Healers by Laurence Dahners Read Free Book Online Page A

in Walterston. She turned to Daum and said, “We’re not going to be able to make this work as healers on the road are we?”
    “Remember what Norton said. The caravan almost always travels the same route so eventually people will learn to trust us.”
    “But Daum, how are they going to learn to trust us if we never treat a single patient!”
    Daum gathered his wife in his arms, “Have some faith woman, have some faith.” Then, looking over her shoulder, he said, “Looks like we might have a customer for you right now.”
    Eva wiped the tear which had formed in her eye and turned to see an old woman leaning heavily on a cane as she stepped up to their counter. Eva’s heart sunk to see the woman, and fell even further when the woman said irritably, “I suppose you have some magic elixir that’s supposed to cure my arthritis?”
    Eva shook her head sadly. “I’m sorry, but little can really be done for arthritis. Willow bark tea, willow bark poultices. I can sell you those, but I’m sure you probably already use them. They’ll help a little, but certainly won’t cure you.”
    The woman appeared startled and somewhat taken aback. She cackled, “Really?! You aren’t intending to sell me an expensive potion, telling me it will work in about a week or so—after you’re gone?”
    Eva frowned, feeling somewhat angry about what the woman’s question said of other traveling healers. “No, and I’m sorry if someone else has done that to you. We can treat some conditions, but there are many we can’t. I don’t sell false cures, and I think anyone trying to sell you something better than willow bark for your arthritis will be trying to cheat you.”
    The old woman cackled again and slowly shuffled off to the next stall. Daum patted Eva gently on the shoulder, saying, “Don’t let it get you down. Just keep doing what’s right.”
    As they were shutting down the stall for the night, the old woman stopped back by. “Let me see some of your willow bark. I suppose you sell special willow bark that works better than anyone else’s, right?”
    Shaking her head, Eva pulled out a cloth wrapped bundle. “It isn’t special. We’ve cut away the outer bark so we only have to carry the more active inner layers. But that’s just so we don’t have to carry so much of it.”
    The old woman barked a laugh, “So what do you treat?!”
    Eva grinned at the crotchety woman, liking her somehow, “Well, we treat arthritis, but we don’t do anything really special for it. We sew up wounds and drain the pus out of infections. We can treat some chest or leg pains, or belly pains caused by stones.” She shrugged her shoulders, “We’ll do what we can for any disease, but we won’t sell you false hope. We don’t charge if we can’t help you.”
    The woman stared at Eva for a moment, then a smile spread over her face. “An honest healer! Hah, I never thought I’d see the like!” She turned and shuffled slowly away.
     
    That night for dinner they sold the left over black beans from the night before. They’d chopped the rest of the roast pork into the beans and it had made the beans into a rich and wonderful meal. To their dismay, this night they sold out early. They had thought sales would be light like they had been the first night in Denton’s Crossing, but apparently the caravaners didn’t want to go out every night. Henry Roper confided that prices in towns were usually higher than Eva’s. Besides, few of the taverns provided anything that could compare to Eva’s cooking.
    Their sales of toffee and moonshine hadn’t been good enough to think they could make a living at it. Roper’s comment suggested they might want to sell something more substantial from their stall as a lunch. After some thought, Eva put more beans on to simmer all night over the coals. Then they started baking bread and cookies.
    For breakfast in the morning, they sold scrambled eggs, bacon, and slabs of warm buttered bread. They also sold