I sit waiting. I am tired of huddling in my home for the inevitable. I figure he will find me anyway. Why not make myself more visible? So I sit at the bar in Lion and Bell resigned to my fate in an unsavory part of Philadelphia known as Helltown. The whiskey and hot water warm my innards as I sit contemplating the man who will spill them.
Really, no place is safe when someone wants to kill you. I have that same sinking feeling I used to get when I served under General Washington. His Excellency had some idea we could defeat the Redcoats with our bare hands since many of us traveled without muskets. Oh, he talked big at the officers’ dinners, but he knew we were under armed.
While I wait, I spin a pocket watch I took off an unsuspecting fop earlier today. It was one of the only things I had of value. Well, Leonidas is worth fifty or sixty pounds, but I could never part with my slave. He is not property so much as company, but to emancipate him would not be to my advantage. The man who seeks to kill me will not be swayed by money.
A man, two stools down, ogles my shiny timepiece. “What are you looking at Bag-o-Bones?”
He moves to the end of the bar and I grin. No need to make new friends on my last day on earth.
Owen, the barkeep, believes the watch will make a nice down payment on my account. He has a point. If the man shoots me in his establishment, Owen should be compensated for the mess. I ask for another tankard full and run up the tab.
Owen likes me. He carries a certain respect for my war years. I once commanded his dad, or someone similar to his dad, at the fighting in Brooklyn Heights. The more whiskey he pours the more I embellish the all too familiar story.
A single voice booms from behind me, “Captain Saunders! It is time to meet your maker!”
The latest historical novel titled The Whiskey Rebels by David Liss will have you immersed in another time and place.
This is one of hubby’s favorite authors. He picked up my copy of The Coffee Trader out of boredom a couple of years ago and then had to read them all. Liss has also written The Ethical Assassin, A Conspiracy of Paper, A Spectacle of Corruption and The Devil’s Company.”
Wednesday, September 08, 2010
The Whiskey Rebels (copy)
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
I am going to post about this book in a few days or so (if not today). I listened to the audio book and LOVED it. Captain Saunders...you rascal you. Love it.
Wow. Sounds awesome. He's a new to me author.
I just suggested this audio to my hubby.
Yay! Y'all keep up the good reading and listening! :)
Post a Comment