Fever by Jordan L. Hawk EPUB & PDF – eBook Details Online
- Status: Available for Free Download
- Authors: Jordan L. Hawk
- Language: English
- Genre: LGBTQ
- Format: PDF / EPUB
- Size: 2 MB
- Price: Free
THE SWINDLER
“Why you won’t find a better bar of laundry soap west of the
Mississippi,” Doug proclaimed as he held up the simple bar,
wrapped in plain paper. “It will leave your clothes like new, fresh
as can be. But that’s not all!”
I let his words wash over me, the patter as familiar as my own name. A
handful of people stopped to listen to my brother, who stood behind an open
suitcase set atop a wooden crate on a busy Seattle street corner. A few cabs
trundled past, the clop of hooves seeming slower than usual, as if the July
heat was a physical force slowing them down. Most of the traffic along this
lane of shops, saloons, and groceries was on foot, though, making it the
perfect place for the performance.
Performance. Doug liked when I called it that. It sounded better than
“scheme” or “swindle.”
A break in Doug’s patter was my cue. “What’s so special about it?” I
called, as if I’d just happened along and stopped to hear the sales pitch of a
total stranger.
Doug gave me—and the rest of the people who’d stopped to listen—a
smile big enough to show off his gold canine tooth. The original had been
lost to the fist of an unhappy mark back in Colorado. He wore a good suit—
nothing fancy, but with enough obvious quality to make him seem
trustworthy. I, on the other hand, dressed in the rough, patched clothes that
might have belonged to any down-at-the-heels working man.
Most people looked down-at-the-heels these days, of course. The
financial panic of 1893 hit the entire country hard, and left behind an
uncertainty that still lingered four years later.
“I’m glad you asked,” Doug said. “Now, my soap is a dollar per bar—”
“A dollar!” exclaimed another man, who’d stopped to watch. “What’s it
made out of, diamonds?”
“It’s certainly worth its weight in diamonds,” Doug replied smoothly.
“But some of these packages are extra special. You see, some of them have
money concealed within the wrapping—five dollars, ten dollars, and one
lucky buyer will find a crisp new one-hundred dollar bill inside!”
That caught people’s attention, as intended. A few more stopped,
muttering to each other with a mix of hope and skepticism.
They were still circling the hook, though. Which meant it was time for
me to nudge them onto it.
“I don’t believe you,” I declared. “Prove it.”
“Sure thing, friend.” Doug gestured to the neat pyramid of wrapped
soap in front of him. “For the price of one dollar, you can test your luck and
pick out any of these soaps you’d like.”
My face set in an expression of skepticism, I pushed to the front of the
crowd, dug around in my pocket, and produced a worn dollar bill that I
handed to Doug. Then I stood for a moment in front of the stack of soap,
pretending to make a choice, my hand hovering first over one package, then
the other.
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