The Women in Pants

by Stan Himes

  “Sir, I’m Parker Hagen.”

  Jonas looked him up and down without taking the hand. “Why should I let you marry my daughter?”

  Parker kept his hand extended and looked Jonas square in the eyes. “I love Katie and I will cherish her and care for her for the rest of my life.”

  “And?” Jonas’s voice had a hard edge to it.

  “And I’ll kill anyone who tries to hurt her.”

  Jonas held his gaze for a moment, then gave a flicker of smile. “You’ll do.” He took Parker’s hand and welcomed him to the family.

  Katie exhaled with incredible relief, but it was another round of hugs and cheers and celebration for the rest of us.

  “He does say ‘you’ll do’ really well,” Ernestine said to Sally.

  “I think my heart stopped.”

  Mary looked at them both with a see-I-told-you-so twinkle in her eyes.

  That evening, after all the celebrating had quieted, Jonas and Mary strolled around the corral, holding hands and sharing intimate thoughts that are neither your business nor mine. Jonas harkened back to where they started. “Guess now we can afford to get you one of Sally’s dresses.”

  “That’d be nice.” Mary patted her beat-up pants. “But I’m also gettin’ used to wearing these.”

  “Well,” Jonas smiled, “you’ve earned ’em.”

  Sally used her wages and savings to continue northwest to Denver, where she opened a clothing store. Word of her fashionable designs spread quickly among the women in town and her business was soon thriving. Word of the shop’s back room also spread among amongst the teenage girls and young women. That’s where Sally sells women’s pants.

  Though her past romantic ills are long gone, they are not forgotten. She learned from them. Men who come calling, taken by both her loveliness and her kindness, must enter by the front door.

  As Ruth and Prudence neared home, they were perhaps the least happy of our group. They had a little money in their pockets—more than a little to them—and stories to tell, but they were returning home to the same life in the same shack, though with an unspoken desire to make things better. As they rode around the bend where the shack should come into a view, a deep red color caught their eyes. Two figures were painting the shack.

  “It’s your pa and Billy!”

  During one long, lonely night, sleeping on the ground or at least trying to, James had had an epiphany about the pain caused by his wandering ways. He and Billy had scratched out very little silver, and if he was working this hard for almost nothing, he might as well go home and work hard for his family. They left the next day, and returning home to an empty shack just made firm his commitment to be a better husband and father. He traded his silver and one of their horses for some wood and paint and set about turning the shack into a legitimate house. Ruth and Prudence contributed their earnings to buy a new stove and a few comforts for the home.

  Above all, in Prudence’s opinion, her father had brought back little silver but he had sure struck gold by also bringing back a rugged young farmhand that she took an instant shine to and was pleased to see that the feeling was returned. They were married the following year.

  That same year, word came of a new silver strike in Tombstone, Arizona Territory. Ruth’s happiness was never more assured than when James said, “I think I’ll sit this one out.”

  Ernestine only wore a dress again on special occasions. She liked wearing pants, and Edward had gotten used to her wearing them in the store. Even if he hadn’t, she was going to wear them anyway because she intended to think for herself from now on. She no longer looked at the floor, and thanks to the confidence she’d gained from the cattle drive—and especially from surviving ordeals with bandits—she looked men in the eye. She didn’t even slouch to try to appear shorter.

  Above all, though, what shy, quiet Ernestine gained was a reputation for her lung power. She became the official herd-starter in northern Texas. It was considered good luck to have her powerful “Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!” startle a herd into forward motion, and many ranch owners in the region pay her well for a ceremonial holler.

  During one of her excursions to startle a herd, a tall, lanky cowpoke caught her eye. She caught his eye. And if you’ve read this book this far you understand why Edward expects a wedding in Ernestine’s near future. His biggest wonder is how tall and lanky their offspring might be, and he’s happy to stick around to find out.

  Clean Through retired to his son’s home, figuring the next bullet might just hit something important. He spends most of his time relaxing in a rocking chair on the front porch, staring happily into the distance and sharing stories with his grandchildren and anyone who passes by within shouting distance.

  Most people put up with his stories in order to get a bowl of his famous stew, even if sometimes the beef looks a lot like rabbit or squirrel.

  When Mary paid Pearl back the $93 she had offered up to join the drive, then gave Pearl her wages and a bonus for all she’d been through, Pearl had the resources for freedom for the first time in her life. Wishing to add more distance between herself and the places of her past, she went west and settled in Pueblo.

  A new place and newfound freedom doesn’t necessarily mean one knows how to go about starting a new life, and Pearl struggled for meaning. Then one day, as she looked at notices on a bulletin board, a new direction for her life literally hit her in the face when a gust of wind tore free a paper and blew it right into her. She pulled it off and read: “Help Wanted: Woman to care for orphaned girls.” She noted the address and strode right to it with purpose in every step.

  Now she gives those girls the chance she didn’t have when she was young. In the spring, she’ll marry the headmaster, a fine man with whom she has shared her story and who believes that what’s to come is far more important than what has passed.

  Katie will travel there to be Matron of Honor.

  Katie and Parker share a cheerful home on their growing horse ranch. Jonas allowed her to keep Pitch, saying that once a horse has been shot out from under you and you both live, you belong to each other.

  Belonging to each other is what Katie and Parker embody in every look and touch. They share many duties on the ranch just as they share their dinner table each night—happily. Of course, unlike the couple, Katie’s biscuits still tend to fall apart.

  Some things just don’t change.

  Jonas and Mary enjoy riding their horses out to view the herd and check on their four hired ranch hands. The herd is thriving and next summer, when the Byerly brothers have said they’ll be back, another cattle drive is planned. Both Mary and Jonas plan to go.

  They’ll take turns riding out front.

  As for me, I went the farthest west of any of us. I rode the railroad to Denver with Sally, then was foolish enough to take a stagecoach from there to Cheyenne to pick up the Union Pacific railroad to San Francisco. After five minutes in a stagecoach, I was sore and getting more sore by the minute. Do not—if you learn nothing else from this story, learn this—do not under any circumstances take a trip in a stagecoach. It is the noisiest, bumpiest, dustiest, most uncomfortable way to travel. You might also be trapped, as I was, with a chatty braggart who wants to make sure you like him as much as he likes himself.

  Nevertheless, I made it to San Francisco and soon found work with a local newspaper. A friendly, patient editor helped me learn to polish my writing and after six months paid me the ultimate compliment when he said, “Laurie, your writing has become quite competent.”

  Along with my newspaper work, I continued to write letters to my parents once a week. I also wrote to my many friends and one summer I retraced my route in order to visit Secluded Springs once again. While there, I completed a few interviews and filled in some gaps in the notes I had taken during the cattle drive. I used them to complete my first book.

  I call it The Women in Pants.