Bella and I recently went with my parents to a quirky theme park in Maryland called Frontier Town. The park is a replica of an Old Western town inhabited with cowboys and loaded with activities to give visitors an idea of what life was like back in the Wild Wild West. We left that day with a new appreciation of the daily struggle these brave men and women faced; overpriced mediocre food, caffeine-fueled kids running rampart throughout town, and enduring long lines for the bathroom. It’s a miracle they survived at all.
First up for the day was a bank robbery and a crowd was gathering across the street from the bank in anticipation of the action. In hindsight it probably would have been a good idea to give Bella a heads up on what was about to happen. Two cowboys raced up to the bank screaming “this is a stick up” and ran inside after which there was a lot of screaming and yelling. I will never forget the look on Bella’s face: a wide eyed blend of shock and confusion. This was the last thing she expected to be happening. Then out came the bandits with pistols blazing. Bella didn’t hesitate a second before bolting off behind the crowd. I finally caught up with her behind the chapel and tried my best to reassure her “this is pretend honey, I wouldn’t bring you somewhere with real guns!”
I finally coaxed her around the front of the building. “See, they are acting…the dead guy is okay…look he is getting up.” But it wasn’t working so it was time to move on. Next up on the program was an Indian Dance demonstration. A trio of authentically dressed musicians and dancers gave a great performance of contemporary music written to honor Native American women who have served in the Armed Forces. Bella didn’t really get it but nobody was killed so I think she was content. After the show one of the performers offered to paint the kid’s faces. Bella was all for that, she loves having her face painted. Things were looking up.
Next up was a train ride, one of Bella’s favorite modes of transportation. I think Bella and I were the only two people surprised when the train was robbed by bandits. I felt so bad for Bella. She must have thought we had stumbled upon the most dangerous place on Earth. Usually when we ride a train Bella begs to go again, but not this time. She couldn’t get away from that depot fast enough! It was time for the Dance Show Revival anyway so it was nice to be able to leave without a fight. Everyone crowded in the authentic looking Saloon and –wouldn’t you know it -- just a few minutes into the show a couple ruffians storm the stage and started manhandling the dancers. The Sheriff and his deputy tried to escort the troublemakers out but – of course - a fight broke out. Dead serious Bella looks at me and says “let’s get out of here”. Right at that moment the Sheriff throws one of the bad guys down the stairs right by us. That was it….time for a pony ride. Bella and I snuck out and headed to the stables where she was able to have a robbery-free 2 minute pony ride!
There was only one more thing to do before the finale: a Stage coach ride. The stage coach looked like the real thing with two huge work horses resembling beige Clydesdales. I think we all knew the game by now, especially when the guy who helped us inside said “have fun and be sure to keep this box of gold safe!” A few minutes into the ride a robber poked his head in the coach. Before he could even finish his sentence Bella said “We have your gold. Here it is, but we didn’t take it!” And she reached down under the seat grabbing the big box of pretend gold and handed it to him. We all sat there in complete shock. It was the bravest thing I had ever seen.
It was now time for a little shopping therapy. We tried to ignore the reenactment of the OK Corral happening in the middle of the street (“honey they are not really dead, I would never take you somewhere dangerous, see they are getting up! It’s just pretend”). The first store only had the cowboy stuff: pop guns, pretend shotguns, and pistols with holsters, there were even pink guns for the cowgirls. She wasn’t interested. Then in the leather shop next door, tucked in the back, we found what we were looking for: brightly colored feathers on leather strands with a clip to attach to her hair. Grandpa completed the outfit with a beautiful Native American beaded necklace. The transformation into an Indian brave was complete.
We moved toward the big rodeo ring in the back of the park and sat on the top row of the bleachers. The other visitors that day were made up of mostly boys in their cowboy hats holding their toy guns and a few cowgirls with pink guns and pink holsters. There was even one hybrid girl wearing a feather headdress and a pink gun and holster set. But there was only one Indian princess that day, guess who. I admit I was surprised Bella didn’t go for the cowgirl look. I don’t personally know any cowboys or Indians so I am drawing conclusions from movies; but I think of Cowboys as fun loving, high energy, adventurous and prone to fighting—that’s Bella! And she is definitely not against Cowboys. She is still talking about one particular 5 year cowboy she just walked up to and started bossing around right before we left (“let’s go this way cowboy”).
So this is the point in the story where I give some deep insight into why she decided to be an Indian over a cowboy. It is a little awkward because it goes against my expectations of my daughter. I have been thinking about this for almost a month and can’t come up with any explanation that doesn’t sound cliché and stupid. So I can either forget about writing about this and start over or admit the uncomfortable truth: I thought my daughter’s personality and character could be summed up in a neat little package. How could I think she was so uncomplicated, and worse yet, why did I think just because I’m her Mom I had a right to make any pronouncement at all. I was fully intending to pick apart her spontaneous choices made one hot June day and presume traits that I would attach to her forever. So five years from now when I come home from work preoccupied with my own life and she is acting moody I’d could just chalk it up to her “Indian-like quality” I would forever miss getting to know the Bella at 9 because I thought I already knew everything about her…at 4. God tells us he can change hearts, how many times does he change someone close to us and we never even notice because we are so sure we already think we know them so well?
Well it was finale time. Before the action an MC came out and threw me for a loop (not literally I wasn’t in the show). He said a “cowboy prayer”. He thanked God for allowing them to live the life of a cowboy and asked for safety in the ring. He prayed it all in the name of Jesus. It was really shocking to hear Jesus’ name spoken in public. I waited, frozen; nobody got up and left or booed. I am sure there were non-Christians there so I guess everyone gave some leeway since these guys were getting ready to jump into a ring with a really angry bull. All the different actors from the day were there. The Sherriff and the bank robber came together as Bull fighters. The rowdy ruffians and the dancers from the Saloon came out to cheer on the cowboys and do their own routines. It was patriotic; it was funny and exciting to see the cowboys ride the really mad bull. When it was all over and we were leaving I think Bella finally realized there weren’t any real bad guys that day after all.
