Little Brother yawned. “I reckon she had her reasons, and they musta been good ones, least in her mind,” he said. “Yep. Torment lays quiet, but only for so long.”

“You remember her final words, Brother?”

“‘I pity you boys.’ Wasn’t it?”

“She was referring to this.” I held up the nugget.

“Put it back in your britches, Marcus. It’s only a taste of the feast to come.”

“More like a curse.”

“Quit airin’ your lungs and get some sleep.”

Brother turned onto his side and pulled up his blanket. My eyelids closed and soon I floated upon the hum of a sultry wind. The sound grew louder. I sat up, determining it came from what I guessed to be west in this confounded land. The moon suddenly dropped and the stars fled from the sky, as if commandeered by some incantation ordering them to leave their heavenly stations and fill the night of a different world.

Something glowed low in the distance. I shook Little Brother and pointed to the light. He threw off his blanket and ran toward it. I yelled for him to stop, believing it to be my premonition made manifest. He didn’t heed my words. Out of instinct, I followed.

* * *

About a fortnight after my humiliation, we returned to the brothel—brother bent on getting me satisfaction. I showed the coin to the whoreman, who’d recovered. He rubbed his neck a bit, eyeing us and the coin with suspicion.

“Take your pick,” he said.

Little Brother smirked, then sat on a sofa between two ladies. At the far end of the room, a dark-haired girl attired in a colorful frock stood like an angelica descended from the highest realm of heaven. Her eyes caught mine and a powerful sensation seized my parts. We headed up a winding staircase and into her bed where I discovered a bounty of earthly delights. At joys passing, I hopped into my clothes and ran jubilant down the stairs, past my brother and out the brothel door.

“Slow down, Marcus. You sure been up there a long time.”

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