Townsfolk found him bleeding in a gulch, broken bottles of Doctor Curiel’s Cure-All shattered at his feet. He had criss-crossed the country, over mountains and plains, to sell his coca-infused concoction, never visiting the same town or woman twice. There were two things he couldn’t cure: heartbreak and bullet wounds.

Jacqueline Seaberg has published poetry in the Formalist, Light Quarterly and bottle rockets and short stories in Prime Decimals and 101 Words. Find her online at jackieseaberg.com.