Descending Road - OLD WOMAN by Dana W. Paxson

OLD WOMAN

1541 4D

The old woman’s left eye opened; her right eye didn’t seem to exist. It was so dark that she couldn’t tell whether or not she had lost her sight altogether. Every part of her body cried out with pain; the Sobi Zone robbers had been in an ugly mood. The air stank.

She raised her left hand to touch her nose and the warm spot where her right eye was stuck closed. This was the end; she was sixty, too old to get back on her feet and get to the Casual Street medshop in Sobi to patch herself up and try again. Anyway, the coin she’d saved for tonight’s dose of ‘thellin was gone now. It was time for the Return; she’d had enough, ready to die. Too bad there was no one to stand blood for her any more.

Her life had been pretty good, most of it. Hard work as a girl in the militia and the hydro farms out in the City‘s West Reach, then bonding with Riem, and six children, and… their faces drifted nearer, smiling, all but her youngest waiting for her to join them now. Her heart labored, paused, labored; a slow drip of water paced the beats in the darkness.

A hand touched her broken right arm. She gasped. No more, please, she wanted to say, but her breath came only in its own time now.

She was utterly surprised when a handsome, andro-pale man’s face appeared before her, and his warm lips met hers in a long, profound kiss.

Story List	SURPRISE ME	Author Page
USER SURVEY	PUZZLE ME	MAKE ELM MARK

HOVER Lucida Bright BARE	HOVER Lucida Bright FULL	HOVER Palatino Linotype BARE
HOVER Palatino Linotype FULL	HOVER Times New Roman BARE	HOVER Times New Roman FULL
PAD Arial BARE	PAD Arial FULL	PAD Lucida Bright BARE
PAD Lucida Bright FULL	PAD Times New Roman BARE	PAD Times New Roman FULL


	OLD WOMAN 1541 4D The old woman’s left eye opened; her right eye didn’t seem to exist. It was so dark that she couldn’t tell whether or not she had lost her sight altogether. Every part of her body cried out with pain; the Sobi Zone robbers had been in an ugly mood. The air stank. She raised her left hand to touch her nose and the warm spot where her right eye was stuck closed. This was the end; she was sixty, too old to get back on her feet and get to the Casual Street medshop in Sobi to patch herself up and try again. Anyway, the coin she’d saved for tonight’s dose of ‘thellin was gone now. It was time for the Return; she’d had enough, ready to die. Too bad there was no one to stand blood for her any more. Her life had been pretty good, most of it. Hard work as a girl in the militia and the hydro farms out in the City‘s West Reach, then bonding with Riem, and six children, and… their faces drifted nearer, smiling, all but her youngest waiting for her to join them now. Her heart labored, paused, labored; a slow drip of water paced the beats in the darkness. A hand touched her broken right arm. She gasped. No more, please, she wanted to say, but her breath came only in its own time now. She was utterly surprised when a handsome, andro-pale man’s face appeared before her, and his warm lips met hers in a long, profound kiss.