Excuse me, Mercy asked him. Could you tell me what time it is?
That way, maam. He pointed over her head, and when she followed his finger, she saw an enormous clock. He didnt try to call out the time, which reinforced her suspicion.
So she said aloud, Ten minutes until six. I understand theres a supper included
at six thirty?
Thats right, maam. Its served in the ballroom, down the west wing. Second door to the left. He lowered his voice. But if I were you, maam, Id wait until six thirty on the nose. Mr. and Mrs. Ferson dont take too kindly to those who vulture, as theyre keen to put it.
Thank you, then. For that information, I mean. And could I ask you another question?
By all means, maam.
Could you please direct me to a notions store, or a general goods establishment? Im afraid my-well, most of my luggage was lost, and Ill need to replace some things.
He said, Absolutely. On the next block over, to the left around the corner, youll find Halsteads. If you cant find everything you need there, Im certain that a clerk can point you someplace else.
She thanked him and turned away from the counter, finding her way back out the front door and into the street, where the city looked strangely sharp-filed that way against the long, lingering rays that cut past the mountain and the ridges. Fort Chattanooga was a bustling place, filthy and disorganized. And the fort was furthermore augmented by the addition of city walls where the natural boundaries failed to provide adequate protection against incoming marauders.
Halsteads was the promised block away.
It had a cut-stone front with the establishment name chiseled therein in roman block letters, and a window with printed script scrawled from corner to corner, detailing the days specials.
Mercy pressed the door open and let herself inside.
She found rows of goods precisely ordered and carefully stacked, divided into all the expected categories. She picked up a basket from the doors entrance and a few of the essentials shed lost: a comb, some gloves, a bar of soap that wouldnt make her skin dry and itchy, a toothbrush and some baking soda to mix into a paste, some fabric for sanitary rags, a small sewing kit, a spare pair of stockings, and a handful of other small items that would fit in the large medical satchel-since she didnt feel the need for another portmanteau and she probably couldnt afford it, anyway. What she was carrying would have to suffice. If she had enough money left over for new clothes, shed see about getting some in Tacoma.
After paying the man behind the counter, she returned outside to the busy street with its narrow wooden walkways-or, sometimes, no walkways at all.
When she emerged into the street again, it was almost thoroughly dark, though the sky was still orange around its western edge. Low, tree-smattered mountains, jagged ridges, and the man-made corners of walls had cut off the last of the winter afternoon light, and lamps were coming up everywhere. They popped and fizzed into a white, incandescent glow as a pair of small brown boys in clean gray uniforms took an L -shaped key and removed a panel at the base of the light, then flipped a switch therein. One by one they lit the street this way.
On the nearest corner, a stack of the mornings leftover newspapers was being gathered up for disposal, and a stand for periodicals was closing up and being disassembled. Mercy approached the newspaper stack and the red-haired teenager who was lifting the remaining bundles onto the waste cart. She asked, Can I buy one off you?
He said, Its late. May as well wait for the next edition; itll come up in a few hours.
She looked back and forth between him and the round-bellied man who was hefting the magazines and street literature into his cart. Then she asked, Will you be here in a few hours? It looks like youre leaving.
The kid shifted his eyes sideways, and brought them back to her, but he wore them lidded and wary. He told her, I dont rightly know. Things are about to get messy, I think.
You think?
Well, thats what I heard.
The fat man on the waste cart caught just enough of this to join the conversation. Maam, I dont know what youre doing here-if you missed a train or if youre just passing through, or whatever reason youre lingering on the southside all by your lonesome-but wherever youre going, you might want to head there sooner rather than later.
The line, she guessed.
He nodded. Its coming, one way or tother. Our boys is gonna hole up here, set up the city for siege and response. Dont you worry, though. They wont take Chatty down. I think they know it, too. I dont know what theys trying to prove by bumping up against us like this, but its all right if they want to get theyselves killed.
I heard they brought a walker to the fight last night, Mercy fished.
He snapped, And we brought ours, and brought theirs down. They think they got a foothold, though, so they sneaking
in around Raccoon and lining up behind Signal, he said, meaning that the Union was creeping around from the mountains to the west and north.