Angel Sister Read Online Free PDF Page B

puddin’, I’m not sick.” He started to reach out to touch her face, but when he noticed how his hands were shaking, he tucked them down between his legs instead. “Just feeling a little woozy. Not awake enough yet.”
    “You want a cup of coffee?”
    “You bring me some coffee, I’ll give you a ride to the moon just as soon as I finish building my rocket ship.”
    “Oh, Daddy.” Her smile was back. “Nobody could go to the moon.”
    “Are you sure about that? They do it all the time in the books I read. Fly up there and land their rockets and go searching for little green men.”
    Victoria wrinkled her nose. “Who would want to find green men?”
    Victor smiled. “Well, maybe you can go to Venus and find purple girls. But first get me that coffee.”
    When she brought him the steaming cup of coffee, Victor took it with both hands to keep from sloshing it out as he brought it up to his lips. Another few sips and he might be back among the living. “Thank you, puddin’. You and your mama are lifesavers.”
    “Mama said to ask if you wanted eggs this morning.”
    Victor’s stomach rolled at the mention of food. “Not today. Biscuits and honey will be enough for me. Just give me a minute or two to drink my coffee and get cleaned up. The rest of you don’t wait on me. Go on and eat.”
    After Victoria skipped back into the kitchen, Victor took another drink of his coffee and leaned back against the couch. The hammers weren’t pounding quite so hard. He might try standing up. He needed to be moving. Sanderson was supposed to bring in his horse this morning to get new shoes. Victor couldn’t afford not to be there. Even if he was the only blacksmith in Rosey Corner, Edgeville wasn’t that far away. Owen Prentice was still doing some horseshoeing there, although last time Victor saw Owen, he was wondering how much longer he was going to be able to hold on to his business with the way automobiles were taking over the roads.
    Progress, everybody said, and no man could stop that. His father said no man should want to stop progress. That a man with any gumption would jump on board with the progress and ride it like the opportunity it was. Look at the money he was pulling in off that gas pump he had the forward thinking to put in front of his store.
    Victor took another drink of his coffee and massaged his forehead. Thinking about his father made the hammers hit harder.
    “Need some help, Dad?” Kate asked from the kitchen doorway.
    Victor looked over at her. “Don’t worry about me, Kate. You go ahead and eat your breakfast. I’ll be along in a minute.”
    She hesitated a few seconds, as if she wasn’t sure she should believe him, then turned back to the kitchen. Victor reached down to get his shoes that were lined up neatly by the couch. Kate’s doing, he thought as he pulled them on. She must have helped him get bedded down on the couch the night before, even if he had no memory of it. He thought the shame of that should keep him from ever taking another drink, but so far it hadn’t.
    He stood up, balanced on his feet for a moment before he tried moving. He went out the front door and around the house to the back porch where they kept the washpans and water in the summertime. It was closer to go through the kitchen, but he wasn’t ready to face the kitchen yet.
    He stopped at the well and drew out a bucket of water to pour over his head. That drowned out enough of the hammers that he could go onto the porch and wash up. But it woke up thoughts of his father again. Every day his father went out to the pump on the well behind his house and performed his morning bathing rituals. Winter or summer. No matter the weather. Victor had seen him clear a spot in the snow to stand to bathe. A man didn’t let a little cold water stop him from keeping his body clean.
    When Victor had asked him why he didn’t carry the water in the house and heat it on the stove, his father had made a sound of disgust before he said,