Chapter 20

We had collected $212.25 from tickets and drink sales. Jed was the only one who was disappointed, the rest of us were thrilled to have made so much from our first effort in show business. He had wanted me to double the ticket prices, but I maintained that I knew what I was doing. Four performances a week would produce over $3,200 per month! With all of my expenses figured in, I would be making over $1,000 per month! Mary and I would be rich within two years, not counting what we could make from the school we would establish.

The handbill advertising the show and the simple program we handed out during the show mentioned the school and how to contact us for information. Several prospective students contacted me on Saturday morning, and, by Saturday afternoon, I had enough students for my first class. Nobody objected, so I planned to use the existing shooting range for the school. I charged $50 per week for a three-week course, each week payable in advance. I did not guarantee results, I just guaranteed to show them how Mary and I had learned to shoot. A few people wanted a stronger guarantee than that, so I refused to take them on as students. If everything went well, that was $250 per week and another $12,500 per year with almost no expenses. At this rate, California wasn't a bad place to live.

One night, Mary and I were lying in bed when we heard some strange noises coming from her parents bedroom. We listened for a minute, then Mary started to laugh. "Well, I guess she talked him into it. Today, I told Ma about your doggy position for sex and how much fun it could be. She said she would try to talk Pa into trying it out, tonight. It sounds like she was successful!"

Our show had been running for five months and its popularity exhibited no signs of tapering off. For one thing, we appeared to be getting a fair number of repeat customers, especially in the low-priced seats. Some of these repeat customers seemed to be fixated on Mary and I began to be concerned about her safety as she went about her daily business out in the city. I suggested that she start wearing her gun for protection, but she didn't like the idea of the way it made her look "less lady-like."

I stewed over that for a while and then came up with the idea of her wearing a kind of vest over her gun. She could still reach the shoulder holster, but it was less obvious than it would otherwise be. She visited a dress maker and came up with a design that she could live with. There were no sleeves, and it fit loosely enough that it was reasonably cool, so she agreed to wear that.

A couple of weeks after she started wearing the vest, she was approached by two very unsavory characters as she was walking from her hairdresser to her carriage. They walked up to her and started talking about having seen her performance the night before. She thanked them and tried to walk around them, but they blocked her way. Mary became very apprehensive at this point, but tried to remain polite.

The two men began to talk about how a woman who worked on stage had to be a whore, and they wanted to know how much she charged. Mary was aghast at that, and made a determined effort to walk away. One of the men grabbed her left arm and tried to pull her into a nearby alley. She broke loose and demanded that they leave her alone.

The other man pulled a knife and threatened Mary with it. That was enough! Mary pulled her gun and shot them both there on a Los Angeles street. When they fell, she shot each one again in the head to make sure that they were dead. At this time, a deputy marshal came running up and demanded to know what had happened. Mary controlled her tears, which had turned into tears of rage, and forcefully explained to the young man what had happened.

He looked like he was afraid she was going to turn on him, so he apologized in the name of all the men in Los Angeles and helped her into her carriage before spending any time on the two obviously dead men on the ground. By this time, a crowd had gathered, and her reputation as a shootist jumped up several notches. I am sure it helped to keep up the attendance at our show, and I am absolutely certain that it brought several women to our shooting school.

By now, Mary was also teaching a class at the shooting school. Her students were mostly women and older children, but a few men specifically asked for her class. Following her defense in the Los Angeles street, she never lacked for students. Shoulder holsters actually became a fashion accessory for a while, but Mary continued to wear what had become her trade mark vest. At Jed's insistence, Elizabeth started wearing her gun when she left the house, too.

Mary discovered that she was pregnant! Joy was rampant throughout the Bartholomew and the Hawkins households. By now, we had moved into our own house, but it was still on the grounds of the Hawkins estate, so Mary had the constant supervision of her mother. I suspect that Mary could have used a little more separation to cut down on the supervision, but she never actually complained, so I never said anything, either.

We continued the show until Mary began to bulge too much to fit into her costume. Since ladies did not appear in public in that condition, she had to stop performing. We announced that we would close the show for now, but we would reopen in 10-12 months. I had bought the hall that we were using because there were several improvements I wanted to make, including installing more of the high-priced seats. Several ladies had complained about the strong odor coming from the main floor from all of the unwashed bodies, as well as the gun smoke, so I had some exhaust fans installed on the roof, driven by a windmill affair. It wasn't very efficient, but it did work well enough. All of this work was done during the time the show was closed for Mary's pregnancy.

Mary continued to instruct her classes in shooting for a few more months, but she found that having to stand for that long began to be too much for her. However, I continued teaching my classes, so we still had a healthy income.

I found myself worrying constantly about Mary's health. I was so afraid that she would suffer the same fate as Barbara that I am sure that I made a real pest of myself. I think that I was lucky on occasion that she didn't throw me out just so that she could get some peace; however, she understood the reason for my concern, so she put up with it. Love can do wonders when it has the chance!

Finally it happened! Mary Elizabeth Bartholomew was born in the middle of the night, of course, and no one was happier than me. We decided to call her Betty to cut down on any possible confusion, but I knew that I would never be confused! Mary was able to nurse, so that worry was avoided. Naturally, Betty was noisy on occasion, but I even enjoyed those times. I had to admit that fathers had the best of the deal: we could enjoy the kids without having to put up with most of the aggravation.

Two months after Betty was born, Mary was getting antsy, and one day I caught her trying to put on her old costume. She was fussing because it would no longer fit over her bust, and the waist was a bit tight, too. Elizabeth told her to stop fussing. That sort of expansion happened with every baby, and her waist would eventually return to its old size if she worked on it, but her breasts were stuck at the new size. I didn't actually say anything (I'm not that stupid), but I was happy to hear that her tits were permanently enlarged a little bit. All right, so I'm an admirer of large tits.

Mary worked out on the firing range until she completely had her hand back, and we resumed the show. We didn't make any major changes in the show, since we seemed to have a winning combination, but we added a little to make the show last longer and to make it seem like a new show for the repeat customers from the last season.

The increased seating capacity in the expensive balcony upped our nightly take to around $300 per night. Jed finally agreed that my ticket prices had been correct, since we always had a sell out.