Daisy in the Fringe

Dear Diary,

I was riding with Geoffry on the shuttle back to Antioch when Mrs Bentry came up to us and said, “Geoffry, do be a dear and go make yourself busy.  I must have a talk with your lovely girl.”

The butterflies were stirring in my stomach as Geoffry got up and left us alone.  Then Mrs B pulled a brown paper bag from her purse and handed it to me.  ”This is for you,” she said.  ”It’s something that my dear mother gave me at my betrothal.  I’m not your mother, of course, but seeing as she’s unavailable, I feel it my obligation to do what I can in her place.”

I nodded thanks, then looked in the bag.  Inside was a book titled Ideal Marriage by someone named Van de Velde.  That sounded nice, but my eyes grew wide as I looked inside.  There was a whole bunch of chapter headings with names like “Sexual physiology of the adult woman” and “Position and action during coitus,” and on seeing that I looked up at Mrs Bentry.

“It is a marital manual, dear.  There are many things inside that you may find useful once you’re a married woman.”   I flipped it open while she glanced over my shoulder and read, “This lactic acid in the vagina has also a protective function as a medium for various harmless or even beneficial microorganisms or bacteria, and as an antidote and antiseptic against disease germs from outside.” I looked at Mrs B.  ”Well yes,” she said.  ”Some of it can be a bit puzzling.  It’s written by a doctor, you know, and I’m afraid that they often talk that way, as you will no doubt discover once married to my Geoffry.  But I expect that you will find other sections to be more beneficial.”

I opened the book to another page.  “IV. Attitude of Equitation.  This is the method of coitus which the Roman poet Martial considered so normal and obvious that he could not conceive of that paragon of married couples, Hector and Andromache, in any other attitude.” Mrs B, looking over my shoulder, said, “You see, that may prove useful.”

I thumbed to another page.  “Quite apart from the lubricating secretions of the vestibular glands which counteract pain in both partners, the woman’s excitement and desire congests the vaginal walls, thus producing an elastic tension throughout orifice and passage, which cling closely and with a velvety softness to the male organ, and give the best conditions for further successful stimulation.  This vaginal clasp, in its pillowy softness and delicacy, its intense warmth, is in itself a delight.” I puzzled through that for a second, then slammed the book shut.

Mrs B gave me a sideways smile.  ”I recommend that once you are married, you find an occasion to leave the book where Geoffry may discover it.  You may even wish to bookmark certain sections.  Geoffry has never been one to keep his nose out of a book, and you may find it most congenial if he became acquainted with the contents of this one.  In fact, if his father had been willing to do his duty, Geoffry would be receiving the book, for he will probably need it more than you.  After all, we women are ever so much more complicated than men.”

I pushed the book back into the paper bag, then tore a page from my diary and wrote, “Thank you very much, Mrs Bentry.”

“You’re quite welcome, my dear.  Quite welcome.”

Dear Diary,

It was a nice betrothal dinner.  Lord Crispin went all-out for us – the food was mighty fancy, lace tarts and little chickens and a turtle and cream soup that tasted like a dream.  (I’m gonna have to ask Lord Crispin’s cook for some of the recipes.)  And Lord Crispin went all out with wine too: I ain’t usually much of a wine drinker, but what he served went real well with the food, a different kind of wine with every course.

Once they took off the plates with the main course, Lord Crispin raised a hand.  Then Uncle Bill rose and, lifting up the betrothal contract, announced that they’d agreed that my dowry would be a thousand sesterci and it would be put away safe to help start off Geoffry’s practice when we settle down.  Everyone was nodding, so I reckon that was a respectable amount, and anyway Geoffry rose and said he was satisfied with it.  (He said it didn’t have to be so much – he would have married me with nothing at all, which was a sweet thing to say.  But I was glad I was worth so much, and that we was putting on a proper show of things.)

Geoffry reached out a hand to me and I rose and there was a little round of clapping around the table.  Then I gave Geoffry my betrothal present.  It’s a leather jacket that I been working on for weeks, made of creamy brown calfskin that I bought way back in Menelaida the day after he proposed, in a loose cut that’ll allow him to wear a sweater under it on an extra cold day but still trim and neat with brown wooden buttons and a little bit of fringe.  He took off his dinner jacket and tried it on right there, and I was glad to see it fit nice on him and gladder still that he noticed the little message I added for him, a heart with the letters D&G inside embroidered in silver thread on the inside lining where it will rest against his heart.

(I thought I heard Geoffry’s mother snort a little when he opened the package.  Seems she didn’t think that a handmade item was good enough for her son.  But that just goes to show that she don’t know her Domina Moratus, because the Domina says clearly that the bride should give the groom a handmade betrothal present to show how good she is at domestic matters.)

Geoffry rubbed a hand over the jacket and said how soft it was and how much it pleased him.  Then he brought out a box and handed it to me.  I opened it and my jaw dropped when I saw the necklace inside.  It had a gold chain and right in front was a little ribbon of gold that had on it four diamonds, the smallest at the top and getting bigger as it went down until the bottom stone was as big as the one in my ring.  I was so happy I had to bite my lip to keep from crying – I’d hardly ever seen anything so beautiful, and surely never owned nothing half so nice cept my ring that it matched.  Geoffry smiled and put it around my neck, fumbling the clasp closed and letting the diamonds gleam against my skin.

I was wishing we was alone so I could kiss him to show how grateful I was when I remembered that now was time for us to kiss in front of everyone anyway.  Geoffry took both my hands and drew me close, his eyes brighter than the diamonds around my neck.  Then I closed my eyes while he brought his lips to mine, and he kissed me long and close and sweet while Hank and Dusty led the guests in a round of cheers.

After that Lord Crispin had the servants bring in a cake that said “Congratulations Doc and Daisy” in pink frosting.  Then he raised his glass of bubbly wine that he said came from Earth itself and everyone joined in to toast  our happiness.

It sure was a nice night, even if I couldn’t get momma in sickbay out of my mind.  But I reckoned I could tell her all about it later, and bring her a piece of cake too, and visit her often.  For as long as I’m on the ship, anyways: there’s a lot of work to do if we’re gonna have a wedding in a week, and I’ve got to get started.

Dear Diary,

Something terrible has happened.  We decided to have the betrothal dinner on the Minerva seeing as how almost everyone who needed to be at it was already there.  About the only person missing was momma.  I been a little miffed at her since I been home, but she is my momma and it wouldn’t feel right if she weren’t present.

Lord Crispin was nice enough to loan me a shuttle to go get her.  We was all set to go when Dusty came up to me with a face full of shame.  It seems she weren’t as nice to momma as she might have been when I sent her down to get folks for the negotiations.  In fact, she weren’t nice at all – she even had the shuttle pilot aim missiles at momma and threaten her.  That was a bit peeving, though a little funny too.  I mean, I wonder what momma musta thought when Dusty was yelling at her through the speakers and the big guns was pointing her way!  (And even funnier: Dusty had the boat blast down into the middle of Mr Hawkins’s complex to get Uncle Bill, and they came down so hard and boomed so big that they broke windows doing it.)

But that meant I had to be careful when I went to pick up momma cause she was likely to be skittish if she saw another shuttle landing outside her door.  So I had the pilot land us a ways off and I walked to the door by myself.

The moment I stepped inside I knew there was something wrong.  The place smelled of sick and there weren’t no sign of momma in the parlor where she usually sets through the day.  I found her in her bed, curled up and in pain and throwing up every which way so’s I had to dodge around careful where I stepped.  She said she was out of her medicine and it was making her bad, so I insisted she come on up to the Minerva with us where she’d get taken care of right, even if she was afeared of getting close to the shuttle after what Dusty had done.

We got her up to the ship, Hank and me (he’d come down to help get her), and right to sickbay.  Posca was there and Geoffry came soon, and together they got her settled in bed.  I sat with her for a while, and she looked awful bad, much worse than she ever got with her nerves.  She kept moaning for her medicine and hardly knew nothing that was going on.

After a bit Geoffry called me out of the room.  Dusty and me sat with him and he told us what the tests showed.  Momma’s medicine was something bad, something that if you take enough of it, your body just keeps craving more.  And if you don’t get more, you get sick.  She’d probably spent all her money on the stuff, the money I been sending her, and she was probably getting it from Malcolm, so when he was killed she lost her supply.

I just kept thinking on how she’d have me bring her rosewater.  That’s how she took the drug, in the rosewater, and every time I brought her a glass I was just making her sicker.  That made me feel terrible, that and the fact that when I thought I was helping her by sending her money, I was just making things worse.  All that helped me understand what Geoffry was talking about, how you can make mistakes with sick folk that make them sicker and how bad it makes you feel.

Geoffry said the good news was that she’d be okay, they could get the bad medicine out of her system and then she’d start feeling better again.  But the bad news was it would take a while.  There ain’t no way that she’s gonna be up for the betrothal, and there’s a good chance she won’t be ready for a wedding in a week.

Oh diary, I’m in an awful fix now.  I don’t want to go to Nihon except as Geoffry’s wife – going there and seeing Jugotaisama when I’m only engaged is asking for trouble, and that ain’t even thinking on the question of what I’m gonna do when I’m alone with Geoffry.  But I really want momma at my wedding- it seems downright disrespectful to not have her there, and what will everyone think if momma’s too sick to come?  I just don’t know what to do.

I asked Geoffry what he thought, and he said he don’t want to wait.  He’s real eager to get married, and he thinks we should just go ahead.  I guess I can see that, but it ain’t his momma so it all looks different to him.  But I don’t want to disappoint him, that’s for sure.

I reckon that it comes down how it always does, and what I should do is only what I can do.  And I shouldn’t go worrying about tomorrow’s problems when there’s today to deal with.  And today is the betrothal.

We’re definitely gonna go forward with the betrothal, so I’ll just put all my thoughts on that.  I’m back in my room now, getting washed and dressed.  I’m gonna have to wear the dress I wore last night – nothing else I got is fancy enough.  It’s awfully nice at least, but I hope Geoffry ain’t tired of it by now, and I sure do hope Mrs Bentry don’t think less of me cause that’s all I got.  She’s sure to be worrying that her son is marrying a poor girl who’ll find it hard to keep up proper standards, and between momma being sick and me wearing what I already wore, she’s gonna be thinking that twice as hard.

I swear, after this I ain’t never gonna get caught short on clothes again!  My Geoffry deserves to have a wife who dresses to fit his station, and I ain’t gonna disappoint him!

But I reckon there’s nothing for that now.  So, dear diary, the betrothal it is.  It ain’t gonna be the entirely happy occasion I was imagining, but I reckon it’ll get the job done.

Dear Diary,

It’s done!  Uncle Bill did it, and all is clear for Geoffry and me to get married!  And it’s gonna be soon too – Lord Crispin said he expected us to be going off to Nihon in a couple-three weeks, and that he sees no problem in getting the wedding all up and going a week from now.  Only a week!  I got so much to do!!!

Uncle Bill says that Dr Bentry drove a hard bargain for the dowry, but that I got plenty left over for wedding expenses and if I manage my money right I should be able to bring a nice sum into the marriage apart from the dowry.  I don’t know about that, but it sounds like I should be able to afford an awful pretty wedding dress and some nice new clothes.  Which is good, cause I don’t hardly have enough clothes as it is and I’m gonna need nice things to be a proper wife for Geoffry.

Grandmother did mention that I was gonna have to promise to obey Geoffry.  She had a sour look on her face when she said that, but she added that I didn’t have to worry about it, this isn’t the dark ages and nobody takes such nonsense seriously any more.  And it frees me of any legal ties to my mother, which is an entirely beneficial arrangement as far as she’s concerned.

It don’t matter to me.  I was planning on obeying Geoffry anyways – I wouldn’t be marrying him otherwise.  And there ain’t nothing standing in the way of that now!  Only a week of planning, and then I’ll be Mrs Geoffry Bentry!  Ain’t that wonderful!

Dear Diary,

I’m sitting here now in a little lounge near the room where we spoke with the Daughter of Heaven.  Uncle Bill and Grandmother are in with the Bentries beating out terms.  Lord Crispin’s with them to mediate, and though I reckon that a feller who can be trusted with matters of war and peace can probably manage to get me married off, I’m still sitting her as nervous as a cat balancing on a skillet.

Dinner was nice, though I couldn’t hardly eat much.  Lord Crispin dined with all of us and kept everyone entertained with stories of Earth.  Dr Bentry nodded along – he seemed to know a lot about Roman politics – but Mrs Bentry seemed a mite disappointed to find out that Lord Crispin didn’t know much about the latest fashions back on the home world.  (I had to admit that disappointed me some too.)

But the Bentries was awful happy to hear that Lord Crispin would be attending the wedding as a guest.  Mrs B especially kept saying how much that would impress the neighbors and how everybody would want to come once they heard that an Imperial Senator would be present (and you could practically hear the capital I and S when she said that)  That seemed a funny way to look at your son’s marriage, but I was just glad he’d be coming.  Lord C’s done so much for us that it wouldn’t seem right if he weren’t there.  And besides, I figure it won’t put him out too much seeing as he’s got to send down security to keep an eye on Tacita anyways.

All of our special friends from the Minerva were at the dinner.  Mrs Bentry seemed surprised to hear that we rescued Tacita, her being a lady and all, and she couldn’t hardly credit the idea of Tacita having been a slave when we first met her.  And Dr Bentry seemed quite taken by Aphrodite, who was wearing an awful nice dress made of some shimmery-clingy fabric: I might try to get something like that myself some day, though I ain’t sure if I’d have the nerve to wear it in public.  Not that I’d look as good in it as Aphrodite anyway: it clung to her in an awful nice way, and Dr B seemed to agree judging from how much he was studying on her.

After dinner Lord Crispin took them that he called the parties to the negotiations off to his special diplomacy room.  They’ve been there about an hour now and I’m starting to wonder what’s taking so long.  I know that Uncle Bill said not to worry, but it’s kind of hard to remember that as the minutes tick on by.  Especially with Dusty on the data station listening to all kinds of different music.  She says she’s working on a special song and wants to hear more different types of music that she can work in, seeing as how we never did get much musical variety back home.  She’s got some idea of putting together different kinds of music in with the kind of country people play at home.  But all I know is that her constant switching from song to song is an awful distraction, and I’m starting to wish she’d just go back to our room and let me fret in peace.

Dear Diary,

Things is suddenly going so fast I don’t hardly got time to breathe.

We was sitting by the fire when one of the Minerva’s shuttles came down.  Lord Crispin sent it to pick up Tacita and Flanna and all, but they said we could come up too and start getting all the wedding business underway.

I looked at Geoffry and I suddenly realized that once we’re married I don’t gotta worry about nothing no more.  Geoffry’s gonna take care of me then, and for the first time since daddy died (the first time, when he fell off the horse, not the second time, when Geoffry healed him to death) I won’t have to worry about making all sorts of decisions or dealing with so many choices.  I won’t even have to worry about what’s right and proper and whether I should do what momma says or watch after my honor like daddy told me.  Cause I’ll be married, and as long as I honor my husband whatever I let him do will be okay.

Anyway, all that was running through my head so I nodded quickly and signed sure thing, we’d love to come on up and get things settled.  And then things started flying along like a turkey in a tornado.

There was a bit of confusion over what to do with the horses and stuff, but we left them with Uncle Bill who said he’d stable them.  Then I remembered that I left all my stuff at momma’s house, and I sure didn’t want her selling all that, it including my best dresses and everything, so we had the pilot put the shuttle down right in the front yard so I could get my stuff quick as quick could be.

Momma came and looked me in the eye and asked if I’d done my family duty with Geoffry – asked me right in front of him and everyone else too!  But I told her that daddy said I shouldn’t, and when she said he was dead, I said I knew but he told me just the same.  That shut her up – the first time I ever seen that happen – so I grabbed my stuff and ran out the door, signing over my shoulder “Oh, sorry, Malcolm’s dead.” (He’d been one of them zombies that we had killed – he was dead before we shot him, though, so it ain’t our fault.)  Then it was back to the Minerva.

Dusty was awfully glad to be going, though I couldn’t tell if she was mostly happy to because she loves the Minerva for some gods unknown reason or was just relieved to be leaving Hawkinsville.  And Lord Crispin was awfully nice.  He put the whole ship at our disposal to get the wedding planned and said he’d start by sending down a couple of shuttles to pick up whoever needed to be at the negotiations.

Geoffry was gonna need his folks, of course, so we two took a shuttle to get them.  I should probably have felt nervous, but things was moving so fast there weren’t hardly time to feel nothing at all.  Besides I was looking pretty in my white and blue dress and Geoffry said they was sure to love me just as much as he did.

They was home this time, and looking awfully surprised to have a spaceship blocking traffic right outside their front door.  But Geoffry told them what was happening and introduced me as his fiancee, and they was awfully nice about everything.  They said that for this they was willing to drop everything, and Dr Bentry sent some servants to pack a trunk of clothes.  Then it was off to the shuttle for the trip back to the Minerva.

The ride back was about the nicest I ever rode on a shuttle.  The pilot did something that made the walls turn clear as glass – city-glass, not the ripply stuff they got back home.  That let us see the stars, just as clear as I ever saw them, and the pilot even spun the ship so we could look up and see Arcadia hanging above us like a great big blue periwinkle.  As we came to the Minerva we slowed down adgn ot a long look at her as we floated past.  Dr and Mrs Bentry seemed awfully impressed, and they kept asking Geoffry what he had done to rate all this.  I couldn’t blame them: the Tin Can (as Hank always calls her) never looked shinier, and even I was surprised at just how big she was.  I spent a lot of nights in her now and been all over throughout her, but you don’t really realize how big a ship is until you spend a half hour or so getting the VIP tour.  (And didn’t Mrs B puff up her plumage when the pilot called it that!)

Lord Crispin was waiting for us in the shuttle bay in his fancy duds.  This was the first time I ever seen him in a toga and I was surprised to see that it had a big purple strip on it like I seen in the history books.  Turns out he’s an Imperial Senator.  And not just a local senator, but one of the important ones from back in Rome itself.  That was a real surprise to me.  But that ain’t a touch on how the Bentries felt: I was worried for a minute that Mrs B was gonna faint dead away at the sight of that stripe.

Dusty was there too, and she had Grandmother and Uncle Bill with her.  I’d asked her to go with one shuttle to fetch them so I could meet the Bentries, and even though that was a really big favor to ask, seeing as it meant she had to go back to Hawkinsville, she was nice enough to do it.  But momma decided she didn’t want to come, which was too bad, but Dusty said she was feeling too poorly for a space flight.  I sure do hope she gets better in time for the wedding.

Lord Crispin welcomed Geoffry’s folks to the ship and had one of them navy fellers bring them to the very best guest rooms, the ones that was used by the Daughter of Heaven.  Then he sent us all off to get ready for dinner.

I’m all dressed up in my best now, my one-shoulder dress that I wore when Geoffry proposed to me.  We’re gonna be heading to dinner soon, and afterwards Uncle Bill’s gonna meet with Geoffry’s folks to work out the wedding contract.  I’m nervous about that – what if I don’t got enough saved for a respectable dowry?  Geoffry’s folks are decent upstanding professional people: it’s gonna take plenty to satisfy them.

But Uncle Bill says everything will be all right.  He’s awfully impressed by how much money I saved, and he says I ain’t got no cause to be ashamed of anything.  I’m glad of that, and it does help ease my worries.  After all, if an important man like Uncle Bill says things will be okay, then he’s sure to be right.

But it’s just plain nice having him here taking care of things.  Just being near him calms me down.  He’s got a nice quiet energy to him, like a mountain lake, all still and soothing.  If he says he can work things out, then I’m sure everything will be okay.

Anyway, it’s time for dinner now, so I’m off.  Wish me luck, dear diary!

Dear Diary,

I don’t know what’s wrong with me.  I don’t got hardly no idea what’s going on or what I should do or barely who I even am anymore.  Things is just going so fast and everybody is telling me what to do and not giving me time to think.

It all started after that fight with the vampires and the zombies.  Hank and Dutch caught one of them vampires and they was asking him a bunch of questions and talking over whether they should send him up to Captain Crispin or just stake him out and wait for sunrise.  Meanwhile Geoffry was telling everyone about our piece of the fight and how zombie-daddy had come up and talked to us.

Dusty got riled at that.  She was mad that daddy hadn’t talked to her and she started getting on my case about it, going on about how I was everybody’s favorite and nobody ever wanted her.  All I could think was how daddy had scolded me and the things momma kept telling me to do and how Geoffry kept wanting to get me all alone and how that always seemed to end up with me taking off my dress.  And here was Dusty telling me how lucky I was that everybody wanted something from me and I couldn’t hardly take it no more so I got right up and stormed off into the night.

I could hear them calling after me and saying how dangerous the woods was, but I didn’t care.  I just wanted to be alone where nobody would want nothing from me, where I could do what I wanted for a change.  So I found a spot up on a hill where I could see the fire but they couldn’t see me.

But they still wouldn’t leave me alone.  I was perfectly safe, just watching the fire from a distance, but pretty soon Dusty and Dutch started out towards me, Dusty calling my name while Dutch was checking the ground for footprints.  I kinda wanted to talk to Dusty, but I couldn’t think why she’d bring Dutch along, so I just got up and started running off more.  I didn’t want to go too far off, I ain’t stupid, so I just kept circling the camp but keeping away from them both.  And they still wouldn’t give up, but kept following me around and around when all I wanted was to be alone.

After about the third lap around the camp it was clear that I wasn’t going to be able to get away from them, not without going way deep into the woods.  And besides that, they was starting to sound worried, and Mr Dutch was getting angry.  So I found a tree with a big overhanging limb and climbed up and sat on it and waited.

I didn’t have to wait long.  When they got there, Dusty asked if I was okay.  I signed that she shouldn’t have brought Dutch, not if she wanted to help and not just be another person telling me what to do and what was he good for anyway.  (I didn’t have to be nice about Dutch in my signing cause he don’t know any of my hand talk.  He ain’t even bothered learning the first bit of signing.  I guess he figures I don’t got nothing to say that he needs to hear cause I’m just some foolish little girl.  Even Hank wanted to know what I had to say so he learned some signing, but Dutch don’t reckon it’s worth his bother.)

Anyway, Dusty told Dutch that we’d be okay and he should leave us.  He harrumphed and told me I shouldn’t go running off all alone at night, not when the dead was out walking; it was dangerous and I shouldn’t be so dumb.  But as long as we stayed where he could see us from camp, we could keep our distance a bit.

Yeah.  Now Dutch was telling me what to do too.

After he left, Dusty climbed up in the tree next to me and I started signing about a mile a minute.  I told all about how I felt, how momma and daddy and Geoffry and everybody wanted something from me and I didn’t know what to do and how she was blaming me for it.  And how I was so happy when we was gonna come home but how it ain’t been nothing like I expected but instead was all weird, and how I didn’t even have any of my stuff any more since momma sold it and now she just wants to sell me too and have me start giving out free samples like Phileas the Peddler when he’s trying to jack up his price.  And I just bawled and bawled.

Dusty was so nice, she just put an arm around me and let me cry all over her shoulder.  I know that was hard for her, because Dusty don’t hold with crying: most of the time as soon as she sees a tear she just says “Sorry” and is out of there.  But today she couldn’t have been any nicer, and I was never so glad I was a twin as I was sitting up in that tree and bawling all over her shirt.

After I’d calmed down a little, she asked me what I wanted.  But I don’t know what I want.  I thought she’d get mad at that, but she just nodded and said that was all right, and if I don’t know, why, I should just take my time.  And she said that momma was mean, everyone knows that, but that she was stupid too if she thought I needed to do anything for Geoffry other than just be myself.  Cause Geoffry loved me about as much as anyone’s ever loved anyone, and if I wanted to do stuff with him, that was okay, but if I don’t, that’s okay too, cause he’ll love me just the same.

Then she helped me clean my face and wipe the grime off my dress.  And I started to feel better, I really did.  So we went back to the camp where they was making plans on what to do next.

We went out and gathered Daddy’s bones and brought them back to the graveyard.  We buried them right and proper and Hank said some words, which was nice.  I think Daddy would have liked Hank – he would have enjoyed sitting in the saloon with him and swapping stories and rounds.  And then, after telling some spaceships where to find more zombies to blow up (cause we found zombie trails leading away from the graveyard), we went back to camp.

I’m there now, writing this while Geoffry rubs my shoulders.  That feels mighty good, and I’m going to put this aside now and just relax. Geoffry’s happy just being by me, and that’s good.  Cause right now, that’s just what I want.

Dear Diary,

When we got back to the camp, I was surprised to find Tacita and her gang still there.  I’d figured they’d be in the shuttle, but it turned out that the shuttle was off dealing with some crisis or other and they’d left Paris and the girls behind.  That made for a merry dinner, which Tacita helped me cook while Dusty played the guitar and everyone sang along.

After dinner we was all sitting around the campfire when Geoffry looked at me.  I’m starting to be able to read his looks, and the one on his face right then weren’t too difficult, so we casually got up and wandered off behind a tree a ways from camp.  We did a little talking and a lot of smooching, and the night was passing mighty pleasantly when I heard shooting from back in camp.

“What’s that?” I signed, and Geoffry said, “Hank’s probably just playing with Paris again,” and he reached a hand around me and started pulling me close.

“No, wait,” I signed, and I looked around.  The shots was coming faster now, and I noticed two fellers running at us from the woods.  There was something not right about them and I pointed them out to Geoffry as we grabbed up our guns.

I looked into the eyes of the first feller, but they was awfully cloudy, looking like a marble left out in a dust storm.  His skin was an unpleasant green, and he opened a ragged mouth as he came closer and said, “Braaaaains!”  That was mighty disturbing and reminded me of a ghost story that one of the cowboys had told last night, but what was worse was what I saw when I looked at the other.

His skin had that same green tone, only instead of saying “Braaaaains,” he said, “Daaaaaisy!”  My jaw dropped straight down to my chest as I recognized my daddy, only not looking so good.  I started to sign to him, only one hand was already holding my machine gun and I needed the other to clutch my bodice closed, cause there may have been something wrong with him, but it was still my daddy.  And it’s a good thing I didn’t decide to drop my gun, cause that first feller was up on us and swinging a big smelly fist at Geoffry.  The punch landed and Geoffry staggered for a moment, but I brought up my gun and filled that feller’s head full of bullets.  He fell over, but he kept twitching and trying to get up.  I ain’t never seen nobody who could take so many bullets to the brain and not be down for the count, and he wasn’t bleeding neither, just oozing a bit, so I knew there was something real weird going on here (though I suppose I should have known that from the way they looked and smelled and the fact that daddy’s been dead almost three months now – I was at the burial and everything).

Daddy was coming closer, and I just didn’t know what to do.  He looked at me and said, “Whaaat you been up toooo, Daaaaaisy?   Shaaaaaaame!”  I started to blush real hard at that and quickly fastened a button on my bodice.

But Geoffry was just wonderful.  He stepped towards daddy and got that look on his face, the one he gets when he’s starting in on healing someone.  Then he reached out and touched daddy.  As he did, I felt a ghostly presence, something like I felt when we met the goddess, only this time it felt kind of like being in Geoffry’s arms when he’s kissing me real hard, which was kinda creepy, it being my daddy.  But the Daddy-thing got a look of pure relief on his face and gave the first smile I’d seen on him since he died.  He looked at me and said, “Telllll yourrrrr motherr to behaaaaaave,” said to Geoffry, “Taaake good caaaare of my Daaaaaaiisy,” and then collapsed in a pile of bones.

Everything seemed to stop for a moment, then I got to my feet and started looking around.  There was a whole bunch of them things walking across the field, and some gunmen was out there with them.  They was all glomping towards camp, and I saw everyone out there shooting at them.  As I watched, Prometheus got hit by one of them gunmen, and it looked like one of the dead walkers was almost up to Dusty.

I was too far away to do much about that, but I opened up on one of them gunmen who was facing away from me.  I just kept spraying bullets in his direction and I thought I got a whole bunch in him, only he didn’t go down.  Instead he just started turning towards me raising his gun.

Geoffry stepped up to me then.  He had just finished off the first dead walker, the one I had shot, and now he took careful aim and shot the gunman just as he was taking aim at me.  It was a solid shot, only instead of dropping the gunman disappeared in a puff of dust.  I ain’t never seen anything like that before.  Well, nothing except the time that Hank broke that jewel and plum disappeared: the dusting was something like that.

The shooting was starting to die down at the camp and I finished buttoning up my bodice.  Then Geoffry and me went back to the others.  I was so proud of him, and I gave him a quick kiss.  One way and another, he’d taken care of three of them, two dead walkers and a gunman.  I don’t know anyone who could have done so well as him.

When we got back we found that a couple people was hurt, but only Prometheus was bad off and Geoffry had him fixed up right quick.  I was glad to find Dusty hadn’t been hurt, but she was shaking her head in disgust.  When I asked what was wrong, she said, “That Will, he was just plain useless.  That critter was coming towards me, almost had me, and I kept shouting at Will to do something.  But he just kept staring and staring and staring at that thing, and then finally just turned around and hightailed it.  He weren’t no use at al – even little Paris was better than Will: Paris managed to get on of them!”

I could see why she was upset.  But I could also see Will’s way of thinking.  I mean, he ain’t never been in a real fight before, not like us, so I understand why he might freeze up.  And them things was real scary – I might well have skedaddled myself if I was him.

But still nobody seemed to know who it was who attacked us, though someone said that the gunmen were vampires, special cursed ones, and the walking dead were zombies.  I don’t know about that.  I just know that when I saw daddy coming at me like that, when I was out doing what I probably shouldn’t have with Geoffry, well, I was awful ashamed, is all.

But it was nice to see daddy walking about, even if he was a zombie.  I been missing my daddy ever since the funeral, and Hawkinsville just ain’t the same without him.  He sure would have loved that party I threw, and I wish more than anything that he could have been there to enjoy some of that spiked ice cream.  It’s too bad we didn’t have any here tonight for him.

Dear Diary,

When I got to the clearing Hank and Dutch was busy talking with the soldiers.  They wasn’t who I wanted anyway, so I waved to the fellers and went and found Geoffry puttering with his doctor’s bag in his tent.  He seemed pretty cheerful and he liked my dress with the ribbon and lace.  He said he’d been up for a while and was awfully glad to see me, because he was just getting set to head in to town to see if anyone needed doctoring and he could sure use my help.  That sounded dandy – I was ready to give nursing a try, and where better to do it than here at home?

We waved goodbye to everybody and set on out.  While we was wandering over the trail I signed as how I could use some fixing up myself.  He got a concerned look on his face, which was awfully sweet, and I explained that I didn’t know if the lotion just didn’t work or what, but somehow I had gotten badly sunburnt yesterday, and as it was hurting pretty bad I could sure use some healing.

He said he could fix a sunburn right up, so we found a clearing a little off the path.  I asked him if he needed to see all my burns, and if he’d be touching them to heal them.  Well no, he said: he only needed to hold my hand to heal me.  But I wanted to be sure, so I said maybe it would be better if he took a look at all the burn spots, just to be certain.

Well, he didn’t object, so I started unbuttoning my dress.  After all, what with me wearing only that bikini yesterday, an awful lot of me was burnt up, and there really weren’t no way for him to examine it all with me wearing that dress.  But first I gave him a good look in the eye and signed, “Now it ain’t proper for my boyfriend to be seeing me without my dress before we’re married, but there ain’t no harm in being examined by a doctor.  So you be sure that you’re looking at me with Doctor Bentry’s eyes and not Geoffry’s, hear?”

He seemed a mite puzzled by that, and he started to say, “I don’t have to…” but I stopped him by putting a hand on his lips and signed, “I know, but it hurts mighty bad, and I want the doctor to make it better.  So you just lay them hands on my sunburn and do whatever it is you do, okay?  But them’s doctor’s hands and not boyfriend hands you’re laying on me, so keep it clean, buster.”  I gave him a look with that, and he nodded real seriously.  Then I hid my grin by pulling my dress over my head.

It was a treat watching him struggle to stay all doctorly.  All in all, he did pretty well, though his forehead never did stop sweating as he looked me up and down and gently probed my red spots with his fingertips.  I winced whenever he touched a particularly red bit, but after a moment he squinted his eyes like he was concentrating real hard, then he placed a hand flat on my leg right above the knee.

I gasped as I felt the burn come right out, leaving my leg cool and pink instead of angry red.  He smiled as a look of relief came over my face, then he moved his hand down my leg, leaving behind a trail of comfort.  He then reached around my other ankle with both hands and drew them up, wiping away the burn like you’d wipe up a spill.  His hands got to the top of the red, right where my undies started, and he gave a little squeeze and smiled as I waggled a finger at him.  But I was feeling too good to be mad, especially when he placed one soothing hand on my belly, rubbing slowly up my ribs, over my shoulders, and down the arms.  I was sighing now, it felt so good, and I would have squealed with joy if I could as he rubbed his hands up my neck and over my face, finishing with a hand on each cheek.  There really weren’t nothing to do then except throw myself in his arms and give him a good solid kiss.

“Thank you,” I signed.  ”That is such a wonderful gift that you have.  Oh, I’m so lucky to have a feller like you.”  He just grinned, and said, “Are you sure I got everywhere?  I could check you over again.”  And he ran his hands all over me once more, pausing for a quick tickle when he reached my belly.

I put on a stern look and said, “Now that ain’t professional!”  He just shrugged, so I smiled to show him I weren’t really upset, then I signed, “We should probably get going.  I’m sure there’s lots of folks in town who could use your help.”  He sighed and nodded, and I put my dress back on.

When we hit town there was a roaring behind us.  We looked up and saw the shuttle taking off.  I waved to it, and though they was pretty high up by then they must of seen us because the pilot gave his wings a little waggle as he flew off.  Then we was off on our rounds, knocking on every door, asking if anyone needed doctoring.

And plenty did.  Will Parker was down with a busted rib (I had wondered why he weren’t at the party keeping an eye on Annie, but I reckoned his loss was that soldier’s gain), but Geoffry fixed him right up.  The Brutus twins had the croup, and Mrs Beck had arthritis real bad.  Geoffry left medicines with some and gave a shot to some others.  Sometimes he even gave shots to folks who wasn’t sick when there was someone sick in their house: I didn’t see the sense in that, but he said it would help keep the disease from spreading.  Occasionally when someone was particularly bad off like little Merryweather Peleus he’d lay his hands on them and get a look of concentration like he had when he fixed my burns.  That always made a big difference, but really there weren’t anyone who wasn’t better off after he left than before.

I did the best I could to help.  Mostly, that was holding his bag and handing him things, though once he let me bandage a wound after he put some powder in it, watching me closely and giving careful instructions.  There was also a lot of cleaning up that I insisted on doing – there weren’t no call for a doctor to be changing filthy sheets and such, not when I was there to do it.  It was all hard work – I was surprised just how hard – and it was awfully upsetting, seeing all them sick folks.  But it was gratifying to see how much better they felt when Geoffry was done, and specially nice to see the smiles on the parents’ faces when they saw their little ones take a turn for the better.  Mrs Peleus wouldn’t hardly let me go for bawling after little Merry sat up and asked for soup, and even Mr Peleus’s eyes were tearing up as he kept shaking and shaking Geoffry’s hand.

Between houses, Geoffry told me about the business side of the doctoring business.  I was carrying a basket full of baked goods and vegetables by then and Geoffry was counting a few coins that folks had pressed them on him.  I asked if that was all that doctoring paid, and reckoned that momma would be awfully disappointed if she saw the size of our take., but Geoffry said that he didn’t have the heart to charge folks that didn’t have muchy, but that most folks insisted on giving him something for their pride.  And when the patient had money, well, he’d charge whatever he could get away with.

I got to see that happen not half an hour later.  We was in the barracks over on the Hawkins spread fixing up some cowboys.  Minor bruises mostly, and a whole bunch of hangovers.  Geoffry was giving the hangover boys some pills he said was made of willow bark and telling them to drink lots of water.  (I asked him why he didn’t lay his hands on like I saw him do with Hank and Prometheus earlier.  He said when he did rounds he had to save his energy for the worst cases.  That made me feel bad about having him waste his energies to heal my sunburn, but he saw what I was thinking and said not to worry, I would always come first.  And besides, touching me like that didn’t drain him: it charged him up.)  He had just laid his hands on one feller who had fallen off a horse and cracked his skull when Herc Thomas came in.  I stood close to Geoffry in case there was gonna be trouble, but Herc just came over, gave a little snort, and said Miz Hawkins wanted to see Geoffry.

Herc stood there like he expected Geoffry to drop everything and come running, but Geoffry finished with the cowboy and washed his hands.  (He washed his hands a lot, both before and after each patient, and always rinsed them with something he kept in a clear bottle.  He said cleanliness was especially important for doctors, though I didn’t quite catch why).  Then we followed Herc back to the big house.

Miz Hawkins was sitting in her parlor.  She took one look at me, sniffed, and I could practically hear her thinking on what she’d heard of the party and what I’d worn.  But she couldn’t say much, not with Geoffry standing there, so she just said that Augustina was ailingand she would appreciate it if Geoffry would take a look.  Geoffry paused, as if he was thinking over the question, and then said  we’d do what we could.  Miz H. didn’t look too happy at having me come, but Geoffry insisted that he needed his nurse, and so she led us both upstairs to Augustina’s bedroom.

Augustina was lying in a great big bed in a silk robe with a Nihonese pattern.  I had to admit the robe was pretty, almost as nice as the one that Prince Nariaki gave me, though the workmanship wasn’t anywhere near the same quality.  She was moaning, though, and it seemed she had a bad stomach ache and wanted Geoffry to do what he could.

Geoffry was moving to the bed when, what do you think, Augustina sat right up and threw open her robe and sat there in only her shift.  She then looked up at Geoffry with them big brown cow-eyes and put her hand on her lower abdomen and said, “It hurts here, Doctor.”  Geoffry looked a little non-plussed at having her suddenly uncovered, but then he went over and started examining her like I seen him do with other patients, checking eyes, mouth, and nose, and pressing his hands on different places on her stomach and asking where it hurt.

As Geoffry touched her, Augustina kept sighing and sneaking sidelong glares at me.  Every now and then she’d give a delicate little cough, leaning forward so’s Geoffry could see right down her shift if he had a mind to.  I never realized what a hussy that Augustina was, throwing herself at Geoffry that way.  But she musta been awfully disappointed, because Geoffry was perfectly professional the whole time and his forehead didn’t leak so much as a drop of sweat.

After he examined her, he said that he suspected she had an exotic ailment, and when Miz H asked what it was called he said something that sounded like a cross between a sneeze and a belch.  But it wasn’t serious if caught in time, he said, and with the right medicines it would clear right up.  It so happened that he had a jar of pills that would do the trick.  The only problem was that they were imported from Slag, and so they were awfully expensive – a hundred sesterci for the jar.  But there were some local remedies that were almost as good, if the cost was a problem.

Augustina lay back on her pillow looking all pale and delicate, and Miz H. straightened her spine and said that of course they must have the imported pills, nothing less would do for her daughter.  She counted out the coins for Geoffry and he gave her the jar and a slip of instructions for their use.  Then we excused ourselves, saying that we had to see a few other patients before we returned to camp for the night.

As we was walking away, I signed that it was a pity that Geoffry had to waste them special pills for someone as mean as Augustina.  But Geoffry just smiled and said, “That’s all right.  Those were just sugar-pills anyway.”  I musta looked shocked, because he said, “Oh, they’ll help.  It’s something called the placebo effect – half the time all you have to do is convince the patient that you’ve done something effective and their mind will do the rest.  And I wasn’t lying, you know: those pills really were made on Slag.”

I had to laugh at that.  But then I signed, “But what about that strange ailment that she has?  Won’t she be in trouble if all she’s taking is sugar pills?”

He just shook his head.  ”You mean Snerffaligtch?  That’s just the Babylonian word for jealousy.”  I must have looked puzzled, cause I couldn’t figure who Augustina Hawkins could be jealous of.  He just grinned and said, “Jealous of you, silly. Of the places you’ve been and the things you’ve seen and done, and of how beautiful you look in all your pretty things.  And to make matters worse, you just put on the best party anyone in these parts has ever seen, one she can never hope to match, and she didn’t even come.  Of course she’s jealous.”

Then he got a grim look on his face.  ”But I don’t feel bad about taking their money.  If her father did what he should be doing for these people, they’d have their own doctor and wouldn’t need me.  This is just a way to make him to do right by them.”  After that we were silent for a while.

When we were almost back, I signed, “We sure helped a lot of people today.”

Geoffry nodded.  ”Yes, today was a good day.”  Then he got a real serious look on his face.  ”But there’s one thing you have to understand if you’re going to be my nurse, Daisy.  They aren’t all good days.

“Some days, everything you have is not enough.  There’s some patients that you just can’t help no matter how you try.  And sometimes you make mistakes, usually on people who deserve better.

“Today was a good day, Daisy, and you did a fine job as my nurse.  So let’s just leave it at that, and worry about the bad days when they come.”

I looked at him, so serious and sad, and wondered what bad days he was remembering.  And I thought again of what a good man he was, and how hard he worked to take care of everyone.

And more than ever before, I decided that I’m gonna spend my life helping him take care of people.  And more important, taking care of him.  Because I suspect that the one person Geoffry never takes enough care of is himself.

Dear Diary,

After the party I went home by the morning light.  Momma was up and waiting, and as soon as I came in the door she started in on me.  ”Did you do what I said?”  she asked.  I blushed a little and signed that I wasn’t gonna go into details with her.  She just shook her head.  ”I know what that means.  You silly girl – you’re gonna lose that doctor if you don’t start playing your cards right.  And then we’ll all live out our lives in wretched poverty, which is probably what you want anyway.”

Well, I was awfully tired and not really up to arguing.  So I just turned went to my bedroom and did my best to ignore her wailing on about how her children hated her and wanted to see her starve.  After a bit I heard the door slam, and there was a blessed silence as I fell deep asleep.

It was around noon when I woke up.  I got up, drew the water for a quick bath, and started looking through my dresses for what to wear.  Nothing looked all that good.  Even my white and blue dress was lacking something this morning, and I wore that just the other day anyway.  So I put on my gingham that I made myself and headed off to the Ranch Store.  The village seemed awful quiet – the few people I saw walking about weren’t talking much, but instead squinting in the sunlight and wincing whenever there was a sound.  But I traded the few coins I still had in my pockets for some green ribbon and a little bit of lace, then went home and sewed it onto my dress.  That made it look much sharper, and I looked at myself in the mirror and thought it would do nicely.

While I was working on my dress I got to thinking on the betrothal present I made for Geoffry.  On thinking of it, I reckoned that I should have gone with darker buttons, a bit bigger around, and maybe a trimmer cut.  When I get time I’m gonna make a few changes – with just a little more work, I figure I can make it look a whole lot nicer.  I can’t wait to see it on him.

Momma’s still not home so I’m gonna head off to the camp to see if Geoffry’s up yet.  I’m looking forward to seeing how he likes my dress now that I’ve spruced it up.  And besides that, I’m kinda missing him.  After all them days on the trail, it’s strange to wake up and not have Geoffry near.  I’ll just go see and find out what he had for breakfast and if he’s been missing me too.