The Lady and the Cowboy by Catherine Winchester

she soon grew tired of listening to Mamma read off an item and amount, then watching the shopkeeper fetch and measure it, so she began looking around the store instead.
    It had everything, seemingly. Mamma was ordering things such as tea (Ruth would thank her later) sugar and salt but there were many other things available too, like bolts of cloth and stockings in one area, pots, pans, crockpots in another, and then she found tools and farming equipment. Nothing large but it wouldn’t surprise her if there was a plough out the back. Everything was stacked high to fit more in.
    She continued to the next section and found Sam looking at guns.
    “…about the easiest handgun to fire. It comes with a seven and a half inch barrel normally, but we do have one four inch barrel in stock,” a middle aged man was explaining to Sam.
    They were sta nding in front of an open, glass-fronted case, which was filled with guns and Sam turned to her as she approached.
    “Is this the young lady in question?”
    “It is,” Sam confirmed. “This is Mrs Adams, Ruth, this is Mr Grant.”
    “You’re buying me a gun?” she sounded surprised.
    “I am. Every one of my hands carr ies one so if you’re going to work with us, you need to learn to shoot.”
    “I hear you’re a dab hand with a horse,” Mr Grant said congenially.
    “Well, I…” she blushed. “I'm not sure I want to learn how to shoot.”
    “It’s a wise thing to do in these parts,” Mr Grant informed her. “Never know who you’ll run across. Better safe than sorry, I say. Anyway, as I was saying, this is the wife’s preferred gun, we always keep a gun under the counter, never can be too careful. This one is the Colt Single Action Army revolver; it’s easy to use, easy to load and the .45 bullets pack a decent punch. In fact the four inch barrel is often called the ‘Banker Special’ or the ‘Storekeeper’ because they’re perfect for personal protection. It holds six cartridges, so there’s no messing about with gunpowder.” He opened the chamber so she could see where the bullets went, then flipped it closed, aimed, pulled the hammer back and fired on the empty chamber. “Couldn’t be easier!” He handed her the gun.
    Ruth took the gun because she didn’t know what else to do, but she held the grip between her thumb and index finger, as if it might fire even without any bullets.
    Mr Grant laughed and took her hand, placing the gun in it as it should be gripped and moving to stand behind her, making her point the gun at the store window.
    “Now it’s real easy, Mrs Adams, just pull the hammer back,” he did so, “and pull the trigger. ”
    She didn’t pull it, just stood there.
    “You don’t need to worry about hurting anyone, we don’t keep these guns loaded, or some desperado would use them against us. We keep the bullets locked in a safe out back.”
    Alt hough it went against her instincts as a lady to do so, she did feel a thrill at holding a powerful weapon. She bit down on her lip as she squeezed the trigger, letting out a sigh of relief as nothing happened.
    “See, easy,” Mr Grant smiled, released her and turned to Sam. “So do you know which barrel length you’d like to go for? We’ve got a five and a half inch, as well as the four and seven and a half.”
    Sam turned to Ruth, who was holding the gun in her hand, seemingly weighing it up.
    “Ruth?”
    She looked up at him, warring with what she had been taught and what she knew she needed to do out here.
    “The four inch,” she said decisively. “This has to be almost a foot long!”
    “That’s 13 dollars.” Mr Grant told them. “Usually 1000 cartridges would set you back 15 dollars but I can let you have both for 25. What do you say?”
    “We’ll take it,” Sam nodded to Mr Grant. “And we’ll need a gun belt and holster.”
    “Be back in a moment.” He locked the gun back in the cabinet and disappeared into the storeroom.
    “ Mr Wakefield, I didn’t bring twenty