As she took a breath, she put her hands at her waist. To her astonishment, her hands weren’t far from being able to encircle her waist, which was now teeny tiny. Yes, she was in pain, but the corset had achieved what years of going to a gym hadn’t been able to do.
She looked up at the man, her eyes wide.
Maybe he saw some of what she was feeling because he gave a little half smile.
They left the church and at the door, Etta paused. In front of them was a wide street that was paved, if you could call it that, with horse manure, mud, corncobs, trampled rubbish, and she didn’t want to think about what else. On each side were wooden buildings that looked like a fire waiting to happen. Barbershop, saloon, mercantile, saloon, livery stable, saloon, saloon, saloon.
“I guess people here like to drink,” she said. He cocked his head toward her but didn’t reply.
To the side was a beat-up old flatbed wagon harnessed to two horses. In the back were a couple of trunks. One of them looked like the one from the foot of Ben’s bed. She was incorporating what she’d seen into her dream.
“All there?” he asked.
She guessed he meant those were her trunks. Wonder what I packed? She nodded.
They went down the steps, and Etta managed to not get entangled in her skirt as she walked to the wagon. She stood there looking at it. How in the world did she get up into it? Her foot went where? Hands where? As she prepared for the climb, she slipped out of the lace shrug. It was too pretty and fragile for wearing in a wooden wagon. The man was behind her. He took the little jacket, lifted the lid on one of the trunks, and carefully laid it inside.
Etta looked back at the wagon that seemed to be impossible to reach.
“Oooh!” she said as the man suddenly put his hands on her little waist, lifted her like she was a child, and set her into the front. “Usually a man won’t even open a door for me,” she muttered.
He must have heard her because as he got into the other side he gave a smile that was a tiny bit wider than before. He reached into the back and pulled out a roll of canvas. “This is a wedding gift from Alice.”
She started to ask who Alice was but he seemed to think she knew. She unrolled the cloth. Inside was an umbrella. Correction, a parasol, that was so beautiful Etta could hardly get her breath. The panels on the wire frame were ivory silk, and the edges were embroidered with tiny blue flowers with green leaves. Cascading from the center were strings of matching flowers. Obviously, it had all been done by hand.
“It’s beautiful,” she whispered.
For a moment his face seemed to melt from tough to fragile.
“I’ll tell my sister you think so.”
His vulnerable look was gone, but it had been there long enough for her to see that he loved his sister. She liked that he had family he cared about.
She wrapped the parasol back up and put it in the foot trough.
His face went back to the inscrutable look he’d been wearing. He untied the reins and snapped them to make the horses go.
It took only a few feet before Etta realized that riding on a hard wooden seat down a rutted road wasn’t like on TV. She was tossed to one side, then bounced up and down. If it weren’t for what felt like half a dozen slips under her skirt, her backside would be one big bruise.
He looked at her. “Are you all right?”
“Comfy.” Her teeth clicked together as they went over a pile of fresh horse manure that was on top of old manure. “Nothing like a sweet summer’s day.” She took a breath then coughed at the smell.
Again, he gave a bit of a smile.
Etta grinned broadly. Her family and Lester were so used to her jokes that they paid little attention to them, so it was nice to find someone who appreciated them. This part of the dream makes sense, she thought. Of course she would put in someone who liked her sense of humor.
Suddenly, a woman walked in front of the wagon. She didn’t look at it, much less give the horse and wagon the right of way.
The man pulled back hard on the reins, and the horses did the best they could to halt. But their eight skinny legs twisted around together and they nearly went down. The man stood up, trying to calm the horses and guide them.
At the jolting, Etta started to fly forward, but the man grabbed her upper arm. He had reins in one hand, Etta held by the other one. When she came down, she hit the seat so hard her teeth rattled, and she thought she might have cracked her tailbone.
The woman in the road never so much as looked up.
“Damn you, Martha!” he yelled. “You could have been killed!”
She kept walking but turned her head to give him a look of disdain. “You should learn how to drive.”
As the man sat back down, he turned to Etta. “Are you all right?”
She nodded as she stared at the woman. Etta had seen a dozen photos of her. “Martha Logan.”
“No. It’s Martha Garrett.” He snapped the reins to go again. “Same name as this town.”
“Does she own it?”
“Her husband did, but after they died, she didn’t have much property left.”
“‘They’?”
“Her husband and son were killed in the war.”
Etta wasn’t sure which war he meant, but it couldn’t be one of the two world wars. It must be... “North and South?”
“What other war is there?” he answered, giving her a look of shock.
“Henry and Ben,” she said.
“Who are they?”
“Martha’s husband and son.”
“Her husband was Theodore. I don’t know the boy’s name.”
As they slowly rode down the filthy, fragrant street, Etta looked at the buildings and the people.
Oh for a cell phone to photograph it all! If it were real, that is.
When he halted to let another wagon go by, Etta looked at one of the saloons. “‘Girls and beer.’” She read the sign aloud. “That about covers the desires of the entire world.” When he full-out grinned, she was pleased. Getting him to smile was becoming a goal for her.
The door to the saloon swung open, and two women came out. One had a broom, and the other had on a low-cut red dress and lots of rouge.
Etta’s eyes widened. “That’s Sophie and Freddy.”
“Sally and Freida,” the man corrected her. “Not your sort.”
“You mean she’s a sex worker so I’m supposed to snub her? Not in my dream! Freddy,” she called out and waved. “And Sophie. It’s good to see you two again.”