showed Emily a small paper parcel that bore the stamp of the station’s dry-goods store. Rose took out its contents one by one. Blackstrap molasses. Fluid extract of coca. Ground coffee beans, calomel, and brandy.
“What’s all that for?” Emily said.
“It’s for your friend. My mam used to stir some of this up whenever my Uncle Sal was having a bad time of it. She called it ‘Mother Roscoe’s Eye-Opener.’ I don’t know who Mother Roscoe was, but I’ll wager she had lots of eyes to open in her time.” Then, using the tin pan she’d boiled her tea water in, Rose began to mix the ingredients, using an alarmingly heavy hand with the coca extract. The girl swirled everything around, then put the pot on the coal stove.
“It has to boil for a bit,” Rose said as the train lurched and got under way. In a bit, the smell of sickly sweet steam filled the cabin, and the girl took the pot off the boil and set it aside. When it was cool, she poured a little into a tin cup and showed it to Emily.
“Are you sure it’s safe?” Emily said.
“Oh, yes, perfectly safe.” Rose lifted it to her lips, drank deeply. Her eyes went wide and she hiccupped. “Tasty, too! You think you can make your friend drink it?”
Emily took the cup, sniffed it. She swallowed a mouthful. It was sweet and bitter at the same time, and there was an aftertaste of metal filings and rust. It burned going down her throat, and even the small sip she’d taken made her heart thunder in her chest. It made her feel like she could leap out of the train and run all the way across the continent under her own steam. Yes, Mother Roscoe certainly knew how to open eyes! She lifted the cup to Stanton’s lips, digging her fingers into the hinge of his jaw to make his mouth open.
“Come on,” she whispered, massaging his throat, willing him to swallow. “This is your last chance, Dreadnought Stanton. Otherwise I’m going to New York without you.”
She was answered with a little coughing choke from Stanton. A flicker of distaste passed across his face. He weakly lifted a hand as if to bat the cup away from his lips. Hope rose in Emily’s chest. She tipped more of the liquid down his throat.
“Not too much,” Rose admonished. “Just keep after him slow-like. Mam says too much Eye-Opener all at once can make a man’s heart explode.”
Emily kept administering small doses of the stimulant over the next couple of hours, happily noting its positive effects. Stanton even opened his eyes once, though they fell shut again abruptly after. Finally, as they were pulling into Ogden, he opened his eyes and they stayed open. He looked at Emily with slowly focusing recognition.
“All right,” he croaked. “What’s all this?”
Emily could have kissed him. Instead she explained the situation to him, speaking slowly, keeping her words small.
“We’re pulling in to Ogden. We have to switch trains. You have to wake up.”
“I’m very tired, Emily,” he mumbled, tucking his head against her shoulder. “Just let me sleep awhile longer.”
Emily glanced at Rose; the girl had her lower lip between her teeth and was making a great show of looking up at the ceiling.
“It’s Elmer, remember?” she hissed, jerking her shoulder up. Then she put her mouth closer to his ear. “Caul attacked you with some kind of spell. You have to shake it off!” She tipped a large dose of the stimulant down his throat, and he gagged, spluttering. He sat forward in the seat, coughing loudly. Emily thumped him on the back.
The train was slowing as it pulled in to the station at Ogden. Stanton was still coughing as it lurched to a halt.
“We’re here,” Emily said. “Come on. We have to go.”
With a great deal of effort, Stanton pulled himself to his feet.
“Food,” he said. “I need food.”
“Can you walk?” she said.
“Of course I can walk,” he said, falling to the ground with a thundering crash. All eyes in the car turned to them. Emily lifted a reassuring hand.
“He’s all right,” she squeaked, forgetting entirely to keep her voice low. She reached down and helped Stanton up.
They climbed down off the train into the bright sunshine. Stanton squinted hard, lifting a shaking-weak hand to shade his eyes. There were dozens of farm women selling merchandise on the platform. Stanton walked dazedly past each one, pointing out what he wished Emily to purchase.