Page 322 Cold Days Harry knocks some small clay pots from a shelf... The have labels, he makes an
effort to pick them up, Mother Summer takes the cracked small pot from Harry's hands..
As gently as if handling a newborn, she took the little clay pot from me and turned it slowly, closed her eyes for a moment, and then put it reverently back on the shelf.
When she took her hands from the little pot, I saw letters written in silvery light upon it and the neighboring pots, as if letters had been awakened by the warmth of her hands.
The writing on the cracked pot said simply Wormwood.
The letters began to fade, but I saw some of the others: Typhus.Pox. Atermors. Choleros. Malaros.
Typhus. Smallpox. The Black Death. Malaria. And Wormwood.
I bring this up because today on NPR they were saying that they have found that a simple tea brewed from Wormwood can cure schistosomiasis, a very nasty parasitic disease common in Africa, and that it is also a useful ingredient in a treatment of malaria... I remember when Cold Days came
out there was a rather long thread on this passage, mainly speculating on wormwood... The radio said simply that it is a common bush in Africa, had been used against worm infestations by the natives for years hence the name wormwood... And that they have found in a study that the tea from it is more effective than a fancy expensive medicine they've come up with. Notice that Mother
Summer handled the little pot that contained it with
reverence.. Because it can bring a cure to so many things? An answer to be found among the so many dreaded diseases...