The Medicine Woman of Galveston

Tucia comes across a book of palmistry in the storage wagon and has an idea. Invigorated by the experience of having dispensed actual medical advice to the man with tuberculosis, she convinces Huey that “Madame Zabelle” ought to set up a palm-reading tent; she decides to secretly offer some useful advice alongside the readings. After studying for five days and practicing on the others, Tucia finally sets up her tent one evening and sees her first client.

Tucia finds it surprisingly easy to slip health advice to her palmistry customers, as they are already looking for answers about their lives, including their health. It feels like she is doing something good again. She experiences neither her anxiety nor the urge to pluck her hair.

The group moves on to their next destination, only to find it in the midst of preparations for the county fair. An enraged Huey eventually manages to secure stalls for the steep price of $100. Huey sells his medicine at one stall while “Madame Zabelle” is set up for palm-reading in another, with Toby and Kit seated together underneath Tucia’s table. Darl comes by later in the day and offers to take Toby around, and Tucia gratefully accepts.

After a long day, Tucia heads to the nearby river to bathe, only to find Darl already there. Stunned to see scars crisscrossing his back, she tentatively asks about them, and he tells her he got them in prison: He and Huey were in a “chain gang,” laying railroad tracks together.

The narrative shifts to Darl’s flashback. Darl hated his father and tried to run away from home twice when he was a little boy. Both times, his father caught him and beat him badly; the second time was so bad, his father split open the stitches where the doctor had tried to sew up Darl’s cleft palate.

One of the old hands on the farm took pity on Darl and taught him all he knew, but when Darl grew up, he began to repeat a lot of his father’s behaviors: Drinking and fighting. After beating up the mayor’s son in a bar one night, Darl got thrown into prison; there, he resolved to change his ways, as he wanted to be nothing like his father.

Seven years into Darl’s sentence, Huey joined the “chain gang.” Darl never learned what Huey was in for, but was amazed at how he managed to charm his way through most things. Darl kept his distance initially, distrusting Huey’s ways, but Huey eventually convinced Darl that they were friends. By the time Darl realized the truth, “it was too late” (259).

The narrative returns to the present timeline. Moved by Darl’s trust in her, Tucia tells him her own story: In the operating theatre, she was called upon to do a hysterectomy, but discovered the case was more complicated once she had cut the abdomen open. Tucia was too proud to ask for help, and the overseeing surgeon, Dr. Addams, was too controlling and manipulative to give it unasked.

Tucia tearfully asserts the unfairness of her having escaped despite having killed someone, while Darl was thrown in prison for a lesser offense. Darl points out that she had been trying to save someone, unlike him. Tucia offers him a palm reading, and the two share a moment of closeness. Darl kisses Tucia and she responds eagerly, but as the kiss deepens, she disengages and runs away.

Tucia runs back to the wagon, plucking her hair in distress. Despite desiring more from Darl and knowing he will not hurt her like Dr. Addams did, she is unable to return to him.

Huey hurries the group to pack up and leave early the next morning. Tucia drives her wagon with just Toby and Kit for company, as Darl joins Lawrence to drive the supply wagon. However, as she grows hot and tired, unable to tend to Toby, who is also turning irritable, Tucia cracks a wheel spoke when she accidentally drives the wagon into a hole. Huey doesn’t allow the rest of the group to wait; he orders Tucia to help Darl fix the spoke and catch up when they are done.

When Darl mentions the previous night, Tucia states it was a “mistake,” and a hurt Darl doesn’t let her explain. As they work, two riders arrive and demand to know where Huey’s location. They reveal he had promised them not only $100, but also half their profits for the stall slots, and left without paying the remainder. Tucia realizes this is why Huey hurried them away so early.

When the men learn Huey is up ahead, they decide to collect the payment from Darl and Tucia instead. They forcibly search Tucia’s wagon, making a mess of things inside, and emerge with all the money she has saved from her palmistry tent and some of Toby’s toys. When Tucia protests the toy theft, the men threaten to assault her. As they approach, Kit jumps on one of the men and bites his nose hard, drawing blood. Tucia warns him that he ought to get the bite checked out, as animals like Kit could be carrying any number of diseases. Terrified, the man urges his companion to return to town, and the two of them leave.

Once they catch up with the rest of the group, Darl confronts Huey angrily, threatening to leave. The others discuss how Huey is growing reckless, as he has never outright broken the law before. However, they continue on with their journey the next day, and the days pass as usual. Tucia continues to secretly dispense medical advice wherever they go, her palmistry tent becoming extremely popular.

One Sunday, Al falls off a tree and breaks his arm. Tucia successfully resets his bone and administers the medicine he needs, checking in on his progress for days. A grateful Cal asks Tucia to join him for a cup of tea and tells her the rest of his and Fanny’s story.

The narrative shifts to Cal’s flashback. Calvin Trout is born with an inherent musical ability, able to play any instrument. He works in a factory as a little boy, but after getting fired for having trouble with his legs, he begins busking. A few years in, he begins receiving invitations to play with different bands, and travels around doing this for a while. He eventually joins the Danbury, Blum and Co. Circus, where he meets and falls in love with Fanny.

Calvin and Fanny often talk of leaving, but Fanny feels unable to leave without her friend Lena, and Lena won’t leave without Bruno. Neither Calvin nor Fanny can stand the physically abusive Bruno, and so they assume they will never be able to leave. Lena becomes pregnant, and although she delivers a healthy baby boy, Bruno doesn’t notice that she is in distress after the birth; she bleeds out and dies in front of him. A distraught Fanny confronts Bruno, who punches her in anger. When Fanny hits back in retaliation, Bruno falls back and hits his head against a table, dying instantly.

Cal sets fire to the tent in which Lena and Bruno’s bodies lie, and he, Fanny, and Lena’s newborn son—whom they christen Albrecht—leave the circus that same night. They run into Huey and his medicine show the next day, and he immediately offers them spots with him. A few months in, however, when Cal and Fanny decide to part ways with Huey, he shows them a newspaper article detailing an accidental fire at the circus that claimed the lives of Lena, Bruno, and presumably their newborn son. Huey threatens to tell the police how he found Cal and Fanny, along with a newborn, wandering near the same circus the day after the accident, smelling of smoke. Since then, Cal and Fanny have never tried to leave Huey’s show again.

The narrative returns to the present-day timeline. Huey calls a meeting and informs the group that they are going to overwinter in Galveston instead of their usual destination of Los Angeles. He has an acquaintance in Galveston who owns a museum and is adding a theatre; the group will set up there. Despite the group’s protests that it is too early to overwinter, Huey insists they will be leaving.

Tucia overhears Darl unsuccessfully arguing with Huey that Galveston is too risky, as they could be recognized. She visits Darl in his tent that night, asking him not to leave. He claims he cannot anyway, as thoughts of her consume him. They make love, and Darl tells her why he cannot escape Huey: Huey convinced Darl to break out of prison with him. If either of them are caught, they will both be sent back. Tucia, in turn, tells him the truth about Toby’s parentage, revealing Dr. Addams doesn’t even know Toby exists.

The group arrives in the south of Texas three days later. Fanny is nervous and confides in Tucia that being on an island terrifies her: Her family suffered a terrible crossing over water when they migrated to the US. Tucia soothes her, advising Fanny to breathe. Tucia also admits her secret relationship with Darl to an observant Fanny, who is happy for her. As they cross over to Galveston, Tucia admires the beautiful island, wondering, “What harm could possibly come to them here?” (307).

The group is put up in a boarding house on Postoffice Street, where the neighboring buildings are all “brothels.” After dinner, Tucia goes to find Darl at his invitation, but accidentally ends up outside Huey’s room instead. Huey, who is heading out for a walk, escorts Tucia to her own room and mysteriously asserts that he has big plans for them in Galveston.

Darl is missing from breakfast the next morning, and Huey takes the others to see the museum before Darl appears. On the ride to the museum, Tucia admires the stately building and the charm of the town, seeing how someone could come to love it there.

The group arrives at Darby’s Museum of Wonders. Different sections are filled with what are claimed to be historical artifacts from around the world, but Tucia is sure it is all fake. When she points this out to one of the other patrons, Mr. Darby himself emerges from the shadows and reassures them of their authenticity.

Mr. Darby greets the group and leads them to a stage, where Huey is waiting. They pass a staircase over which hangs a “GENTLEMEN ONLY” sign, and Tucia and Fanny shudder to think of what lies beyond. Huey and Mr. Darby discuss their plans to begin shows the day after, and the group cannot help but think it all sounds too good to be true.

Mr. Darby treats the group to dinner, after which Tucia finally makes it up to Darl’s room at night. The two make love and Tucia asks Darl to join the rest of the group on their day off the next day. Darl demurs, stating he has work. Tucia and the others head down to the beach after breakfast the next morning.

On the way, Kit runs off and Toby chases him, and the pair are found by a group of sex workers, Anna, Lucy, and Mabel, who are thoroughly amused by their antics and return them to Tucia. The men make their way to a bathing house while Tucia, Toby, Kit, and Fanny stay on the beach. Darl unexpectedly shows up as well, having blown off work, and Tucia reflects on how she is falling in love with him.