Sapphic Cowboi (5 page)

“
You’ll want to keep that
door closed” he indicated the side of the rail road car. “It
invites tramps and thieves to take free rides” he
advised.

Maggie nodded not saying much as she
effortlessly climbed back up into the car from the ground. He
watched as the manly dungarees hugged her behind and then flushed
at seeing such an intimate part of a woman’s anatomy. He turned
away to return to his duties. Maggie sat on one of her hay bales as
she looked at the horses who stood around in the car with her
nibbling at the hay and watching her to see if she wanted anything
their tails swishing at the flies that had followed them into the
stock car to occasionally bite painfully. Feathers came close to
put his head on her leg and offer her the comfort of his presence.
A horse or two leaned down as she petted each of them in mutual
comfort. All of them jumped at the sound of the train coming, its
whistle piercing the air and announcing its arrival to the
town.

Maggie looked out the car to look down the
track as the train came rushing in, noisy and huge, scaring the
woman as it rushed by and the people looking out the windows of the
train car surprised to see her there looking back at them. It
stopped with a great screeching of noise as brakes were applied and
came to a halt in front of her, it’s length obscured on one end by
the steam that rose from it, the other end not that far beyond her
and clear in the morning air. Maggie wiped the sweat from her brow,
using her sleeve as she nervously watched through the windows of
the car in front of her as people stood up and left on the other
side. A child in one of the cars stared curiously at the woman
standing in the doorway of the stock car as she looked just as
curiously into the windowed passenger car.

“
Miss O’Malley?” a voice
called as they came down the track and she looked to see one of the
clerks from the depot along with a uniformed man.

“
Yes?” she answered as she
stared down at them.

“
This is the conductor and
he will make sure your stock car gets attached after they disembark
their passengers and one other car onto the siding.”

“
Thank you” she nodded
politely to the conductor who stared at her curiously wondering at
her manly attire.

“
I understand you will be
dining with us” he offered to make a bit of conversation and to
perhaps relax the woman; he understood some of these people down
here were a little shy.

“
Yes sir” she answered
politely minimizing her words.

“
Be careful about climbing
among the moving cars” he advised and then pointed out the sliding
door on the end that would allow her to climb from her stock car to
the passenger car that it would be attached to. “You can walk
through there to the dining car” he told her and she nodded again
to acknowledge his advice.

“
Thank you” was all she said
and he understood she was a bit skittish. He wondered what she
would wear to dinner and hoped it wouldn’t be the manly shirt and
dungarees he saw on her now. He nodded in return and giving her a
salute returned to his duties accompanied by the clerk.

The train pulled ahead and she soon saw the
depot in plain sight again. Several people loitered about watching
as the train pulled ahead and staring curiously at the stock car
with the woman and dog standing in the doorway. The darkness of the
car hid the horses within with their black coats making them
perfect shadows.

The train pulled far enough ahead and a
signal was given halting it as it began to roll backwards and a
switch was pulled to make it roll onto side tracks. It pushed a car
onto another set far enough and the train once again halted. Men
quickly unhooked this car and once again the train pulled ahead,
the switch was pulled again and the train once again rolled
backwards, this time towards Maggie’s stock car coming closer and
closer until it coupled with it. The resulting bump while expected
still staggered Maggie and she glanced back to check on her babies
who all bobbled at the unexpected jolt to their balance. None of
them were knocked off their feet as they nervously looked around
wondering why their floor had moved. Maggie swung back in time to
pull back in alarm as the door slid along its track and nearly
guillotined her after bouncing back along its track from the jar.
It closed and she reached for the handle with a racing heart
realizing how foolish it had been to stand in an open doorway with
a moving train about to bump their car. She could hear the men
already making sure of the connection and calling to one another as
it was soon attached. She opened the door a crack to see the clerk
wave at her and she returned the wave. Quickly, almost too quickly
the train was set in motion again and Maggie and her horses were on
their way adjusting to the sensation of the movement of the train.
Maggie left the door ajar but stayed well away from its possible
movement as she turned to comfort her horses in their unfamiliar
environment. Her presence alone was enough but her words, pats, and
encouragement appeased any fractious behavior. They settled down as
the train made its way to its next destination.

Maggie stayed well away from the open door
but watched through it and the slats of the car at the passing and
constantly changing scenery. The train went quickly as it built up
steam and the trees went by alarmingly fast, faster than she could
ride on one of her magnificent horses. If she watched too long she
became dizzy at the speeds they were reaching but she found by
looking out at the scenery that her queasy stomach settled. She
breathed a sigh of relief as the train slowed for its next
scheduled stop watching anxiously as the horses adjusted to the
braking train. She took the opportunity to look around and saw a
depot not unlike the one in Jackson as she looked out. This soon
became old hat as the train started and stopped at various towns.
Her car was put onto a siding and hooked up to a north bound train
at some point causing her some anxiety as the men uncoupled her car
and hooked her up to the other, they weren’t as smooth as the
others and one of the horses went to its knees at the jarring that
occurred. She checked on him and found him startled but okay, his
knees just needing brushing off and he was unhurt.

It became tedious to stop and start at the
various towns even on this different train. The landscape began to
change as they headed north and all day long she watched as she
went further and further north and away from all she had known. She
had a scare when someone tried to jump into her car but Feathers
rushed him snarling and growling and his astonished face
disappeared before he even got into the rail road car he had
thought would be easy to hop with its tantalizingly open door.
Maggie thought to close the door after that but with the oppressive
heat of so many horses in the car, the heat of the summer, and the
aroma of horse dung she needed as much air flowing in the car as
possible. The open slats now made sense for the stock car. She
flung the manure out after leaving one town knowing they would have
a lot more for her as time progressed and hoping to alleviate some
of the fresh manure smell from the car. She didn’t mind horsey
smells, she was used to them, but the flies and aroma could be
eliminated somewhat by getting rid of it.

Slowly the day turned into afternoon and she
found herself hungry. She eyed the little door in one end of the
car that led to the other cars and wondered if she could make her
way to the dining car. She brushed off her dungarees and checked
her shirt for stains, other than horse slobber and sweat she felt
herself presentable running her fingers through her short hair to
check for hay. She closed the side door while she was gone making
sure it slammed shut and then made her way to the door sliding up.
Feathers had followed her and a couple of the horses were watching
her “stay” she said in a commanding voice as she slid out and
gulped at the passing tracks below the gap between the two coupled
cars. She slid the door closed so Feathers wouldn’t try to come out
of the box car and carefully balancing she stepped onto the
coupling and then onto the back of the passenger car. She made her
way over the rail and breathed a sigh of relief. One slip and she
would have been under the train and crushed to death and no one
would have known until her horses showed up without her in Ohio.
She gulped at the thought as she brushed herself off one more time
unconsciously in her nervousness. Opening the door several people
looked up in surprise and she ignored them as she made her way
through. Several were surprised at her attire as they realized she
was a woman, several wrinkled their nose at the spots on her shirt;
some imagined they could smell whatever those spots were.

She went through two passenger cars until she
came to a lavatory where she washed off the sweat of her horses and
saw herself for the first time in days in a mirror. She looked
pretty grungy but there was no help for that. She washed up in the
bowl amazed at the running water that came from the faucet of a
moving train. She used the toilet and flushed it, again amazed as
she had used the outdoors or a privy on the farm. She washed her
hands again and glancing at the mirror she shrugged, she was as
clean as she was going to be after traveling two days, sleeping out
under the stars, and while basically neat there were some things
like sweat and the dirt from the horses’ coats that she could do
nothing about.

Several people were staring at her as she
came out of the lavatory. She ignored them and went into the dining
car. “May I help you…” a liveried servant hesitated unsure how to
address the manly attired woman in front of him “ma’am?”

If Maggie was aware of the subtle insult or
his hesitation she showed no sign of it “I’d like to eat” she said
instead and he showed her to a small table where she could eat
alone. Several people looked at her oddly but for the most part she
was ignored.

“
Do you know what you want
or would you like to see a menu?” he asked.

“
I have on my ticket here
that I’m to get meals included” she showed him her traveling
tickets and he nodded. “What do I get for that?”

He handed her a menu and realizing she must
be a country bumpkin by her slight drawl and mannerisms he smiled
kindly and leaned in “you can order anything off the menu with that
ticket.”

Maggie smiled her thanks and he was struck by
how pretty she looked when she did smile. He left her to read the
menu. Maggie looked at the words but comprehended none of them.
There were no pictures either to help her understand what they
might say. She glanced around and saw no one watching her but she
also saw what others were eating. When the waiter returned she
quickly asked about the meal ‘specials’ to hide the fact that she
couldn’t read the menu and he happily told her as she decided and
he went to fetch her meal. Maggie looked out the window as she
waited getting almost as good a view as her box car had afforded
her through the glass.

It didn’t take that long for them to bring
her a salad and she looked at it oddly, it was a lot more than the
greens she had been expecting with what looked like fruit and nuts
and she tasted it carefully before finding it to her liking. The
water glass was filled and she gratefully took a large sip as she
ate her salad. She hadn’t realized how hungry she really was until
she began to fill the empty space in her gut. She made sure she had
her napkin on her lap and kept her elbows off the table. She might
not be like a normal lady but she knew her manners. After she was
done with the salad the waiter brought her the main meal of mashed
potatoes, carrots, and a slice of a pork chop. It was hot too and
she marveled at it all as she dug in to the delicious meal. She
hadn’t imagined such luxury when she thought about traveling with
the circus and wondered what the real travel would be like. She was
excited and nervous all at the same time.

As she made her way back to the boxcar people
looked at her curiously again. When she disappeared through the end
door only a few guessed she must be with the stock car attached to
the back of the train. Feathers was glad to see her as he wagged
his tail in greeting. A few of the horses snuffled at her searching
for treats. She went over to her gear and got out a small bowl and
fed Feathers some dried food she had brought along for him. He
could get water from the horse’s trough any time he wished it.

As the sun went down she dozed in the car
feeling the rocking of the train as they rushed north. It got
boring looking out at the fascinating scenery but she had occupied
most of her day doing just that. She got up and stretched several
of the horses looking at her lazily as they too dozed in the
boxcar. She brushed off her clothes again and headed for the hatch
to go through to the dining car. The same waiter was there to help
her but this time he scowled at her. She didn’t understand his
hostility until she realized he had only been nice anticipating a
tip from her as she saw others leaving something on the table after
their meal. She ordered hurriedly from what she saw others eating
and fished in her pocket after the meal to leave what she saw
others leaving but she left twice the amount in two distinct piles
of coins hoping he would realize she was making up for her lunch
mistake as she quickly got out of there. She used the facilities
again and washed up as best she could for the night before heading
back to the safety and anonymity of her box car feeling better
among her horses as she curled up on the hay bales and watched the
occasional lights flash by in the darkness.

It was Feathers growl that woke her at some
point. “Shush” she quieted him as she woke up more completely in
the unfamiliar surroundings. The train had stopped for some reason
in the middle of the night and she tried to see out. Someone was
making a lot of noise under the boxcar and she got up to pull open
the car door and look down. She saw someone with a lantern and she
called to him “what’s going on?”