Sapphic Cowboi (11 page)

Maggie had taught her how to ride astride
bareback by taking up before her, Ariana was amazed at the muscles
she could feel in Maggie’s legs as she held onto the horse and
guided him. It was incredible the control she had over these
horses.

“
Any luck on finding her a
looker?” Carlton asked as he smoked a cigar and watched Ariana
practice in the makeshift paddock.

“
I’ve been thinking since
she asked that Ariana might give it a go” Cecil put to his brother,
holding his breath slightly.

“
That’s not a bad idea” Carl
Bigelow put in clapping Cecil’s shoulder with his hand. “Keep it in
the family as it were.”

Carlton, who had looked
forward to another looker that he could chase was not amused, he
was sick of Martha and her carping and now that she was well enough
to shift for herself had planned to leave her in a local motel
while the rest of the troupe moved on, he hadn’t told
her
that though. “It’s
dangerous, look at what happened to Martha” he chomped on his cigar
annoyed at his brother and his infernal planning.

“
Martha was drunk” his
father stated and he knew that that was final. If Ariana wanted to
be the partner in the horse act, she would be the partner the act
needed.

“
You tell her” he snarled at
his brother around the cigar and walked off wondering if Martha
would be good for one more tumble before he dumped her.

Cecil did just that and Ariana was thrilled.
Maggie was stunned, she had helped her friend out of the fun of it
but to do it for work, and she wasn’t sure.

“
Think you can teach her all
the things you and I planned back out on your farm, the tricks, the
costumes, everything?” Cecil asked her.

Maggie was flattered to be consulted, but
they were her horses after all. She knew them, all their foibles,
all their tricks, all their personalities. Ariana was getting to
know them too but to trust them like Maggie did would require some
attention, to train Ariana to do the tricks Cecil had in mind would
take some time. “We’ll work on it” she promised and then wondered
what she had gotten into.

They started with easy tricks like Ariana
lying on the back of the horses. The horses didn’t mind and Ariana
grew more comfortable and more confident as time went on. When she
stood on the back of one and managed to go around the arena without
falling off they celebrated with a hug but that was a long time in
coming, in the meantime she got bruises, she got bumped, and she
laughed herself silly at the accidents they had. Maggie wasn’t as
amused because she was responsible if Ariana broke anything.

“
Are you okay?” she rushed
to pick up Ariana followed by Feathers who was watching with her
good naturedly when she took a particularly nasty fall from the
back of Beau.

“
Jeez, that hurts” she said
rubbing her backside and then blushing at the intimacy of it. Since
they had been working so hard at every opportunity Ariana had begun
to wear dungarees like Maggie to make it easier to ride. The
tightness around her derriere and the bruising that was sure to be
there felt a little odd to her at the moment.

“
Are you hurt anywhere
else?” Maggie fretted.

“
Help me up and we will see”
Ariana held out her hand so Maggie could pull her up from the
ground. As she did so they ended up nose to nose practically.
Ariana caught her breath being so close; Maggie took an immediate
step back and began looking her friend over turning her from side
to side and brushing off stray pieces of hay. “Hey, careful there”
Ariana objected as she brushed at her derriere which was badly
hurting right now. The intimacy of that brush was what she objected
to, not the pain of the bruise. Maggie stopped her hand immediately
thinking she had hurt her friend but when they looked into each
other’s eyes there was a strange look in Ariana’s that confused
Maggie who blushed and turned away.

“
Nothing broken, you want to
go again or should I turn him loose” Maggie asked as she whistled
at Beau who’s ears twitched at the call and he looked at her like
‘are you serious?’ She whistled a second time and he immediately
came towards her.

“
I don’t know if I should,
if I can handle that again” Ariana rubbed her own backside,
ostensibly to rid it of hay and debris from the ground but more to
emphasize the pain.

“
Sure you can” Maggie
encouraged her.

“
You show me!” Ariana
taunted her.

Maggie smiled as she did
just that. Ariana watched in wonder as Maggie, dressed in dungarees
and a button down blouse got on the waiting Beau. Beau, sensing the
difference in weight immediately and smelling Maggie,
his
Maggie, immediately
starting behaving differently, or at least that was how Ariana
viewed it as she watched Maggie, seemingly effortlessly control the
horse, ride him, lay on him, lay across him, even lay under him as
he trotted, walked, and even galloped around the make-shift arena.
It was incredible to see, Maggie’s slim body in poses that Ariana
could only hope to achieve. It moved her; she wasn’t the only one
as others from the circus gathered near the fence line to watch the
impromptu show.

“
Can you do that?” one of
the children asked Ariana in wonder.

Ariana shook her head as her breath caught
watching Maggie gracefully dance around the body of the horse which
didn’t seem to mind and in fact was showing off with his tail held
high and his neck cocked to maximize the wind through his mane.
“But I will” she said determinedly, it was too beautiful not to
want to emulate it.

Weeks and shows later
Ariana, while never as good as Maggie was able to do some of the
tricks as she learned under Maggie’s watchful eyes. The first time
she managed to curve her body around under Ashes she was so excited
as she got off his broad back and ran to give Maggie an exuberant
hug. “I did it, I
did
it!” she said excitedly.

Maggie laughed with her “see, it wasn’t so
hard after all” she teased.

“
Hard?” Ariana pretended
outrage, “piece of cake!” she said as though she did it all the
time.

They laughed together.

Ariana had several of the seamstresses making
fabulous costumes for her too. There would be a cowgirl outfit that
would allow her to pretend to be Annie Oakley, another harem
outfit, which while initially made Maggie cringe, the skin colored
pieces she had to admit made Ariana look fantastic against the
black of the horses, and then there was an Indian outfit that with
her black hair made her look authentic. The horses too had all
sorts of costumes now too; some to match Ariana’s own, feathers,
leads, capes, and new equipment were added to their luggage.

It was when they were in Denver that Ariana
suggested they go to the movies for the afternoon. “C’mon, you
never take a day off, I want to see this!” she encouraged her
friend.

“
But I’ve got to brush the
horses…” Maggie began feeling the temptation of taking an afternoon
off, but most of all of spending time exclusively with
Ariana.

“
They are shined, spit, and
polished, they are ready, how about you?”

“
I don’t know, I’ve never
seen…” began Maggie only to be interrupted by her exuberant
friend.

“
Of course you haven’t seen
it! Gone with the Wind only came out this year!”

“
No I meant I’ve never seen
a movie” Maggie said quietly.

Ariana stared at her in shocked silence for a
moment before her beautiful smile split her even lovelier face
“then this is the movie to see…” she told her. Ariana arranged to
borrow Cecil’s Model T and drove them into town to find a movie
theater. As it was Maggie’s first time in an automobile, much less
a truck, she was stiff in the passenger seat beside Ariana. “Relax,
I know what I’m doing” she said as she effortlessly shifted the
truck as she drove.

Maggie nodded and tried to
comply, used to riding her horses everywhere she needed to go or
walking on her own two feet, it wasn’t like she hadn’t been around
cars and trucks. They had them in her small town but she had never
actually
ridden
in
one and she felt she could have avoided this new experience except
that the thought of leaving one of her precious babies outside a
movie theater for hours where it could have been stolen hadn’t
thrilled her. Besides, Ariana was having so much fun showing
her
new things for a
change. She was relieved when they pulled up in front of the movie
theater and then her stomach started fluttering at the idea that
she was going to see a
real
moving picture show
and
in
color! She was so excited.

“
Two please” Ariana stated
at the ticket booth. Maggie was in awe as she looked up at the big
bulbous lights that circled the marquee with what Ariana assured
her read GONE WITH THE WIND.

“
Here, let me pay you back”
Maggie reached into her dungarees to pay for her ticket.

“
Nope, you pay for the
popcorn” Ariana said with a grin as she took Maggie’s arm to lead
her inside and handed their tickets to the ticket taker standing
inside the door, his little monkey hat perched jauntily on his
head, the strap under his chin, his matching uniform making him
look dapper.

“
Good afternoon … ladies” he
hesitated over the last word taking in Maggie’s appearance of her
customary but clean dungarees and button down shirt as well as
Ariana’s sun dress and sandals.

Maggie was shocked to find how much they
charged for popcorn, candy, and drinks, all things that Ariana
insisted they needed to get them through a movie. She shrugged it
off and followed Ariana’s lead since she had never known what it
was like to be in a movie house before. She mentally calculated the
pennies though knowing that she would have less to send back home
at the next show.

Ariana was right; they wouldn’t want to leave
the theater once they sat down. Maggie never did taste the popcorn,
the candy, or her drink once the movie started. She was enthralled,
she fell in love with Vivian Leigh and Clark Gable was to die for.
She felt the character of Ashley played by Leslie Howard was just
like Peter. She hadn’t met many black people despite living in the
south and the characters of Mamie and Sissy fascinated her. She was
totally enraptured.

Ariana loved the movie but she enjoyed
watching Maggie more. It was apparent she had never seen a movie
before and the delighted wonder on her face was a sight to behold.
She jumped when the explosions were heard, she cried when people
died, it was amazing to see the mix of emotions on her face and
Ariana felt herself falling in love with her best friend. She’d
realized the attraction early on, working with Maggie had been a
delight, but seeing her react to the fantastic movie moved her
heart in a dangerous direction.

Ariana had realized early in life that while
she liked boys and then men she wasn’t physically attracted to
them. In the circus world you met a lot of odd people, people who
wouldn’t be considered normal in regular society. Ariana’s
attraction to women didn’t go unnoticed in their close knit family,
it wasn’t discouraged, but it wasn’t encouraged either. Her first
amateur forays into acting on those attractions were firmly
rebuffed by the showgirls in the circus who didn’t play on both
sides of the fence. The one who finally reciprocated nearly broke
Ariana’s gentle heart, in fact her games caused a lot of problems
in the circus crowd who closed ranks on their beloved Ariana who
had been raised among them. The problematic showgirl was soon
ousted and left in town on their circuit, causing Ariana to cry
desperately over her loss. A sympathetic older woman, taking on the
role of mother to the distraught girl kindly explained things to
Ariana and later showed her things about herself so she could
understand her ‘unnatural’ attraction to women. She explained that
some women and some men were just different from societies
definition of ‘normal’ and that she should accept herself, be
careful of who she gave her heart to, and keep it hidden from
outsiders who wouldn’t’ understand. Ariana had taken her advice to
heart, her lessons she learned well, it took her a long time to
recover, but her friends and family were behind her, except perhaps
her father who continued to ignore her.

Ariana hadn’t minded his ignoring her; it
allowed her a freedom in their circus troupe that was
unprecedented. She perhaps grew up a little quicker and faster than
most young women but her uncle and grandfather saw that she was
educated and a young lady. They accepted her as she was and were
proud of the woman she had become, if they lamented her ‘unnatural’
attraction to women, they kept it to themselves.

They had seen her attraction to Maggie long
before Ariana was willing to acknowledge it. In the guise of
admiring the freedom that Maggie so unconsciously showed and then
later as friendship, Ariana had been drawn to the southern woman.
What others might attribute as manly attire and manly mannerisms
Ariana saw as confidence and a disregard for society’s norm,
something she had had to deal with herself on a different level.
She desperately wanted to know how Maggie felt but wasn’t willing
to jeopardize what they did have to find out. Watching Maggie and
learning from her turned a crush into full blown love. Seeing her
in the theater was almost as fascinating as watching the movie. She
was enraptured, she was in enthralled, and not with the movie, but
with the woman watching it with her.