Sapphic Cowboi by K'Anne Meinel

We?” Ariana swatted at the
playful Ashes as he nibbled at her neck tickling her.
    “ My granddaddy, my daddy,
and myself, we’d been breeding horses for over eighty years between
us” Maggie told her proudly.
    “ How’d they feel about you
going off to join the circus” Ariana said with a smile, every kid
wanted to join the circus.
    “ They’re dead, they didn’t
say a word” Maggie grinned at the distasteful joke and then laughed
when Ariana wrinkled her nose at her.
    They were both enjoying their friendship and
Ariana was ecstatic when Maggie taught her to ride properly.
    “ Keep your elbows in, you’re
not going to fly on him” she told her as she let her ride Shwartzie
with her saddle.
    Round and round in the pen they now carried
for the horses, not every event had a convenient corral or paddock
available, it was one of the things the horses hauled from the rail
car to wherever they were setting up for the show, the second car
put aside for the horses now kept gear such as the temporary
fences, a wagon to carry the fences, ribbons, feathers, and other
festive ornaments for the horses, hay, and grain. There was room
for more and Maggie wasn’t sure what they would need but at every
show Cecil had brought them more things to attach to the horses
either in the form of bridles, halters, or other leather
contraptions. They had broken the horses into two groups as the
full dozen was too overwhelming he felt except for the really big
venues and it gave the six left out of that show something to look
forward to as they would be used for the next one.
    “ How am I doing?” Ariana
asked.
    “ Real good considering what
a girl you are” Maggie teased her. Ariana was a good sport and
hadn’t balked about riding astride versus riding side
saddle.
    “ My balance is improving
too” Ariana told her later as she rode without a saddle, astride,
and then sitting sideways.
    “ Schwartzie is giving you a
good ride cause he adores you and you keep bringing those carrots”
Maggie joked but she was happy with her friend’s
progress.
    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