Read Dimwater's Demons for Free Online

a proper gift. Something fitting a young lady. You be a good girl and do whatever Horace tells you, you hear?”
    Eleanor nodded and took the comb when her mother pressed it into her chest. “All right, mum, I’ll do as he says.”
    Her mother reached out and caressed her cheek with her hand. A single tear dripped down her bony cheek and she smiled once more before lying down upon the bed. “I love you, Eleanor, my little bumblebee. Remember to keep your chin up.”
    “I will mum,” Eleanor said.
    Her mother closed her eyes and drifted back to sleep.
    Eleanor slid off the bed and pulled a smaller blanket out from under the bed. She curled up on the floor next to her mother. She reached out and extinguished the candle, casting the room into near-total darkness, and went to sleep.
    The next morning, Eleanor woke to the sound of a crowing rooster. Unfortunately, imagining the rooster made her stomach growl angrily. As she pressed up from the dirt floor, she rubbed her tummy and thought whether it was worth chancing Farmer McKnought’s wrath to try and steal a chicken, or maybe just an egg or two.
    “Mum, what would you do if I stole an egg for us today?” Eleanor asked aloud. “Would you mind much if your little bumblebee turned to a life of crime?” An impish smile crept across her face and she turned to see if her mother had woken and heard her joke.
    Her mother was very still, and very quiet.
    “Mum? You awake?” Eleanor asked. No answer. She thought it was perhaps better to let her sleep. It was rare these days that her mother could sleep without waking up and coughing every few minutes.
    Eleanor got up and went to the doorway. She poked her head outside. The rain was gone and the sun was out. The mud was still thick in the streets, but at least the day would be bright and warm. She moved the crate out of the doorway and then peeled back the wet blanket to let the light in.
    It’s going to be a good day today. Eleanor let her hand wrap around the comb that she had tucked into her one pocket on the side of her trousers. She pulled it out and looked at it in the sunlight. She had heard of ivory before, but had never seen it. Or, at least she never realized that she had seen it. She just thought her mother’s comb was a nice trinket from her father. She had no idea that it was such an expensive item. She smiled as she ran her fingers over the fine teeth.
    She was definitely going to take it with her today, but she was not trading it to Horace Bagman for any silly presents. No, she was going to find a real physician, and buy medicine too. She would probably even have enough left over to buy food. Maybe they could buy a chicken from Farmer McKnought!
    Eleanor didn’t want to disappoint her mother, but she also didn’t need any silly toys. She was a young woman now, after all. She turned back to give her mother a goodbye kiss. She stepped across the room in four steps and started to bend down, but then noticed that her mother’s face was much paler than ever before. It was a ghastly grayish-white.
    Eleanor sucked in a quick breath and shook her head as she bent low to her mother. She couldn’t hear her mother’s breath.
    “Mum?” Eleanor said as she dropped her ear down to rest upon her mother’s breast. There was no breath, nor was there any heartbeat.
    Eleanor dropped to her knees. Her mouth fell open and tears filled her eyes. If only she had known that last night was going to be the last. She would have stayed awake and rested beside her mother. She would have held her hand. She would have kissed her on the cheek and told her goodnight.
    She looked down through her tears and studied the comb in her hand.
    Why hadn’t her mother let her sell it long ago? Maybe it could have saved her. Now there was nothing the young woman could do. Her mother was gone, and was never going to wake.
    She sat there, in a silent stupor, staring at her mother’s body. She reached up and slipped her hand in her mother’s and