The Doctor and the Rough Rider by Mike Resnick Read Free Book Online Page A

madam. I could tell five minutes after I met
     you that you want to be something special, that you revel in your exceptionalism.” A bitter smile.
     “Not all of us do, Theodore. You want to be a mayor or a governor? More power to you.
     I just want to lie in a bed and have a little less trouble breathing.”
    “I hope you get your wish, Doc, truly I do,” said Roosevelt.
    “But?” said Holliday. “Sure sounds like there's a ‘but’ in there somewhere.”
    “But you and I are riding to meet the most powerful medicine man on the continent.
     If we don't make a deal, America's stuck on the other side of the Mississippi for
     God knows how many years and decades, or even centuries. And if we do make a deal, you assure me that everyother medicine man will be out to kill us.” An amused smile crossed his face. “I just
     don't see how that leads to a bed in a sanitarium. An earlier grave than you anticipate,
     perhaps—but not one near a sanitarium in the Rockies.”
    Holliday took another swallow from his flask. “I wish you didn't sound so goddamned
     sensible,” he growled, and Roosevelt chuckled.
    “Have we rested long enough?” asked the younger man.
    Holliday grimaced and got to his feet. “I'm tireder now than when we sat down. Might
     as well try to rest on the horse.”
    They mounted up and began heading south again, Roosevelt identifying every bird, insect,
     and snake they saw by their scientific names. “When this is all over,” he said, “I've
     love to come back and collect some specimens for the Smithsonian and the American
     museum.”
    “They're just birds and flies, and the occasional rattler,” replied Holliday in bored
     tones. “Wouldn't be the most exciting hunt you've ever been on.”
    “I'm not looking for excitement,” said Roosevelt. “I've hunted grizzlies for that,
     and someday I hope to go to Africa after really big game. But many of these species aren't in the museums back East, and the ones that
     are have been carelessly mounted.”
    “That's right. Bat said you were a taxidermist too.”
    “I dabble in it.”
    Holliday smiled. “No false modesty. He said you were considered one of the country's
     top ornithologists and taxidermists while you were still in your teens.”
    “He's being too generous,” said Roosevelt.
    “Probably,” agreed Holliday, and was pleased to see a little tightening of Roosevelt's
     expression when he agreed with him.
    “Have you ever been to the Smithsonian?” asked Roosevelt. “I'm told you didn't grow
     up all that far from it.”
    “I grew up in Georgia,” replied Holliday, “and we were fighting a war with the people
     who ran the Smithsonian.”
    “Not by the time you got to college.”
    Holliday shrugged. “I was busy learning to be a dentist, and then I was busy coughing
     on all my patients, so I moved West where the air was dryer.” He snorted. “You can
     see how much it helped.”
    “It helped get rid of a lot of desperados,” remarked Roosevelt.
    “A lot of people think I'm one.”
    “I'd heard of you and read about your exploits,” said Roosevelt. “You've been arrested
     your fair share of times, but as far as I can tell, you've never been convicted of
     anything.”
    “True enough,” agreed Holliday.
    They rode for two more hours, with Roosevelt finding fascinating things all over the
     barren landscape, and then Holliday brought his horse to a stop.
    “What is it?” asked Roosevelt.
    “We're getting close,” replied Holliday. “I don't see them yet, but I can't imagine
     he hasn't got some warriors watching us.”
    “He does,” said Roosevelt. “I've seen them for the last mile. I thought you'd seen
     them too.”
    Holliday peered into the distance. “By that boulder off to the left,” he said.
    “Right. And a couple in the gully over there.”
    “Damn! For a man with spectacles, you've got damned good eyesight, Theodore.”
    “Comes from being a hunter,” answered Roosevelt. “You get an