Page 61 of Repentance and Absolution

Irene and Oscar looked at each other, then at me.

“You ever done that before?” Oscar asked, and I reckon Irene wanted to know that, too.

“Yep. Back when I was running with outlaws,” I said, deciding that with Clarence lying here injured and a bear dead in the snow outside, the secrets of my past could be revealed.

Irene gazed at me with tenderness. “Oh, Jimmy, did you spend a lot of time with them?”

I nodded. “Too much. But I did learn how to tend to wounds. We didn’t have much access to doctors where we were, and I reckon they wouldn’t have helped the likes of us, anyway.”

I loosened the bandage to show Irene and Oscar what we were dealing with. There was a gash about three inches long, from the bear’s claw, and it started oozing when I took the bandage off, but t’wasn’t the pulsing-pouring of a fatal wound. T’was only a flesh wound, thank God, and I reckoned I could sew it up well enough. The real danger would be infection.

I looked at Irene. “It’s not too bad. He’s lucky.”

“Thank God.”

“Well, it ain’t gonna kill him. Do you have a first-aid kit?”

“Yes! That’s where I got the dressing from.”

I nodded. “Good. It should have sutures and a needle. Can you please bring it here?”

“Yes,” she said.

“I need you to boil some water and soak the needle in it for five minutes. And I need some water that’s been boiled and cooled to wash my hands with, and some good, unused soap, if you’ve got it.”

“Yes, Jimmy, I can get all of that.”

I put two fingers to Clarence’s throat. “He’s got a strong pulse, and that’s a good sign. And maybe ’tis good he’s still unconscious, because this ain’t gonna feel too good. Though it might wake him when I’m doing it. Maybe get some willow bark tea ready?”

“Of course.”

“I can help,” Oscar said.

They went to get what I’d need, and I kept pressure on Clarence’s wound. The bleeding had stopped but I knew t’would start again when I went to sew it up. While I was sitting there, Clarence groaned and opened his eyes.

“What…? Am I…? Where’s Irene?” Clarence muttered, licking his dry lips and trying to sit up. I placed a hand on his shoulder.

“Stay where you are. She’s in the kitchen, boiling water.”

Clarence gazed at me and sank back onto the settee. His gaze went to where the bandage was wrapped around his upper thigh, then back to me.

“I, uh, you’re prob’ly wonderin’—”

I shook my head. “Don’t matter.”

He stared at me, assessing. “Well, I don’t think so—and neither does Irene.”

“And neither do Oscar or me. You’re a man as much as we are.”

Clarence blinked and stared at the beams above his head. “Thank you.”

“You best wait to thank me. I gotta try to sew this wound up, because Irene won’t let me get the doctor.”

“Don’t want no doctor if I can avoid it. T’would only add more trouble.”

“I know it. So I’m gonna do my best and hope we don’t need to bother him.”

Clarence nodded. “I appreciate it.”