Ashes of the Dead - Bucket of Blood Read Online Free PDF

back-and-forth between ruts in the road, and shook Rebecca forcefully in the spring-loaded driver’s seat. She passed by the cemetery and snapped the reins to urge the horses onward. The cemetery had always made her uneasy, especially when she was alone. Thunder rolled in the distance and it began to rain as she cleared a small hill and turned down a long driveway after she passed a sign that read: Doctor’s Office, this way . It was a crudely drawn hand with an outstretched finger that pointed down the driveway toward a white two-story house with blue shutters. A beautiful green garden was nestled next to the house behind a white fence, surrounded at the base by chicken wire.
    She pulled the cart up to the barn a nd tied the horses to a bright blue railing with steel rivets that held it in place. The barn was less than a year old, constructed of heavy pine and cedar, and was something that the good doctor had paid a high price for to please his wife. She pulled the supplies down from the driver’s seat and walked toward the house. As she approached the front door, a greasy miner exited the office. He held his jaw and moaned in pain as he stumbled to his horse. She paid no attention to the man and stepped inside the door. After passing through the waiting area, she entered a cramped office in the back.
    The room was small and smelled like cheap disinfectant. A pair of steel pliers rested on a metal tray next to a freshly pulled bloody tooth on a white piece of gauze, the cause of the miner’s pain. Her husband, Dr. Andrew Forred, was sitting at his desk, with his glasses perched on his nose and busily writing in a notebook. He was only a man of forty, but Andrew looked old and worn as he sat hunched over at his desk. These last few years had been hard on him.
    Andrew briefly peered above his glasses at his wife, and then continued writing. “How was town?” he said, never taking his eyes off the notebook for more than a few seconds at a time.
    “Fine. I ran into a man on the street today. He was quite unsavory.”
    “That's nice dear,” he commented, obviously not listening to her. He continued taking notes and pushed his glasses back up his nose. Rebecca had tried in the past to understand her husband, always finding new things that they could talk about. But lately he had grown more and more despondent, and used his work as an excuse to spend time away from her. When they moved out west to Virginia City he had promised her a life on the prairie. It was something she had dreamt about since she was a little girl. But the town had grown three-fold since gold and silver were found here nearly two years ago, and Andrew couldn’t keep up with the demand.
    “How was your da y in the office?” she asked him.
    “Like any other I suppose,” he said , without ever putting down his pen.
    Rebecca stared at him and wondered if he cared that she was even home. She turned and walked through a side door and stepped inside the house. After placing the supplies on the kitchen table she walked into the bedroom and unzipped her leather boots, and then kicked them across the room. She slipped off her stockings and rubbed her toes deep into a thick soft rug in front of the bed. After she changed into a silk blouse and an old pair of jeans, she walked back downstairs barefoot and put the supplies away in the pantry, a large bag of raw flour and sacks of dried beans. She made herself a glass of sweet tea and stepped out onto the back porch to watch the sunset. Her husband was still working as she took a moment by herself to reflect on her thoughts. Thin folds of gray clouds were moving in from the North, trailing a black curtain of rain beneath them. She watched as her horses grazed peacefully in the back pasture, and sipped her tea as a flash of lightening cut across the front of the incoming storm.
     
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    The sky grew dark above the Washoe village as a young boy ran down a dirt path and carried a dried deer bladder