Sapphic Cowboi

by K'Anne Meinel

  “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 ca
n 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?”

  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 n
odded 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.