Death in the Desert Read Free Page A

disease? Why didn’t I die?”
    â€œObviously,” he said, “you were immune to the disease.”
    â€œHuh? What’s im-immune?”
    â€œIt means that while the disease killed a lot of other people, it didn’t kill you.”
    â€œIs that why my momma and papa didn’t get sick? Because they was immune?”
    â€œI think so. I think a lot of people were immune, and they decided to leave town.”
    What they hadn’t done was try to warn travelers about the disease that had ravaged their town, or burn the town down, which was what they should have done. But if they had, they would also have burned up Emily.
    â€œWhat’s your last name, Emily?”
    â€œPatterson,” she said. “My name is Emily Rose Patterson.”
    â€œWell, Emily Rose Patterson, let’s take a quick look around and see if your parents left anything that will tell me where they are. And then we’ll go and get something to eat. How’s that sound?”
    â€œGood, I guess.”
    â€œAnd you know what?” he said. “I’m a terrible cook. Maybe you could cook something for us to eat?”
    She brightened at that.
    â€œWe could go to Flo’s Café,” she said. “I ain’t cooked for myself there yet. There’s bound to be a lot of food.”
    â€œGood,” Clint said. “After we look around, we’ll ride Eclipse over to the café.”
    â€œOkay!”
    Still holding hands, they looked around the room, and then walked through the rest of the house. Clint found nothing that would tell him where the parents had gone. He also did not find any mail that would tell him where some of their relatives might live.
    They left the house. He put Emily back in the saddle, then mounted behind her. After that, she directed him to Flo’s Café.

SIX
    Emily knew her way around town very well. She easily guided Clint to Flo’s Café. They went inside to the kitchen, and once he saw how at home she was there and that she didn’t need any help, he went and sat at a table.
    Obviously there were many citizens of Medicine Bow who had not succumbed to the disease and had left town. This was a good sign for him. It was possible that he’d be one of those people who was immune, but it would take a while before he’d be comfortable that he had survived.
    He also wondered if, after a reasonable amount of time went by, the citizens would come back, or if they had given up on the town and started over somewhere else. If they came back, perhaps Emily’s parents would come back with them. However, if they had started over somewhere else . . . well, there was no guarantee that the whole town had stayed together. Maybe they would have split up, rather than be reminded of the disease every time they looked at one another.
    Soon the smells from the kitchen wafted out to him. If those aromas were any indication, Emily really did know how to cook.
    When she came out, she was carrying two plates teeming and steaming with eggs and vegetables.
    â€œThe meat is bad,” she told him. “But there were plenty of eggs and vegetables left behind.”
    He frowned. The steaks he’d prepared for himself had tasted kind of funny, but he’d assumed that was a result of his own cooking skills. Was it possible he’d eaten bad meat? If the disease didn’t take him, would the bad meat kill him?
    She sat across from him and said, “Go ahead, eat your food.”
    â€œYes, ma’am.”
    â€œYou didn’t tell me your name,” she said, as if scolding him. “My daddy always says people should introduce themselves.”
    â€œI’m sorry,” he said. “My name is Clint Adams.”
    â€œMr. Adams, what’s your horse’s name?”
    â€œWell, you can call me Clint, Emily,” he said. “And the horse’s name is Eclipse.”
    â€œEclipse,” she said, was if tasting the word.