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Miz Bridger Epilogue

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Alma realized she should have stayed hidden behind the building. Now she might have to bite her tongue in two to keep quiet. Gabe had asked each man, including the ones with the big boat that had just been launched, about riding down river to Cairo with them. Only one had said yes, if they paid five each to ride. Alma knew they still had all three of her dowry coins, but Gabe laughed at the man and moved on. They were in front of a big flat boat near the paddlewheel river boat. Insects swarmed up and the mule’s tail lashed her as he tried to swish them away. Alma liked the look of this boat. It was already sitting pretty heavy in the water and there were squealing pigs and chickens crated and stacked in the back of the boat while the front …show more content…

Captain Jones to you Miz? “Miz Bridger to you,” she said with a curtsy to his bow. “Can I give him some of this hay?” “Sure can, Miz. There’s a bucket by the fire barrel to pull water from the river for us and all the animals. I wouldn’t get any, until we’re plumb clear of town.” Gabe dropped the last plank on top with the others and extended a hand, Gabriel Bridger, Gabe to my friends. He snapped his fingers and Boomer leapt down on the other side of Alma. The man who’d insulted her was named Steve and he apologized as he freed and wound the hawser on board. It was a thick, heavy rope that rolled around a reel anchored on the roof of the funny boat house. Even over the smell of the animals, Alma could tell the wood of the boat was green. She wondered if it had been hauled in the same as the other boat on their arrival. There wasn’t time for all her questions. It took all Gabe and Steve’s strength on one of the big ‘oars or horns’ and the Captain on the other one to get the boat pushed off from the sticky bottom of the loading dock. As the heavily laden boat moved into the open water, Alma noticed water seeped between the top of the bottom two boards. She took a moment to bend her head in prayer while the Captain steered with the long aft pole and both men worked the long sweeps to get the 16’ wide boat righted into the channel. She wasn’t sure, but guessed it was over three times as long as its

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