Sapphic Cowboi (9 page)

Maggie had the horses
looking sharp. They had all relaxed and stayed away from the
outstretched hands of people wanting to pet the beautiful black
horses. The animals flicked their ears when people talked to them
but they weren’t Maggie and they answered only to
their
Maggie and looked
curiously at the others who tried to entice them closer. Several
people tried to climb under or over the fence and with or without
Maggie there it had been handled. Between the horses rushing them,
Feather’s growling and barking, or Maggie warning them away the
impression was that these were wild and unmanageable horses and not
to be trifled with.

Martha showed up ten minutes before they were
to go into the tent that night. Maggie was shocked, she was dressed
in a harem outfit, or so she assured the surprised Maggie. It left
very little to the imagination. She didn’t quite fit in the outfit,
her face had been painted up almost like one of the clowns, she
thought she looked marvelous though as she drunkenly came up to the
corral.

“
Which one am I riding?” she
slurred her words slightly.

Maggie wasn’t sure she wanted her to ride any
of her babies but she had promised, signed a contract even, to
perform with another woman on her horses. The fact that they hadn’t
let her chose the woman, that this woman was drunk and totally
inappropriate, that wasn’t her fault, she would have to make do.
Considering she pointed out Ashes and asked “can you ride bare
back?”

“
Bare back?” Martha replied
stupidly blinking at the concept. “No, I can’t ride bare back,
fetch me a saddle.”

There was no time and Maggie knew she didn’t
have a saddle that would fit Ashes. The one she had brought fit
Sampson and a few of the others but not Ashes. Ashes was wider than
some and a little slower, it was why she had recommended him to
Martha who she was certain didn’t know how to ride. “I don’t have
one” she admitted.

“
Don’t have one?” Martha
repeated back to her again to confirm. She blinked a few times and
saw that someone was gesturing to them from the main tent. The show
must go on! She said “help me on it then!”

Maggie helped to get her up first by creating
a step with her hand for Martha to put her high heeled foot into
and then to push, shove, and thrust Martha’s fat posterior over the
back of Ashes. Ashes had sensed the woman’s unease and if not for
Maggie being there would have backed away from the smell of alcohol
on the woman’s breath. Maggie spoke to him and he stood quietly
waiting as they attempted to get the woman mounted on his back.
Martha refused to ride astride and instead tried to ride sideways
to balance on his broad back. Maggie tried to talk her into getting
a firmer grip but Martha knew better and Maggie soon subsided
mounting Sampson astride in her tuxedo as someone opened up the
corral gate for her.

“
Give them hell Maggie”
someone called as she made her way toward the big tent. Tonight she
felt more confident and didn’t see Martha behind her on Ashes who
had attempted to follow the herd and was being given mixed signals
by the woman on his back, his sensitive skin being hit by the heels
on her impractical shoes.

As the herd rushed to follow Maggie on
Sampson Martha grabbed for Ashes mane and thumped on his sides with
her heels. He didn’t have a clue what “yaw yaw” meant but the
kicking told him to go so he did. The rush nearly unseated the
drunken woman but she somehow managed to stay on. They joined the
others at the entrance to the main tent.

Maggie looked around to see that all her
horses were there, her expert eye taking in their postures, their
excitement, or in the case of Ashes, his confusion. Martha looked
ridiculous in her barely fitting outfit with a veil running down
her back and across Ashes rump. She wondered if she should warn
Martha about scaring Ashes with that veil but she heard the
announcement and started Sampson, they had told her about her
mistake the previous night and she was determined not to make it
again.

The rush of the horses from the main
passageway was Martha’s undoing, she toppled from Ashes back and it
was a good thing he was one of the last horses or she would have
been trampled beneath their hooves. Several roustabouts rushed to
help her but her cries told them she had broken something. Others
rushed to get a stretcher. Because of the sound of the crowd and
her horses hooves Maggie didn’t realize Martha wasn’t with them
until she had made a complete circuit of the main arena and looked
to see what performance Martha would give. She realized Ashes was
there but no Martha. She couldn’t worry about her with twelve
horses to work with, perhaps she had jumped off at the last minute,
and meanwhile Maggie could only do what she had done the night
before. Her confidence from the previous night gave her more
courage to try a few more things tonight. Her performance was
excellent and the horses looked terrific, their heads held high,
their tails and manes streaming out behind them, their coats
flashing in the lights. The audience loved them, they were as
responsive as the one the previous night and clapped and called
appreciatively. Maggie was enjoying herself. Tonight she managed to
signal several of the horses, not all were trained to do this, to
make a bow, one leg curled under, and the other out in front of
them, their heads lowered in the bow as Maggie took off her top hat
and bowed as well. Many of the audience came to their feet clapping
and shouting at the exciting and beautiful horses. Maggie loved the
rush of feeling that came over her, no longer was she shy Maggie
O’Malley, instead she was the pleased horse master that they had
hired to show off her babies who had done her proud.

As Maggie stood on the backs of Sampson and
then Onyx, one of the younger horses she nearly unbalanced but the
bobble she turned into part of the act as she left the arena and
managed to plop onto Satan’s back. She laughed at herself and her
near accident and went out the passageway heading for their
paddock. The horses had had a delightful time playing with Maggie
and they made sure she knew it. Her hat got toppled off repeatedly
as they sniffed at her and rubbed against her in their exuberance
and affection for her.

“
Wow, they really love you!”
a voice said admiringly from the shadows.

Maggie turned in surprise and tried to make
out who it was but didn’t recognize the voice and whoever it was,
was well hidden in the dark. Feather’s wasn’t growling so she knew
it wasn’t anyone she had to worry about, in fact from what she
could see he was wagging his tail towards the stranger. “Yes, they
are my babies” she said with a grin as she quickly headed off Onyx
from sneaking out of the open gate and closed it with a satisfying
bang.

The babies were looking for treats and she
went towards the shadows where the voice had come from to get some
for the well-deserving beasts. The lights around the fairgrounds
allowed people to come and see the horses and some had followed her
from the tent to watch the magnificent horses. Maggie was surprised
to see Ariana standing in the dark watching her walk up in her
tuxedo. “Hello” Maggie said to cover that surprise as she reached
through a window for the bag of treats that the horses couldn’t
pilfer.

“
You are really lucky”
Ariana said in her pretty voice.

“
Lucky?” Maggie asked
surprised further by the voice but the envy she heard in the
woman’s tone.

“
Yeah, I’d love to work with
horses but my father won’t let me.”

Maggie wondered who her father was but didn’t
ask. She figured anything she was supposed to know people would
tell her. She didn’t want to be nosy and the circus people she had
met had been very friendly and told her things without her asking.
Impulsively she asked “would you like to give them treats?”

“
Oh may I?” Ariana asked in
delight.

Maggie smiled; she understood genuine
admiration for her horses. She herself loved her babies and could
admire others, but she knew a horse lover when she met them. “Here
take a handful but only give one to each, they will try to con you
out of more but I don’t want them getting sick.”

Ariana reached into the bag, the horses
realized what the bag signified and were making their way over to
the two women in the shadows, crowding them.

“
Get on with you” Maggie
said and pushed at them, smacking them on their rumps, and giving
out treats.

Ariana was amazed; these big beasts were just
like puppy dogs! She slowly fed them one by one the treats she had
pulled out of the bag and they gently took them from her
fingers.

“
Keep your hand flat so they
don’t accidentally bite you” Maggie advised when she saw Ariana
trying to feed them with her fingers wrapped around the treats.
“They might think your fingers are carrots by mistake.”

Ariana quickly fixed her error realizing that
it would hurt to get bitten, even accidentally as she petted and
fed the horses their treats.

Maggie was pleased to see how friendly the
woman was to her horses as she talked to them telling them what
beautiful horses they were.

“
Did you know that Martha
has a broken shoulder?” Ariana asked to make conversation as they
watched the horses head for the water trough after they realized
the treats were all gone.

“
What? When?” Maggie asked
alarmed.

“
You didn’t know?” Ariana
asked in dismay realizing she could have worded it
better.

Maggie turned horrified to see that Ariana
was serious “what happened?”

“
She fell off one of your
horses, didn’t you realize?” Ariana was curious to know if Maggie
was just playing a game or really didn’t know.

Maggie was astounded at this information “but
I thought she just hopped off and decided she wasn’t ready” she
answered.

“
The doc said it was a good
thing she was so drunk or she would have hurt more.”

Maggie felt terrible, she had honestly
thought Martha had gotten off the horse when she realized she
couldn’t ride it sideways and wasn’t prepared to do the tricks they
had discussed earlier in the day.

“
It wasn’t your fault;
several of the guys saw her fall off.” Ariana looked at her and saw
how stricken the woman was. “She’s going to be okay.”

Maggie shook her head. Two shows and she had
already injured the woman who was supposed to perform with her. She
was certain the Bigelow’s were going to fire her!

Cecil came up at that moment and nodded to
Ariana “that was terrific Maggie, I’m sorry Martha didn’t work
out.”

Maggie looked at him as though he were
teasing her but in her horror over what had happened the look made
her look awful.

“
What’s wrong?” he
asked.

“
She didn’t know Martha had
fallen off or that she was drunk” Ariana told him.

“
What? She didn’t?” he
looked at Maggie to be sure and saw the truth on her face. She
looked horrified. “Don’t worry about it, everyone knows what a
drunkard she is, you didn’t do anything wrong and your show is fine
until we can find someone to work in it like we discussed. This
time you will have a say” he assured her.

Maggie felt immeasurably better, it meant she
wasn’t fired, it meant she could find someone that liked the horses
and could work with them. Martha had been entirely unsuitable.

The next day the show was
earlier but it was Sunday so they had to tear down afterwards.
Maggie helped where she could, even using the horses to pull wagons
to the depot. She wouldn’t allow anyone else to handle her horses
and as they weren’t owned by the circus no one could demand it. She
had seen several of the roustabouts whipping horses and she
wouldn’t allow her babies to be treated in this manner. They
worked
for
her;
they played
with
her because they loved her, not out of fear but from genuine
affection. It took many trips to get all their gear and baggage
across town to the railroad station and it was very late when
Maggie hauled her own tent, gear, and saddled up Sampson to ride
with the now haltered herd of black horses. Much to her surprise
Ariana asked to ride with her on this final trip.

“
You’ve been working hard”
she said admiringly.

“
Well, I can’t let my babies
think it’s all play and no work” she quipped shyly still feeling a
bit odd around the much more sophisticated Ariana.

Ariana laughed at the word play enjoying the
ride on her own mount, a palomino that they didn’t use in the
circus at all. “Did you get a chance to see the other acts?”

They discussed everything that Ariana had
seen, from the zebra act to the now well elephant act to the clowns
and acrobats.

“
I wanted to do that but
daddy wouldn’t let me, he said I’d break my neck” Ariana said as
they discussed the acrobats and the high wire
performers.

“
I don’t know that I would
want to be that high off the ground” Maggie commented remembering
that the tents went up over fifty feet and the performers were at
least thirty feet off the ground and without nets!

“
Are you serious? What you
do is way more difficult” Ariana admired “these horses could
trample you in a minute and when they jump over you I’m amazed they
don’t knock that silly hat off!”

Maggie laughed, the horses loved her and
would never deliberately hurt her, accidentally they had all hurt
her from time to time but she knew what they were capable of and
their limitations.