Finally it had come, the rain they had hoped for, prayed for in the past months. No more dusty days for a while, the fields would be green again, and most importantly, no more dead livestock to deal with. Margaret smiled. 

Then she thought about the events a few weeks prier.  The day that strange man had come into town. A rainmaker. She had heard of them before, but she was not one to believe in such “tom foolery”.

 She had taken the wagon to town that day for supplies. She had seen him standing at the blacksmiths shop, the big red letters on the cover of his wagon.            

“Rainmaker, Spirit Man, Healer.”

“Pish-Posh” She had mumbled to herself as she rode by. Then she caught him starring at her. A strange fear came over her as he locked gazes with her. There was something strange almost evil in his face. Margaret managed to pull her eyes away and then scorned herself for being a silly woman. 

She pulled her buggy up to the town store and got down, tethering her team to the post. She straightened her skirt and went inside.

There was a buzz of conversation about the “Rainmaker” going on among the two ladies and the storekeeper. They were excited that he had come. That maybe he brought hope for rain, and end to the deadly drought that had gripped them for so long. 

Margaret hesitated to join in the conversation as she looked longingly at some new material that had come in. The draught had taken its toll on the ranchers and farmers in the area. They had watched livestock drop dead in the fields as the ponds and rivers turned into mud holes. They all knew if the draught didn’t end soon, they to would surely die. 

Mr. Johnson, the storekeeper was telling the ladies of another rainmaker he had seen when he was a boy, and how in two days this man had caused it to rain. You could see the twinkle in his eyes as he spoke.

“I’m telling you ladies, this works! He is our salvation—just you wait and see! The ladies put their heads together and whispered in low excited tones as the left.

“Good day Mr. Johnson” Margaret smiled as she approached the counter.

“Good day Margaret” He smiled back warmly.  “I guess you have heard the good news?” He asked.

“The Rainmaker?” She didn’t look up at him as she spoke. She continued looking for her list in her handbag.

“Yes! Isn’t it wonderful?” His smile was almost to big for his face.

“Quite frankly Sir, I don’t believe in such non-sense. I believe that the Lord controls the weather, and when he wants it to rain, then it will.” She gave him a half smile as she handed him her list.

Mr. Johnson didn’t reply to her statement, just hurried to get her supplies. Once that had been accomplished and the wagon loaded, he helped Margaret onto the wagon.

“You will see Miss Potts, this man is a god-send” He nodded his head as she spoke.

Margaret bid him good-bye with no response and turned her wagon toward home. As she drove out of town a large crowd had gathered around his wagon. He was standing on a box speaking to them. She could hear him tell them of the miracle he had come to give them.  But at what cost, she thought to herself?

 

 

Margaret became annoyed at the towns people that had ridden out to her place, begging her to give to the “kitty” to pay the Rain Man.

“I know a hundred dollars is a lot right now Miss Potts, but it’s to save us. Don’t you understand we are going to die if it doesn’t rain?” Mr. Paulson was almost red in the face.

“I understand the seriousness of the drought, sir. But that’s no excuse to throw away money on scoundrels; and that is what he is. He is preying on our misfortune and I will not be a part of it.” Margaret turned and shut the door in his face.

“But it has to be all of us or none of us Margaret!” He had yelled through the door.

She watched through her bedroom curtain as Mr. Paulson rode away.

“How can they be so foolish” she thought to herself. If she had that kind of money to throw away, it wouldn’t be to that man. She shuddered when she thought of his face, his eyes.

Three weeks later it still had not rained and Margaret dreaded going to town to see the blacksmith. It was time for her team to be shod again and she knew how angry the townspeople were at her.  As she neared the outskirts she noticed a large crown gathered in an open field. There in the middle was the Rain Man.  She drew her wagon to a stop just along side the crowd. Seeing Mr. Johnson, she called to him.

“What’s going on? “ she asked him as he approached.

“He is starting his rainmaking ceremony!” Mr. Johnson replied.

“How?” Margaret started down at him. “I thought it had to be all or none and I didn’t give any money to this debauchery.

Mr. Johnson lowered his eyes. “Well, Ma’am some of us pitched in together and put your money in.”

“You what?” she stormed at him. She climbed down off the wagon and stormed to the middle of the group.

Turning in circles, looking each person in the face she began to shout at them.

“Have you people lost your mind? Have you let our circumstances turn you into blithering idiots? She walked slowly around the crowd. “You are spending money that you don’t have to spend on some stranger that promises what he cannot produce.” What are you going to do when it doesn’t rain and he is gone? I had told many of you I wanted no part in this skullduggery, and yet you put money in, in my name. This is all a trick, don’t you understand that?”

Just then the Rainmaker put his hand on her shoulder. Miss. Potts. He spoke in a deep threatening tone. Margaret turned quickly and then jerked away from him.

“Don’t touch me Sir.” She spat at him.

“Are you telling me that you, you didn’t give money to the pot for me to perform this ceremony? “

“No Sir! I did not” she replied, then looked at the storekeeper.

The Rainmaker walked over to the Mayor, and handed him the money he had been given.

“I told you Mr. Beggs, it was all or none. I will be on my way now.”

The crowd became a thrill of voices begging the Rainmaker to stay. Some turned on Margaret, screaming and cursing at her. She covered her ears and hurried to her wagon. “You people will thank me when the rain comes and comes with out this fake.”

Margaret rode on into town straight to the blacksmith shop. She waited quietly as he shod her horses then paid him without a word and started home. She had almost gotten to her gate when the Rainmaker pulled up along side her going the opposite direction.

Margaret pulled her team to a stop and stared at him.  “Is there something you wish to say to me Sir?” she asked him with deliberate dislike in her voice.

“I am not accustomed to being treated with such rudeness Miss Potts, nor am I accustomed to leaving a town with out finishing my work. You have doomed this town to death Ma’am. It will be your fault when the rain doesn’t come, and the cattle along with the towns folk die”

“If you have said your piece Sir, good day!” She raised the reigns to go.

“You don’t know who you are messing with!” he growled in an evil tone.

“Oh but I do!” she replied.  “And you don’t scare me for one second, sir.”

“You will see me again Miss Potts, maybe not like this, but you just wait and see, I will be back for you. We are not done!”

Margaret smacked the horses with the reins and clicked at them. She didn’t look back as she went through the gate toward her house, and she never gave him one more thought.

Margaret shook her head and laughed. What was she thinking such dark thoughts for today, today of all days. It was raining, their prayers had been answered, and from the looks of the sky, it might rain for days. 

She sat rocking on her front porch enjoying the cooled rain air, and watching the horses frolicking in the field, when she heard a strange sound. She stood up and walked to the steps.

“What was that?” she said out loud. She strained to hear it again, it sounded like a voice, like a voice coming out of the rain.

“Your loosing your mind Margaret!” she chuckled to herself.  She shook her head as she let it drop slightly. That is when she saw it, there in the large puddle of water forming around her front porch. His face, the Rainmaker’s face was in the water puddle. Margaret jumped back expelling a small scream. Then edged slowly up again. Surely she was seeing things. She held her hand over her heart as she looked down into the water.

His face was still there, smiling in a way that made her cold to the core.

“I told you it wasn’t over!” his voice seemed to come from everywhere around her.

“I told you I would be back for you!”

 That was the last thing Margaret heard just before all went black.