We Were There at the Oklahoma Land Run
Copyright© 2024 by Jim Kjelgaard
Chapter 3: The Sooners
In their own bed in the wagon, Cindy snuggled close against her twin sister. Cindy had never been on a train, but it sounded like a wonderful adventure, and she whispered, “Tell me about your train ride.”
Mindy told her. She described the locomotive, the engineer leaning out of its window, and the sweating fireman who shoveled coal into its hungry vitals. She described each of the cars, and the people who had been in each. Mindy told of her seat in the day coach, of the people who sat in front of her, the people who sat behind her, and the people who sat across from her. She spoke of the conductor, the conductor’s blue uniform, and the big brass buttons on his uniform. She described the way the car’s wheels clicked on the rails, and how they seemed to sing a song. Mindy told of the depots, the various areas through which she had passed, and ended with a complete description of the box lunch Grandma Simpson had given her to take along.
Cindy sighed and pulled the covers up to her chin. Having Mindy tell of the ride was nearly as good as taking such a ride herself. There was a silence which Mindy broke:
“You looked so grand when you were putting on your magic show. And even though I know how you did it, I was scared when you ‘killed’ yourself. Often I wish I dared do the things you do.”
“The things I do!” Cindy exclaimed. “Why, you’re the only person in the world who’s ever been able to pet Mr. Brent’s Thunder pony!”
She spoke more loudly than she had intended, and their mother overheard. “Children,” Mrs. Simpson called, “go to sleep now.”
Mindy dropped into gentle slumber, but Cindy was far too excited to sleep. She thought of the train ride, and of how dearly she would love to take such a ride herself, but since there seemed to be no possibility of that, she began thinking of what lay about her and everything Pete Brent had said. It seemed to her that if she too could make the ride into Oklahoma, it would be even more wonderful than riding on a train. Maybe if she pleaded ... But the answer would be no.
Her father and mother began to talk in low voices, and though Cindy did not try to listen, she couldn’t help hearing.
“I’m worried, Jed,” her mother said. “I can’t help thinking that something will go wrong.”
“Now, Ann,” Jed Simpson soothed, “you know very well that I can take care of myself.”
“Yes, but—Oh, Jed! I always hated to see you wear a gun when you were marshal back in Lowville! But please wear it this time!”
Cindy became more alert. So her quiet father had been a gun-carrying law officer! She’d never known.
“Now don’t you worry,” she heard her father say, “I’ll take the gun even though I don’t expect to have any use for it.”
“I’ll be terrified if you don’t!” Ann Simpson said. “I couldn’t bear to think of you out there with no way to defend yourself! All those people!”
“They’re good people, Ann. There’s nothing to fear. You heard what Pete said.”
“I heard him say that ninety-five per cent of them are good and he wouldn’t care to cross the border without his gun! Oh, I do wish we’d stayed in Missouri!”
“In Missouri I was just a hired man,” Mr. Simpson reminded her.
“But we always had enough, and we were happy. To give it up and take these awful risks!”
“Now, Ann,” Cindy’s father’s voice became firm, “this is the Simpsons’ chance, perhaps the only one we’ll ever have, to rise in the world. There may be some small risk, but nobody ever gained anything without risking something. Think of the children, and of how much more we’ll be able to give them if we have our own farm instead of depending on a hired man’s wages.”
“But there aren’t even any schools out there!”
“There will be,” Jed Simpson said. “Schools will follow on the heels of the settlers. So will roads, towns, and even cities! And do you know who one schoolteacher might be?”
“Who?”
“Mrs. Jed Simpson.”
“Jed!”
“I mean it, Ann. You’re a college graduate. And stop thinking of Oklahoma as an empty wilderness. It may be that now, but within a week it’ll be settled. And it will need more than farmers. We’ll need doctors, carpenters, storekeepers, and above all, schoolteachers. Working together, with each contributing to the best of his ability, we’ll build a new and mighty state!”
There was a short silence, and then Ann Simpson spoke again.
“Forgive me, Jed,” she said. “Knowing you, I should have known that you would have no small plan. Yes, I see it too, and I will be a schoolteacher if we have to hold our first school in the open air. I won’t promise not to worry, and I won’t be happy until I’m with you again, and please take your gun!”
“I’ll take it,” Jed Simpson promised her.
Cindy dropped off to sleep and almost immediately fell into a happy dream. She was mounted on one of Pete’s ponies. Free as a bird and swift as the wind, she skimmed over the enticing grasslands just across the border to help her father and Pete stake claims.
Cindy rolled over and cried out in her sleep. The man with cat’s eyes had crept into her dream and made it a troubled one. She awakened shivering, and did not go back to sleep for nearly an hour. But when she did, there were no more dreams.
The next time she awakened, she smelled wood smoke and heard people moving about. Breakfast fires were being kindled at every camp and wagon. Cindy sat up in bed, and Mindy stirred beside her. Very softly, Cindy patted her sister’s cheek.
“It’s morning,” she said.
“Oh-h! So it is!” Mindy stretched and sat up drowsily.
Mindy donned the dress she had worn last night, but Cindy reached into her own carpetbag for some underwear, blue jeans, and a shirt that Alec had worn when he was ten. The clothing just fitted her if she turned up the jeans’ cuffs and rolled the shirt sleeves to her elbows. It was not quite a lady’s garb, but it offered much more freedom than any clinging dress. Eyes wide with astonishment, Mindy stared at her sister.
“Cindy!” she exclaimed.
“I want to save my dresses,” Cindy said.
“What will Mother say?”
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