Quoted By:
"Ah, of course, of course! Well, child," she propped up her cane and placed both palms upon it, "it hasn't been very long since an attack, see. It's nothing so fierce as what I saw back in my day, when I was a younger girl off in the east, but you see," the woman cleared her throat and adjusted her half-moon glasses, "well, the younger men and women here, they haven't seen war like I have. They saw lightning and thunder and loud baahs of livestock and thought, why, surely the devil himself had touched down on their little town."
You watched Steele disappear down the line and talk to some man in a vest and pants nearer to the entrance while the old lady continued on.
"But, ah, I noticed! I knew better, I saw the panic in their little faces! Like your little sheep, here, there were once many of her kind... many, many indeed! And, oh, they <span class="mu-i">hated</span> the gunfire. As did I! It was intolerable, to fire on these creatures so readily! When all they had done was make noise and run about, their little tails glowing, sparks lighting their little wooly dresses! Yet they did, they did! And now we have here, lines and lines, scores of stupid people," she coughed and cleared her throat once more, "people who felt that the mines would be safer, people who'd forgotten about the water..."
Steele had returned as the lady continued to ramble. You greeted him with a handshake and he tipped his hat to the woman with a brief "madam" accompanying it. She took this as a sign to continue.
"...i'm just here for a little poisoning, you see..."
You began whispering to him while she continued. Steele brought the same information the woman had, yet made it brief. The Iron Mountain Mines had left almost half the workforce sick, the town was still recovering days later.
"...my little doggie, oh, she protested! But I needed to bring her with me, as the doctor had ordered..."
The pair of you would be lucky to get an appointment in the next week. He'd mentioned your dog bite and gotten some salve to clean it up with, but that was the most you three could hope for without cutting in line.
"...oh, my, was it enormous. A buzzing metal thing flying overhead..."
You stopped the lady and thanked her for her time. She was surprised to hear you were leaving-- "So soon? You're limping, child!"
After the explanation she conceded. "A doggie bite... oh dear. It'll be a few days, but you can take your leave."
And so you did, merrily.
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