~ Shadow Over Bright Star ~

by

Irene Pascoe

On impact every fiber in my body was jarred excruciatingly. As I rolled and tumbled, dirt got in my mouth and eyes, and I couldn’t breathe or see. There was just the pain, then a few seconds of merciful darkness when, thank God, I struck something that broke my fall and kept me from going all the way down to the bottom of the canyon. For what seemed an eternity I lay sprawled across what felt like a hump of earth, unable to think or even move, for the slightest movement produced tortured pain. Even trying to open my eyes hurt, so I kept them closed. There wasn’t a bone in my body that didn’t feel as if it were broken, and I was being roasted alive on the hot ground, with the relentless sun beating down on me. I endeavored to swallow and almost choked on the dirt in my mouth. Where was help? Surely someone would stop. But all I heard from above was the steady rumble of conveyances and pack animals. Didn’t anything ever stem the flow?

Gritting my teeth, I forced open my eyes. The blinding sun brought on another wave of dizziness, and I fought the kaleidoscope of colors that threatened to render me unconscious. I had to stay awake and somehow, if aid didn’t come soon, get back up on the road myself. If injuries didn’t do me in, the scorching sun would. Where was help? The words screamed in my head again, and I thought about shouting at the top of my lungs. But I knew I’d never be heard above the racket of this place.

With a groan, I lifted my head and looked at myself, trying to assess the damage. My skirts were a twisted mass about my body, and I whimpered in relief when I saw that I wasn’t saturated with blood and there were no protruding bones. All about me the sterile landscape pressed in, and from the corner of my eye I spotted a horned toad. If only I could kiss him and turn him into a handsome prince, I thought on a surge of near-hysteria. Even an ugly one would do as long as he was strong enough to rescue me!

With another groan, I lifted my head higher, but trying to look up the mountain to the road produced unbearable pain in my neck. As I lay back down, I became aware of a hard object pressing against my left shoulder--the object that had broken my fall.

With perspiration dampening my knotted clothes, I loosened the strangling ribbons holding my crushed bonnet in place and slowly turned my head toward the object. My eyes widened. This couldn’t be what it seemed. I rose up a fraction on the mound of earth, blinked and stared again. My heart skipped a beat. I was lying on a grave against a crude wooden marker, and there was another just beyond atop another mound of earth. I shuddered, and as chills prickled my wet flesh, I heard someone sliding in the parched dirt nearby, and before I could move or cry out, a man asked, "Lady, are you... alive?"

If I wasn’t, then I’d died and gone to hell, for no other place compared to this. "Yes," I moaned in relief, choking on dirt again.

The man, a stranger, knelt at my side, and I saw that he was sandy-haired and a little younger than I. But most of all I noticed he was the robust rescuer I’d been praying would suddenly appear. I don’t remember much after that, other than whispering the Bonner name to indicate where I was staying. Then I was lifted, and agonizing pain darkened my brain.

~ * ~

When at last I came fully awake, Dr. Tibbins was hovering over me. Before I could even try to speak, he put a glass of water up to my dry mouth. "Nothing is broken, Miss Winsor," he attempted to reassure me in his gentle voice.

"Then why do I hurt so terribly?" I groaned when I finished sipping.

"Soreness from the accident."

Accident? I tensed. That word was becoming frighteningly familiar.

"I’m afraid you’ll be stiff and sore for several days." He gave me some medication from a spoon. "This should relieve the discomfort and help you to sleep. The man who found you and brought you here on his wagon said he saw a wheel come off your buggy. Do you remember that happening?"

I didn’t want to think about that horrifying moment any more than I wanted to recall the fire. "Yes," I managed. "I remember." A vision of the graves loomed with startling clarity. A shiver shook me.

Dr. Tibbins noticed and asked, "Are you cold?"

How could anyone be cold in this baking climate? "No," I told him, then mentioned the graves.

He frowned, but responded in a matter-of-fact tone, "Around here vehicles go off the road regularly. The injured are hauled up and the dead buried where they’re found. That’s just the way of the Lode."

A heartless way, I thought, giving thanks that I’d been spared from becoming a landmark on the side of Sun Mountain.

"Try to get some sleep, Miss Winsor, and stay in bed for the next twenty-four hours."

Twenty-four hours? What about the Bright Star papers? I still hadn’t signed them.

"I’ll be back to see you tomorrow."

After the doctor left, I reclosed my eyes and thought about my attorney. I would have to get a message to him, I decided as drowsiness once more overcame me. The medication I’d been given must have been potent, because the next time my lashes fluttered open, the soft glow of the table lamp slanted across my face while the room beyond was in semidarkness.

Matilda stepped to the bed and looked worriedly down at me. "Are you feeling better, Miss?"

I started to nod, but pain stopped me. So instead I murmured, "Yes."

The worry lines eased in her young face. "I bathed you and changed you into a nightdress. When you feel up to it, I’ll brush your hair."

I managed a small smile and let her help me drink from a glass of refreshing water.

Amanda came in later, her expression also worried. "This is terrible, Jessica. I don’t know how it could have happened. Our carriages are well maintained. Could you have hit something on the road that broke the wheel loose?"

"No, there was nothing."