Sapphic Cowboi (6 page)

He held up the lantern surprised to see a
woman standing there and in men’s clothing! “We’re filling the
water reservoirs ma’am” he told her and Maggie nodded to
acknowledge his answer.

She pushed at the door but had trouble with
it budging this time. It took a couple of tries to get it to slide
shut. The man holding the lantern while the other filled the
reservoir under each car for the lavatories and this stock car
thought her rude not to have stayed and chatted but it wasn’t any
concern of his what she was doing in the stock car and he had his
job to perform.

Maggie made her way in the dark back to
makeshift bed and climbed back in, this time she removed her boots
and rolled up in the blanket. She barely felt it when the train
began to roll again a while later.

It took an extra day to get where she was
supposed to meet up with the circus. It was only supposed to be two
days but a swollen river in Tennessee had made a trestle unsafe to
cross and delayed them by an additional day. Maggie wasn’t happy,
her babies were restless cooped up in the boxcar like they were,
and she needed some open spaces as well. Making her way three times
a day to the dining car was precarious at best but also nerve
racking as people stared at her. She’d changed her clothes every
day to fresh ones so she wasn’t stained or smelly but the unusual
attire on a woman still garnered stares. She finally ordered a
sandwich to go for her lunch to cut down on the number of times she
had to traverse the passenger cars to the dining one. She preferred
her own company and while bored she liked seeing the new and
different scenery. Even when it began to rain late in the second
day she loved the feel of it as it came through the slats of the
boxcar. She hung up her dirtiest shirt to catch some of the wet and
to hopefully wash out some of the worst stains but that wasn’t very
successful, all she ended up with was a wet dirty shirt which she
had to hang up to dry in the crowded car.

As they finally crawled into the station in
Ohio she heard the conductor calling the destination as he had at
every town they had come to. She realized she was here when they
backed up the train onto the side track and uncoupled her stock car
from the rest of the train before going on without her. She
carefully opened the car door to look out seeing a busy metropolis.
So this was Columbus she thought as she looked around.

“
You Maggie O’Malley?”
someone asked nearly causing her to jump out of her
skin.

She looked around and saw the smallest man
she had ever seen in her life. She realized he must be a midget and
probably with the circus. Trying to hide her embarrassment at
staring at him she nodded and asked “is the circus nearby?”

He shook his head amused, Cecil had said she
was from the backwoods but he could see by her slightly dazed
expression she had never seen a town as large as Columbus much less
a midget. “We’re set up at the fairgrounds clear across town which
is good since it’s so noisy over here.”

It was then that the sounds of a large town
began to penetrate Maggie’s mind. She had been used to the noises
of the train and of her horses over the past few days and with the
train now gone the others intruded.

“
Do you need help getting
your horses out?” he asked considerately.

“
I’ll need a ramp” she said
as she glanced at the horses that were milling about impatiently.
They sensed something in the offing and were nervous and excited by
turns.

“
I’ll arrange it; do you
need a wagon or anything for the extra food and hay?”

She glanced at what was left, it was a goodly
amount, she had been grateful for it since her babies had been well
fed during the trip. She nodded as she answered “A wagon or a large
cart.”

He nodded and headed for the depot to make
arrangements. While he was gone she began to attach the ropes to
their halters once again. This told them they were going somewhere
and they began to act up. She was kept busy as she shushed and
quieted them down, petting them and talking sternly to a couple of
them, like you would a fractious child. This all took time and when
she had them all ready the man had a ramp hooked up to the edge of
her car and a disreputable looking cart with an ancient nag hooked
up to it.

“
I’m Perry by the way” he
said to introduce himself as he walked up the ramp with his hand
out.

“
Well you know I’m Maggie”
she grinned showing off her delightful smile that transformed her
into a pretty woman. His hand was small like the rest of him but
she soon found his spirit to be as big as any ones as he looked in
wonder at the beautiful black horses.

“
Wow Maggie, Cecil says you
raised these yourself?” he said admiringly as they pushed the door
wide.

She nodded proudly “yep, all but three of
them which my Daddy raised.”

“
Let’s get them out and we
can load up the cart with the rest of your supplies, nothing goes
to waste” he informed her knowing she would know nothing about the
circus.

She had saddled up Sampson for the trip and
her things were attached to his back. She brought her horses out
two at a time and tied them to the horses in front of them until
she had all of them out of the car. “Ashes, easy boy” she comforted
one of the horses. Some were easier to control than others but over
all they were well behaved but they had been confined for two days,
nearly three so they were anxious to get out. The noises from the
large town weren’t helping their dispositions any. She tied off
Sampson and ordered Feathers to “stay” before going to help Perry
and another man who wasn’t introduced her haul the bales of hay and
bags of feed.

“
Wow, you make that look
effortless” Perry said admiringly as he watched her hoist a bale to
her shoulder.

“
I’ve done it all my life”
she said with her grin as she made her way to the ramp to carry it
to the cart.

With the three of them working it took no
time at all to empty out the boxcar of the unused feed and hay.

“
Should I clean it out?”
Maggie asked Perry as they hauled the last bags of feed to the
cart.

“
Naw, it’s cleaner than I
expected and they will haul away the used hay” he told
her.

It was cleaner because Maggie had been
flinging out the piles whenever she had an opportunity. With that
many horses they had made a lot of manure and it would have piled
up and been ground under their hooves had she not kept on top of
it. She mounted up on Sampson and saw as Perry got up beside the
man on the cart. She wondered how he had gotten to the depot or if
the man was with the circus as she led her horses behind the slow
moving cart.

“
How did you know I would
arrive today?” she asked Perry who looked back at her awkwardly
over the bales of hay from the front seat of the cart.

“
The train wired ahead,
you’re early” he said admiringly. People never were on time and she
was early, who’d of thought?

Maggie subsided into silence since she could
see how difficult it would be to carry on a conversation over the
cart. Besides she had to keep the horses under control.

That many horses attract
attention. That many
black
horses attract a lot of attention. They were
nervous, excited, and a little shy as they began to feel the
release after being cooped up for so many days and nights. Their
coats shined in the sunlight as they trotted and walked, trotted
and walked, showing off a little. It was very slow following the
cart and Maggie wished they would hurry up but the nag pulling the
cart had only one pace, plodding.

It took a while to get across Columbus and to
the fairgrounds where large tents were set up and there were people
everywhere. Perry led her to a non-descript tent before having the
cart stop and climbing down. “Wait here” he called to her as Maggie
looked around.

There were people all over doing all sorts of
things, setting up other tents, practicing acts from what she could
see. Many looked at her just as curiously.

“
Maggie O’Malley!” Cecil
called as he came from the tent Perry had gone into.

She smiled as she slipped off of Sampson to
shake his hand.

“
How was the trip?” he
asked.

“
Long” she said with a
grin.

“
Yes, I heard it was
delayed, I was so hoping to meet you at the depot but I was needed
here to set up. You got here early, that speaks well of you!” he
complimented her. “Let me show you the tent we have for you and
your horses and the temporary paddock for them, I’m sure they want
to run about after being cooped up for so long.”

Perry climbed up on the cart again and
directed the driver ahead of Maggie and Cecil as they walked along.
Maggie led Sampson and two horses were tied behind him, two behind
them, and so on until the whole dozen came along. They made their
own procession.

“
You’ll be responsible for
the gear we bought, keeping it in good condition, letting me know
what might need replacing if anything gets broken but we have those
feathers and other nick knacks ready for the dears” Cecil was
telling her.

They came to one of the permanent buildings
on the fairgrounds where a small tent was set up next to a large
paddock with overgrown grass inside it.

“
I thought they could earn
their keep by mowing it down for us” Cecil joked.

The cart stopped and Perry got down to join
them.

“
Now Perry can introduce you
to some of the clowns who can help you get your horses settled in
and show you around.”

Maggie nodded wondering when they would want
her and her horses to perform.

“
I found someone to work
with you, I’ll send her over later so she can get used to the
horses and you two can work on your act” Cecil told her. “If there
is anything you need, you just ask Perry and we will see what we
can do. I’ve got to go attend to a million things, my brother and
father will be around to introduce themselves.”

Maggie was a bit overwhelmed in the
unfamiliar surroundings but her babies came first so she went to
get them settled putting them in the paddock as Perry held open the
gate. She took the halters off them and gave each a slap on the
rump as she freed them into the paddock. They ran off a few steps
and turned to watch as she released another horse and then another
until all of them except for Sampson were in the overgrown paddock.
She quickly stripped her saddle and gear from his back and took off
his halter as well before walking with him to the gate and
releasing him.

“
Where do you want this?”
the old man who had driven the cart asked her.

Maggie looked at Perry who shrugged and she
glanced around noticing an overhang that would be out of the rain
should it come again and pointed. In no time at all the three of
them had the cart unloaded and the hay and grain stored. Maggie
kept looking at her herd to make sure they were settling in okay
and saw them exploring the unfamiliar place and nibbling at the
overgrown grass. They were watching her too as well as the activity
and unfamiliar noises going on all around them.

“
Would you like a tour?”
Perry offered after they were finished and the cart and man
gone.

“
I suppose so” Maggie said
feeling a little intimidated. There were so many people here, more
than her town she had grown up in and all so very busy.

“
Ah, don’t be like that, we
are just one big family” he assured her.

He was right, everyone while peculiar to look
at, some in very fancy costumes, very unusual poses as they
practiced for tonight’s shows, were welcoming. Many made overtures
of friendship immediately. They had heard about her and while not
the only new act in the show they were curious about her and
willing to help her out to get comfortable.

“
You come see me honey if
you want makeup on that pretty face of yours for the show” one
offered.

“
I saw your horses and wow
they are a beautiful bunch” another complimented her.

Compliments about her horses she could
handle, the ones about herself made her a little uncomfortable. The
people were honest and open and few had personalities she wouldn’t
like. Most had come across as family members and she relaxed in
that way towards them even if she could never remember all their
names.

“
See honey, we are just one
wild and wooly family” Perry assured her as he introduced her to
his fellow clowns some of whom were already in makeup. Some were
midgets such as himself, some were fat, some were skinny, and they
all made her feel welcome.

She laughed as they teased her and found out
that they did much more than make people laugh; many of them were
hard workers behind the scenes or roustabouts and set up many of
the side shows that people flocked to.

It was as she was returning to her paddock
and tent that a man came running up “Are you Maggie O’Malley?” he
asked breathlessly.

“
Yes?” she asked
alarmed.

“
I’m Carlton Bigelow and I
need you to come with me now!” he told her importantly.

She was surprised but she nodded and found
herself following him. Feathers had got up at seeing her
approaching the paddock where he lay in the shade but she signaled
him to stay where he was.

He led her to an important looking tent and
following him in she found Cecil inside with a much older man that
could only be their father.