tag-snakes","tag-st-louis","tag-strega","tag-stregharia","tag-tattoos","category-180","category-937","description-off"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1181"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1181\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2848,"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1181\/revisions\/2848"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2794"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stateoftheozarks.net\/showcase\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}