“Boys, ya’ll get ready. We’re heading into town,” Emma made the welcome announcement at the bunkhouse door. The morning had just dawned bright, and the Pony Express riders were stretching as they dressed. Now they readied themselves with anticipation; they eagerly looked forward to any opportunity to visit town.
Lou paid extra attention to her looks; not that she wanted to impress anyone in Sweetwater, but so that she could hide her gender. Several weeks before, she’d slipped away to a nearby pond for a bath and a swim. It was so relaxing to shed the binding around her breasts and not worry about concealing the soft waves in her auburn hair. Unfortunately, the boys had decided to go for a swim as well and had crashed her solitude as well as her secret. She had ultimately been relieved when the other riders had discovered that she was female; at least she could relax when at the waystation, but visiting town was another matter entirely.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The afternoon sun glistened on the small pond, turning even the plain brown water into a beautiful oasis. Lou felt heady as she covertly slipped away from the waystation, and the happy feeling only expanded within her body as she got closer to the swimming hole. It took her mere moments to strip down and her bare body slipped into the sweet water quickly. She swam and splashed, enjoying the brief respite from hiding her femininity. Lou casually glanced down at her breasts and frowned at their smallness; she should be glad of their size, for it made hiding her sex much easier, but the woman in her wished they were more, well, womanly. With a sigh, she began moving out of the pond. As the water level reached lower and lower on her body, she began to feel chilled by the wind. She hurried to reach the bank and her clothing, but Lou was startled by the voices of the other riders; they were very near. She was caught and the dilemma couldn’t be worse. Lou didn’t have time neither to reach the deep water, nor her clothes. Ike was ahead of the others, and he stopped dead in his tracks at the sight of Lou, naked, water dripping. Her chin automatically lifted a notch and she summoned what little pride she could in her predicament. The other boys crashed behind Ike, and like a row of dominoes falling, each of their jaws dropped open at the sight that greeted them.
“Lou?” Cody’s voice croaked.
“Well, I’ll be damned,” gasped Jimmy.
All were in too much shock for questions or action. Though it seemed an eternity, it was only seconds later that Buck moved to stand in front of Lou, facing the other riders. He began slipping off his shirt, and handed it to the shivering woman behind him. “ You might want to put this on.”
“Thank you,” Lou said through clinched teeth. “Ya’ll weren’t supposed to be finished with chores this soon.” She felt trapped in a nightmare.
“We can see that,” Cody smirked.
Ike signed ‘shut up.’
“So Lou, when did you plan on telling us?” inquired Jimmy.
“Never,” fumed Lou, who stepped out from behind Buck. His shirt reached nearly to her knees. Now that modesty was taken care of, Lou felt comfortable in facing her co-workers. “If ya’ll tell, I don’t have a job,” she pointed out tersely.
Buck regarded her with admiration. He then studied the other riders before speaking. “I don’t think any of us will say a word,” Buck stated with certainty.
‘My lips are sealed,’ Ike signed with a comical grin.
“Why’d we want to get rid of a pretty thing like you?” asked Cody.
Jimmy slapped the blonde rider in the arm.
“Ya’ll are gonna hafta forget I’m a girl,” Lou stressed. She was still embarrassed at having been caught completely naked. A blush continued to stain her cheeks and neck, but her voice was firm.
“Now Lou, I can’t say we can forget somethin’ like that,” drawled Jimmy, “but we won’t respect ya any less.”
Buck nodded in agreement. “You’re still Lou to us,” assured Buck.
“You just have some new admirable qualities,” added Cody, only to get another punch in the arm from Jimmy.
‘We’ll keep your secret,’ Ike promised. ‘And keep Cody in line.’
A small smile quivered at the corners of Lou’s mouth. “Really?” she breathed.
“Really,” the other riders chimed in unison.
“We will have to tell Noah, when he gets back from his run,” Buck hastened to add. “Wouldn’t be right, him the only one not knowing.”
Lou nodded in agreement. “Ya’ll should know, Emma figured it out right off.”
“Don’t know why we didn’t,” Jimmy said softly.
“Ya’ll think you could give me some privacy,” asked Lou, “and let me get dressed?”
“If we have to,” sighed Cody.
This time, Ike and Jimmy both turned to hit him.
“What’d I say?” Cody asked innocently.
Lou rolled her eyes as they walked away.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
“Hey Lou, you gonna shop for a dress while in town today?” teased Cody.
“Stop it,” rebuked Buck, “that’s not very nice.”
“I was just teasing her,” Cody defended himself.
Ike signed vigorously. ‘We’re supposed to help her keep her secret, not mock her for it.’
“I agree with Ike,” Buck nodded.
“Thank you both,” Lou said sincerely to Buck and Ike. She glared at Cody.
“All's I can say is now that I know, I don’t know how we didn’t for so long,” Jimmy drawled.
“People tend to see what they want to see,” Buck replied. As a half-breed, Buck was familiar with prejudice in both the Kiowa and white world. That first hand experience with bias made him especially sensitive to Lou’s plight.
Jimmy just smiled and strolled outside. Buck turned to Lou, “You ready?”
Lou took one last look in the mirror; her glasses hid her eyes well and her hair, though a bit messy, did not look feminine at all. “Ready,” she sighed.
Soon, the group was heading into town. Cody drove the wagon with Emma on the seat beside him. Ike, Buck, Lou and Jimmy followed on horses beside them.
Cody let out a long whistle. “Noah sure is gonna be upset at having missed a visit into town,” he grinned, sarcasm dripping from his tone.
Buck just shook his head, frowning at Cody’s comment as Jimmy responded. “You know he hates going into town. He gets treated even worse than Buck.”
The other boys bickered, but Lou rode along silently. The closer they got to town, the larger the knots in her stomach grew. If her gender were ever discovered by the company, she’d lose her job for sure.
~-~-~-~-~-~
Tompkin’s General Store was much busier than usual and it took quite awhile for Emma to finish her shopping and get her orders filled. The boys were finally loading up her supplies when Lou realized how much time had passed.
“Emma, Noah is due back from his run soon; I better head back out to the station or I won’t be there for my run.” Secretly, Lou was relieved to get away from the hustle and bustle of town. As far as she was concerned, there were too many curious eyes on the riders every time they visited Sweetwater.
“All right Lou, you’re probably right. Wouldn’t do for Mr. Spoon to find out I kept you from catching the mochila,” Emma chuckled. “’Sides, I have one more errand in town.”
Lou nodded. “See ya’ll later boys,” she said loud enough for them to hear her; she was careful to make her voice deep.
“Ride safe,” Jimmy called after her.
“Another errand?” whined Cody.
“Thought you wanted to come into town?” Buck reminded the blonde rider.
“We ain’t done nothin’ fun yet, and I doubt Miss Emma is going to take us to the saloon,” Cody said between gritted teeth.
“I heard that Mr. Cody,” replied Emma coolly. “And I’m certainly not leading you boys to the saloon. As a matter of fact, I’m taking ya’ll to the church.”
“The church?” several voices whined in unison.
‘It’s not Sunday,’ Ike signed.
Emma grinned. “Seems we’ve got a new preacher in town,” she explained. “We’re going to invite him over for supper tomorrow night. Heard tell he’s young and ain’t married, so it’s our duty as his new neighbors to see that’s he’s not only fed, but feels welcome.” Her words were laced with warning.
Reluctantly, the riders accompanied Emma over to the church. Cody grumbled the entire trip as Emma cast stern glances in his direction.
“You boys need to be nice; I don’t think he’s much older than you,” she scolded.
“I don’t even believe in the white man’s God,” Buck pointed out.
“Doesn’t matter,” Emma replied, “you can still be friendly to the new preacher.”
With that chastisement, Jimmy, Cody, Ike and Buck obediently followed Miss Shannon into the church; the invitation was made and accepted without incident.
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