The Cleary family called upon Reverend Jonah Catcher. Their youngest daughter Emily was sick with fever; when the cattle fell sick and blood soaked up from crop dirt, the family felt something was not of this world.
The holy man had arrived.
As Catcher had feared, it was a supernatural malady that besieged the little girl. The doctor had done all he could.
The Preacher gave the girl a concoction of herbs and other edibles that would hold back her pain. He would continue his investigation into what was attacking the child.
Dennis Cleary spoke to the preacher on his porch. His eyes were reddened from untold hours of worry and weeping. He spoke of his life before starting a family - his time as a thief, a liar and even a murderer, all of which had sent him to prison. The Preacher told Emily's father that he had paid his debt to society.
Dennis asked the reverend if his daughter's sickness was his fault, if it was God's punishment - the sins of the father.
The Preacher shook his head and consoled the man. He told him that was not the god he served.
The open plan of the Clear spread chilled and only a night bird could be heard.
The Preacher left the house and War Dancer carried him back to town. He feared his next visit would be for Emily's eulogy.
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Book of Jonah - Devils & Deacons: "Suffer a witch..."
FantasyReverend Jonah Catcher is preacher, a sermonizer and a man of the cloth. He is also cursed with a hand of a devil. Given to him by a demon who hid stolen power from Hell itself, the hand grants the Preacher unnatural abilities but not without a pric...
