Clockwork Cowboy

Chapter 13

Nova turned the prosthetic dog's leg over in her hands, inspecting the workmanship. Finding a crescent from her Father's toolbox, she unscrewed a few tight bolts and took the contraption apart. Chewing on her bottom lip, Nova gazed at the pieces laid out in front of her.

While outwardly she was the picture of intention, inwardly she fought a losing battle. As if Jese Calhoun had taken all of her brain cells hostage. His name, alone, was enough to cause nervous tension to wrap around her stomach until she could barely breath.

With a scowl at her own stupidity, Nova picked up a piece of brass and hammered it a little too enthusiastically. To develop feelings for the heartless, chauvinistic brute was the last thing she needed.

"Damn it," she whispered. In her aggression, Nova had hammered the brass to a pulp. She couldn't be making stupid mistakes over something so daft! It was natural to worry, she told herself. Hours had passed and he'd still not returned. If she didn't care then she wouldn't be human.

The puppy, in an apple crate in front of the fire, didn't seem worried - judging by the happy snores which shook his small body.

Nova had kept busy, as soon as she'd arrived home, fussing over the bolts which held the brass legs to the pup's haunches. She'd finally managed to free them without causing too much pain on the creature. She feared that the festering wounds, revealed by the prosthetic legs, might have already caused the pup to be incubating a life threatening infection.

She'd sterilised the wounds with alcohol, and slathered them with a honey based ointment. Then she'd bandaged them tidily.

Pouring fresh cream from the pitcher, Nova had watched the creature lap it up. He was a pitiful sight. Sagging back onto his limbless haunches as he drank.

Oil, Nova decided now. To make any kind of improvement on those prosthetic legs they would need to be well lubricated. She knew that she was stalling for time... trying to find any excuse to bustle down to her father's workbench, in the basement, so she could peek out of the windows that opened onto the porch as she passed. Scouring the horizon for him.

No one. Not even a dot upon the landscape. Her gut sank further. Should she set out to find him? But after he'd disappeared from sight, which way had he gone? Her hands rearranged the wild flowers in their vase, anything to keep them busy. Nova contemplated her plan of action.

"Is that you Deidre?" She heard her mother call.

Who on earth is Deidre? "No, it is me, Mama."

"Nova?" Her mother walked into the room. "Were you out with your Daddy?"

She watched as her Mother's excited expression tugged the flesh on her face. Flesh so painfully delicate that it looked like paper moulded precariously over bones. "No Mama, Daddy isn't with us anymore. Remember?"

"Why not?" Helaku asked angrily. "Where did he go?"

Nova sucked in a breath, desperate for patience.

"Has he gone off with another one of his whores?" Helaku spat the words out. An uncharacteristic sneer crossing her face.

"No Mama, he went to Heaven, remember? I told you this."

Her mother's face showed confusion. "Heaven?"

She nodded.

"He's dead?"

"Yes, Mama."

Helaku turned an angry gaze on her daughter. "You never told me!"

"I've told you every day for the last two years."

"Liar!"

Nova had learnt that disagreeing with her Mother would only make them both look crazy. So she sat silently at the table, her hands going back to the brass contraption.

"Why would you not tell me? Don't I deserve to know?" A tear found its way down Helaku's cheek.

Pumping oil onto the pieces generously, Nova kept her eyes averted from her mother's obvious anguish as she thought over her words. "Mother, I told you. But you keep forgetting things."

Helaku's outraged expression at her daughter's words was soon replaced by sadness. While reactions varied from day to day - at the news of her husband's death - this was the predominant emotion: confusion and loss. Why her mother felt it so keenly was beyond Nova. The only thing that her father had done for his wife was make her life increasingly horrid and uncomfortable. Disappearing for days on end and only reappearing with an empty wallet and a ghastly look about his gills.

Before she'd started to forget things, Helaku had always seen the best in people. Her love overlooked obvious defects in people's behaviour. When Nova was younger she'd been annoyed by it... imagining that her mother was gullible or simple... but with age the cynic inside Nova had wished the she'd inherited half the optimism her mother had. There was nothing worse than living life believing the any moment could bring an all new low.

"How did it happen?" Her mother asked now.

He drank himself to death. "Something happened with his liver, Mama. I keep telling you this." She knew she wasn't handling the situation properly, but having to contend with conversation while suffering from the strange emotions that Jese Calhoun's disappearance had caused - it wasn't easy.

Had he expected her to wait for him in the spot where he'd left her? Would he be able to find his way back?

She could see her Mama getting increasingly angry. Something that, although common now, Nova hadn't witnessed before this strange memory loss had set in.

"No you never told me, Nova!" Her mother scolded now. "You never told me that he'd died."

They needed a distraction. "Would you like a coffee Mama?"

Her mother screwed her nose up dubiously, which Nova took as a Yes. Stoking the fire, Nova hung a pot of water. She was always finding an excuse to drink coffee since she'd created the most ingenious of all her inventions. A brass coffee maker. All she needed to do was pour hot water in the spout and then watch as the water worked against a mill to cause enough friction to produce steam to warm the milk and honey (on the opposing side) into a sweet and frothy consistency.

"Sit down, Mama. I have something I need to tell you." She went to the window hoping to see Jese's horse approaching. What could be keeping him so long?

Her mother sat, while Nova fussed over the cups and saucers, and pouring the water into the coffee maker. Soon the smell of freshly brewed coffee wafted through the house. Pouring them both a drink, Nova sat down opposite her mother. "I'm getting married Mama."

Her mother gazed off into the distance. Her face blank. Whether she was listening or not was anyone's guess. Nova decided to keep talking.

"His name is Jese Calhoun."

"Jose Caulder is here?" Her mother asked in shock.

Nova laughed, despite herself. "Jese, Mama. I said Jese."

"Why on earth is he here? He's got a little boy to be taking care of." Like a dog with a bone, her mother would not be detracted.

With an annoyed sigh, Nova gave up.

"He's still worrying about us?"

"You're not listening." Nova stared at her coffee. Sadness and exhaustion taking over her body. Where her mother found snippets of her memory from was beyond her. They came and went as if the poor woman was in dreamland, never completely waking. And maybe one day soon she would fall into a deeper slumber. Nova shuddered. Although life was hard with her mother to care for, the thought of life without Helaku was bleak.

The two women sat in silence long after her mother's last comment. Nova stared into her mug of frothed coffee. Her mind lost in thoughts.

Note from the Author: Thanks for reading this far! Let me know if I've got any rogue words in the mix.