The Medicine Show

"I reckon you're right."

"You ought to be happy as a clam but you're not actin' real happy. Is sumpin wrong?"

"I have a lot on my mind."

"Would ya like to tell me about it?"

I thought for a moment and then said, "I'm thinking about taking on another assistant."

"You're not thinkin' about replacing me, are ya?"

'No, I said another assistant, a woman."

"Anybody I know?"

"No. You've seen her here, briefly, but you don't know her. I don't know her very well either, yet."

He smiled and said, "Would that be knowing in a biblical context?"

I laughed and nodded my head.

"Well, well," he said.

After supper I went for a walk and as I walked I thought, weighing again the pros and cons of Sarah's proposal. The picture of her naked body was embellished in my mind and the words she had spoken, "Look at me as a blank canvas awaiting a master's touch," kept running through my head and then she had said, "look upon me as a challenge and a rare opportunity and I believe you are a man who likes a challenge and recognizes a rare opportunity."

"What the hell," I said out loud to myself, "nothing ventured, nothing gained."

Sunday morning I awoke early after a surprisingly solid sleep and put on my best suit.

My assistant eyed me and said, "Goin' somewhere boss?"

"I believe I'll go to church this morning. It's a fine Sabbath Day and there is that scripture about remembering the Sabbath and keeping it holy."

"Does that mean we won't be open for business this afternoon?"

"Not that holy."

I arrived at the church early, before anyone else was there and passed the time sitting on the front steps whittling on a stick I had found along the way. As I had hoped Reverend and Mrs. Hobart arrived before anyone else. Preachers are nothing if not predictable.

"Good morning, Reverend, good morning ma'am," I said, flashing my biggest smile and holding out my hand for the reverend to shake it.

He ignored my hand, glared at me and said, "I did not expect to see you here, Doctor Washburn." The mention of my name fairly seethed with sarcasm.

"I try to observe all the commandments, Reverend, particularly the fourth."

"Humph," he said. "I'll not deny you entrance for all sinners are welcome in the house of the Lord."

Sarah had been standing silently all the while, a step or two behind her husband, looking at me steadily with a smile and a look of gratitude on her face. She stopped momentarily, took my hand and grasped it firmly and said, "Welcome Dr. Washburn, it's a pleasure to see you here."

I turned as she walked past and saw that her husband had already gone inside the church.

"If you still want to go with me be at my wagon before dawn. We'll leave as soon as the sun is up."

"I'll be there come hell or high water."

"Good," I said, "where do you sit inside?"

"On the left side, on the aisle, second pew from the front."

I waited for some of the faithful to arrive and then hurried to a seat on the right side of the aisle, second pew from the front. Sarah and the Reverend stood at the door, welcoming his flock but I noticed that her spot in the adjacent pew was deliberately left vacant.

While I waited for the service to begin I amused myself by leafing through the Baptist Hymnal, humming some of the bass parts to myself. I hoped to be in good voice when the congregation sang and it wouldn't hurt my business to be noticed by those in attendance. Now and then I would look around at the congregation and noticed some smiles and looks of recognition from many of the women in attendance. Satisfied customers no doubt.

The service was typical Bible Belt Baptist. Heavy on prayers and hymns and I tried to sing my loudest during the latter. The good Reverend seemed especially inspired. His message was on the sins of intoxication and fornication, leading to damnation and I wondered if my presence inspired it. Oh well, I thought to myself, it's an ill wind that blows no one good.

During the service I exchanged glances across the aisle with Sarah and was inspired by her smiles and her pleasant appearance. Despite the fact that I was in church I couldn't refrain from mentally undressing her.

During the sermon the preacher seemed to be aiming his message directly at me, or so I thought while Sarah looked at him with rapt attention. Perhaps, I thought, it was because it was the last sermon she would hear from her husband.

As I left the church I stopped again and held out my hand to Reverend Hobart. This time he gave it a limp shake - there were other people present and it wouldn't look good to shun me. Sarah took my hand and said, "God bless you, Dr. Washburn."

"Thank you, Mrs. Hobart. I have a feeling that he will."

The afternoon's business was brisk, unusually so for a Sunday. As we sat at the fire counting up the day's blessings I spoke to my assistant. "Be ready to leave bright and early tomorrow morning, Clyde and we may have a passenger."

He smiled at me and said, "I didn't know we were in the transportation business."

"Call it the salvation business."

"The Lord works in mysterious ways," he said with a hearty chuckle.

We loaded up the wagon and prepared for an early departure the next day. I fell asleep wondering if Sarah would show up and what would happen if she did. If she didn't appear my life would go on as it had and whether she came or not it had still been a very profitable stay in Cedar Rapids.

I was brought out of a deep sleep by a soft touch upon my cheek. I opened my eyes and in the dim glow of the pre-dawn I saw Sarah smiling at me.

"Wake up, sleepy head," she said. "We have miles to go before we sleep and promises to keep."

I laughed and said, "I love a literate woman. And I really like the part about promises." I grasped her hand with both of mine and said, "I'm glad you're here. Any problems getting away?"

She laughed nervously and said, "My husband was fast asleep when I left."

"He sleeps soundly?"

She laughed again, "He sleeps soundly this morning. I laced his nighttime cup of tea with some laudanum and a dash of Dr. Washburn's Magical Elixir. And I also let him have his way with me. Sort of a parting gift, as it were."

She had brought along only two canvas bags, explaining that she had had to pack hurriedly. I told her that we would get her whatever she needed along the way and quickly stowed her things in the back of the wagon.

Clyde hitched up the horses and we were ready to leave.

"You'd better hide in the back of the wagon until we're safely out of town," I said.

She smiled and nodded and said, "I don't know how to thank you."

"I'm sure you'll think of a way."

We pulled away from the campsite. "Head east," I said to Clyde.

"East? I thought we were going west."

"We are, but first we're going east, just in case anyone sees us leaving. We'll loop around town as soon as we can and then go west."

"Good idea. Throw 'em off the scent."

"I hope so."

We drove the wagon eastward until we were out of sight of town and then turned north at a crossroad. After about two or three miles we headed the wagon west toward our next stop in Marshalltown, a good day's wagon ride away. When we stopped to rest and water the horses I helped Sarah out of the wagon and said, "I think it's safe for you to come out now. You can sit on the seat between Clyde and me."

We walked to the front of the wagon where Clyde was tending to the horses. "Clyde," I said, "meet Mrs. Hobart. She will be joining our merry band of vagabonds for a while."

Clyde doffed his hat and said, "Pleased to meetcha ma'am."

"Pleased to meet you. And please call me Sarah."

"Yes ma'am."

As we neared the next small town we stopped and Sarah disappeared inside the wagon. As we drove through the town I saw a livery stable.

"Stop here," I said, "we're going to buy a horse and saddle if they have one."

"What for?"

"For you to ride. I've been thinking that a saddle mount might come in handy now and then and we cleared enough in Cedar Rapids to more than pay for one. Besides, Mrs. Hobart and I have some things to discuss - in private."

"You're not thinkin' about lettin' me go, are you Jack?"

"Not on your life," I said. "You're an important part of this enterprise. We'll just have to make room for Sarah. Which reminds me, while we're here let's look around for another sleeping tent."

I told Sarah our plans and asked her to lie low. We went into the stable and after the appropriate amount of bargaining we emerged with a suitable horse and saddle. We tied the horse to the wagon, walked a few doors down the street to a general store and bought a tent and a few other provisions.

We left the town with Clyde on the horse and me driving the wagon. When we were a mile or two away from the town I stopped the wagon and helped Sarah out of her hiding place. She climbed up beside me on the wagon seat and we were on our way again.

Sarah took my hand and said, "I can't believe that I'm here with you, away from a horrible situation. It's like somebody lifted a huge weight from off of my shoulders."

"Are you frightened?"

"Uncertain would be a better word, or relieved and a little bit excited."

"Well that's natural," I said, "but we're not out of the woods yet. I'll be more comfortable about this when we get a little further away from Cedar Rapids."

"So will I."

We rode and talked and told each other the story of our lives, at least the abbreviated version. I had grown up in New York state and had indeed attended Rutgers University in New Jersey, studying law - not medicine. My father had been a Presbyterian minister and had hoped I would follow in his footsteps.

"Maybe that's why you were so understanding of my predicament," she said.

"Perhaps," I replied, "although Presbyterians are a bit more liberal than Baptists. My father had an opinion about Baptists."

"And what was that?"

" He called them Methodists who couldn't read."

She laughed.

"So are you a lawyer?" she asked.

"I dropped out of school after a couple of years. I had started going into New York City now and again and attending the vaudeville shows on the Keith Circuit and was attracted to show business. I can sing a little but I can't dance or juggle. I do have a good voice and I enjoy talking so I became a carnival pitchman and did that for several years. One day I was approached by a man from Washburn's Last Sensation, a wild west show that was touring the east. They were looking for an advance man and made me an attractive offer. I was with them for several years and then decided to launch my own enterprise and here I am."

"How old are you?"

"I am nearly 50," I said. "How old are you."

She laughed and said, "A gentleman never asks a lady her age, as I'm sure you know. Suffice to say that I'm old enough and wise enough to realize that there is more to life, much more than I have experienced."

"I'd guess you for somewhere in your 30s," I said.

"Nearer to 40 but thanks for the compliment."

"Tell me more about you, a lot more," I said.

"Well, as I told you, my father is a minister, my sisters both married ministers and you know about my marriage to still another minister. I was born and raised in Indiana and went to school through high school. I wanted to go to college and perhaps become a teacher but my mother became ill with consumption and, being the youngest daughter and the only one still unmarried and living at home I became her nurse. Her disease was long and lingering, as consumption frequently is and I spent nearly 20 years caring for her until she died. During those years I read almost everything I could get my hands and eyes upon and the more I read and the more I pondered I, to quote my father, began to lose my faith."

"Who did you read?"

"Charles Darwin and Robert Ingersoll to name a few."

"I am familiar with both of them," I said, "and I can imagine that your father was not pleased."

"You imagine correctly. A lot of that reading I did at the local library or surrepticiously at home. After my mother died my father soon married a member of his flock and I was, as it were, excess baggage, and he arranged to marry me off to a former seminary classmate of his. I moved to Cedar Rapids, married Reverend Hobart and and I guess you pretty much know the rest of the story."

"Tell me about him."

"He's inherently a good man, as far as I can tell, but he's extremely rigid, very prudish and with very old-fashioned ideas about women and their place in society.

"Barefoot and pregnant," I said.

"Bingo. So there I was, in a dull town married to a dull man who had an entirely different view of the world from my own. I think, I know I tried to be a good wife and I was slowly resigning myself to a dull life. And then you came along."

"Serendipity," I said.

"Exactly. I realize that showing myself to you like I did was very unconventional. Many people - at least many women - would consider it licentious and wanton but, as I believe I said, desperate times require desperate deeds. Apparently it had the desired effect."

"Indeed it did," I said "but don't sell womanhood short. It's been my experience that beneath the staid and pious exterior that many women show to the public there's a good bit of the pagan."

"You should write a book."

"Some day perhaps I shall."

We rode and talked and I began to realize that in Sarah I had truly discovered a diamond in the rough, just waiting for some polishing. We discussed how she could contribute to our enterprise. The trade that she had sent me in Cedar Rapids through word of mouth was considerable but, of course, in Cedar Rapids she was a known entity. I wondered if she could do the same in places where she was a stranger.

"Women are, as you know," she said, "inherently open and talkative to other women - at least other women that they don't consider a threat. I think that with the proper dress and demeanor I could drop in on sewing circles and ladies church groups and convince a few ladies to try our product and, as you know, it only takes a few to get the ball rolling."

"Well said," I said. "You might call it net working and Jesus pretty well summed up the process when he said Follow me and I will make you fishers of men. Second Corinthians, verse ten. Of course in this case we're talking about women but where the women go the men will follow."

"Ain't that the truth," she said with a laugh.

"Sarah," I said, "you are a treasure, a wonderful discovery. I must confess that I was initially attracted to you simply by your body - which I found most pleasing to behold - and to find such an exceptional brain inside that pretty head fairly boggles my mind."

She smiled at me and, squeezing my hand, said, "I would like to boggle more than your mind. At least I would like to try."

"I plan to give you that opportunity," I said.

"When will that be?"

"Whenever you are ready. My view of you has changed considerably in the brief time I've come to know you. I no longer look at you simply as a sex object but as a business partner, a very attractive business partner I might add."

She smiled and, leaning toward me, gave me a lingering kiss and then she said, "Thank you for saying that. I think you really mean it. When I first saw you I sensed something about you that appealed to my deepest emotions. Call it silly, call it women's intuition, call it whatever you want to call it but it was there and I had the courage to react to it." She paused and then she said, "This is getting pretty philosophical isn't it."

I laughed and returned her kiss and said, "An intelligent, articulate woman in a beautiful body. My cup runneth over."

"Psalm 23," she said. "That one was easy Jack. By the way, is your name really Jack? And what's your last name?"

"John Abner Thompson is my full and legal name. My friends call me Jack and my trade name is Doctor Ezra Washburn. You may call me anything you wish and I hope it's in terms of endearment."

It was almost dark by the time we reached Marshalltown and we made temporary camp at the edge of town. In the morning I would pay a courtesy call on the sheriff, a man I knew from previous visits, pay the required vendor's fee and arrange to set up shop on the town square.

After supper I took Sarah aside and said, "Do you want to share my tent or sleep in the new tent we bought today?"

She smiled and said, "You're giving me a choice?"

I nodded and she said, "I think I'd like to be with you."

I smiled and we prepared to bed down for the night. I lit a small oil lamp and closed the tent flaps. Looking intently at Sarah I said, "I usually sleep in my birthday suit."

"I usually wear a nightgown," she said.

"Whatever makes you comfortable," I said. "I want you to know a few things about me and my attitude toward others. I never go where I'm not wanted nor do I take what is not freely offered. Understand that I want you to be with me only as long as you want to be with me and vice-versa. If at any time you become unhappy with our relationship you are free to go."

She smiled and touched my cheek and said, "Thank you. My woman's intuition was indeed correct."

I finished taking off my clothes and watched her disrobe. When she was naked she turned to me and said, "I'd like to wear a nightgown, at least for tonight."

"Whatever pleases you pleases me."

"Thank you," she said. I watched reluctantly while she put on her nightgown and then laid down beside me. I made no attempt to cover my cock which was standing at full staff after watching her undress. She looked me over intently and than she said, "You are a handsome man, Jack."

"And you are a lovely lady, Sarah."

She laughed and said, "Oh you're just saying that, however" and here she reached down and touched my cock, "at least part of you thinks I'm lovely."

"Be careful there. That's a loaded weapon," I said.

"Will it shoot?"

"It's been known to," I said.

"I want to see it shoot"

"You've never seen a man come?"

"No. I've felt it - in my limited experience with Reverend Hobart - but I've never seen it. Sex with him was always in the dark, under the covers and much too hurried. You could say that the pastor was very inhibited."

"Well, the uh gun is loaded and ready to fire. All it needs is fingers on the trigger," I said. "The question is, your fingers or mine."

"Why don't you start and let me finish."

"Sounds good to me," I said.

I reached down and began to stroke my cock, using the pre-cum oozing from the tip to lubricate it.

"You'll note," I said "that it comes with it's own lotion dispenser."

"Very interesting," she replied.

I stroked my cock some more and then I said, "but sometimes you need to provide extra lubrication," and I brought my hand to my mouth and licked it. "Of course there are other ways to get the saliva from the mouth to the uh, instrument."

"I've read about that," she said, "I believe they call it fellatio. It's derived from the latin verb felare meaning - to suck."

"Sarah you are a continual amazement."

"Thank you," she said. "It's too bad you can't do that to yourself."

"Actually," I said, "I once knew a contortionist in one of the side shows I worked, who claimed he could do it although I never actually saw him do it. We considered trying to work it into his act but decided it was a little too risque, even for the carnival."

I continued to masturbate while Sarah watched intently. "I really enjoy watching you do that," she said. "Does it feel better in some parts than others?"

"Yes," I said, "give me your hand and I'll show you."

I took her hand in mine and said, "Stick out your index finger and feel this part right here," touching her finger tip to the sensitive spot on the underside just under the crown.

She began to rub it gently. "Does that feel good?"