Chapter 6

The next afternoon, Ethel, Hester, and Anna rode into Wilsonville. Ethel had her horse, but the other two ladies were riding in a carriage driven by Anna. Ethel was planning to open her bank account and stay over to play poker, but the other two were going to do some shopping and return home in time for supper.

They met Jonas for dinner (lunch to you damyankees) and had a very nice meal at the hotel restaurant. Of course, it was not up to what Hester could and would fix, but it was still enjoyable. After lunch, Jonas took Ethel back to the bank while the women went shopping.

Jonas very proudly showed Ethel around the bank and pointed out to her the new vault with its time-lock. He claimed that it was the only one in this part of Texas, and he hoped that it would induce more people to deposit their money with the bank. Bank robbery had become a very popular sport, lately, and Jonas was sure that this would make it a lot harder to rob his bank.

Ethel was suitably impressed and gave up her $1,300 to be put into the new vault. She thought that the paperwork was interminable as she signed page after page of forms, but she was finally presented with a passbook with her name emblazoned on the front cover in gold leaf. Actually, preparing the bank book was what had taken so long, most of the paperwork was just to stall until the book was ready for the presentation. As the bank's largest depositor, Jonas had wanted to make the opening of the account something special. Besides, Ethel was the only woman in the county with her own bank account. When Ethel found out about this fact, her brain started to do a bit of mad conjecture and calculation, but it was all unconscious, the result of the thought would surface later.

After the presentation ceremony, Ethel and Jonas retired to his office where he indulged himself with a cigar. Jonas offered one to Ethel, but she refused. There were a few things in the world of men she was not interested in participating in, and cigar smoking was one of them.

Jonas was so relieved to have Ethel's money available to cover his immediate needs that he waxed downright poetic about the economic prospects of post-Civil War Texas. Of course, he did not call it "the Civil War," but Ethel knew what he was talking about.

As Jonas talked, and Ethel listened closely, he told her more about the bank's business than perhaps he really should. After all, she was only just another customer, though Jonas was already starting to think of her as a member of the family. By the time Jonas had talked for two hours, and Ethel had asked a few very intelligent questions, she was in complete agreement with Jonas that all his bank really needed to take off was a bit more gold in its vaults. Right now, the scarcity of gold in western Texas was inhibiting its growth, and he could lend out a lot of gold if he just had it available and on hand. The average interest rate was 12%, so there was a lot of money to be made in the coming years if he just had some way to tap it.

Ethel began to wonder if she might have an opportunity to invest in the future of West Texas and to make her money grow at the same time. As Jonas talked, Ethel became more and more enamored of the possibilities, so, toward the end of Jonas' dissertation, she asked if it was possible to invest in his bank. "Jonas, I have some money available, and I wonder if it would be possible to purchase an interest in your bank? You have done such a good selling job that I would like to join you in your dream."

"Dear Lady, gold is so scarce right now that I would do almost anything to get it, as long as it is not illegal or immoral! I would consider selling a portion of the bank to you, provided I was still the one to run it."

"Oh, I wouldn't think of taking over the management of the bank, I just want to invest in what looks to me like a golden opportunity. I have $18,000 deposited in a bank in Austin. My certificate of deposit says that they are obligated to return it to me as gold. How much of that would you want, and how much of the bank would you be willing to sell?"

"Oh ... my ... God! Ethel, I would sell you 49% of the bank for the full $18,000 in gold. With that much gold, I could double the value of the bank within three years. Would you consider such a deal?"

"Yes, I would. Shall we shake hands on that? You sell me 49% of the bank for $18,000 in gold? I will sign whatever is necessary to get the gold transferred as soon as possible."

Jonas stood up and walked to Ethel. He put out his hand and exclaimed, "Put it there, PARTNER!"

Now that the agreement was settled, and only some paperwork needed to be done to make it legal, Ethel was just beginning to realize what she had committed to. She had never thought of herself as being anything but a housewife on a cattle ranch in the wilds of Texas. Now, she was a gunfighter, a gambler, and a partner in a bank! My, how she had risen in the world!

Jonas was fairly dancing around the office, he was so happy. At last, he had the capital to realize his dreams. It was too late today to start the paperwork through the mill, but that could be done first thing tomorrow morning. Meanwhile, he just had to celebrate and tell his friends of his good fortune.

Just about the time he was ready to explode from frustration because he couldn't think of how he was going to spread the news of his new partner, he remembered the pending poker game where he was going to introduce The Poker Queen to the town of Wilsonville. That would be the perfect place to make the announcement of his new partnership! All of the important men of the town would be there, and Jonas could get his bragging done all at one time. He was walking on air as he led Ethel to supper before they went to play poker.

Both Ethel and Jonas were still so excited by their business deal that neither one could have remembered what they ate for supper. Jonas did wake up enough to pay for the meal and to lead Ethel to The Golden Horseshoe Saloon where the poker game was to take place. Normally, they would have met in one of the private rooms, but the bartender asked that they play this night in the main barroom where people could stand around and watch. The novelty of seeing a woman poker player was bound to bring in a lot of extra customers tonight.

Everybody else was at the table by the time Jonas and Ethel arrived. Jonas introduced everyone to Ethel, and he announced that she was the new partner in the Wilsonville Bank and Trust Company. This announcement produced a barrage of questions, but Jonas dodged them by saying that he was in a hurry to get the game started. Jonas had invited in a respected professional poker player to be the dealer so that there could be no thought of cheating on Ethel's part. Jonas didn't really expect any problems, but you could never be sure how a big loser was going to act.

This was a high class game, so they played with chips instead of actual money. To show the level of the game, the chips were valued at $5, $10, $25, and $50. Ante was a $5 chip, so it was obvious that these were a bunch of high rollers. To her surprise and horror, Jonas bought Ethel in for $500. She had never before played poker at this heady price level, but she reminded herself that poker was poker, no matter how big the wagers were. Also, Jonas reminded her that now that she was a partner in the bank, $500 was small change to her. She nearly fainted at that statement, but took hold of herself and resolved not to let him down.

As usual, Ethel lost in the first few hands. However, as she became more comfortable with the other players, she began to dominate the table. Ethel never bluffed—she was saving that for a last ditch maneuver. Instead, she merely folded when her cards were too poor, and she bet shrewdly whenever her cards were good enough for that. Thus, Ethel lost more pots than she won, but she won all of the big pots. It very quickly became obvious to everybody at the table that she was so skilled and so lucky that she was virtually unbeatable, at least on that night.

When the game was over for the night at about midnight, everybody freely admitted that he'd had a good time, and it was a pleasure to play poker with Ethel. There were no heavy losers, at least by their standards, but Ethel had managed to win $1,752, even after she had paid Jonas back his $500 buy-in fee.

As usual when Ethel played, everybody wanted to know when they would have the pleasure of her company for poker again. Her answer was vague, saying that it depended on too many things to set down a specific time, but they could be certain that she would come by as often as she could.