Dreams of a Kitten by Edward Drobinski - HTML preview

Dreams of a Kitten

Page 692

I was conflicted about supporting a runaway slave, but when two

white men seeking runaways came upon the raft, my lies convinced

them to leave. Jim and I then realized that we has passed Cairo.

With no way to go upriver, we decided to continue downriver. The

raft got struck by a passing steamship, again separating us. On

the riverbank, I met the Grangerfords, who were engaged in a 30

year feud with the Shepherdsons. After a Grangerford daughter

eloped with a Shepherdson boy, all of the Grangerford men were

killed in a Shepherdson ambush. I escaped and was reunited with

Jim, who had recovered and repaired the raft.

Jim and I were then joined by two confidence men claiming to be

a King and a Duke, and they roped Jim and me into aiding in

several scams. In one town, the King and the Duke cheated the

townsfolk over two nights with a short, overpriced stage

performance. On the third, the grifters collected the admission

fee from the previous audience members bent on revenge, then

fled the town. In the next town, the swindlers impersonated the

brothers of the recently deceased Peter Wilks and attempted to

steal his estate. I tried to retrieve the money for Wilks's

orphaned nieces. Two other men claiming to be Wilks' brothers

arrived, causing an uproar. I fled but was caught by the King

and the Duke. I escaped but found that they sold Jim to the