Читать книгу The Lost Diary of Annie Oakley’s Wild West Stagehand - Clive Dickinson - Страница 6

Yesterday was our first day in town, so everyone was busy getting ready for the street parade before the afternoon performance. We only do the street parade on the first day, so this morning I’ve got time to carry on from where I left off.

Nate Salsbury was getting real excited about Miss Oakley yesterday. Mr Salsbury is the business manager and he don’t get carried away like Buffalo Bill does sometimes.

Most of us were at the street parade in town when Annie and her husband, Frank Butler, arrived in camp. Mr Salsbury watched her practising her shooting in the arena and he liked what he saw! She shot clay pigeons as they whizzed from the trap, holding her gun right side up, upside down, in her left hand and in her right. He said those clay pigeons came flying straight one after the other, and she didn’t miss a single one.

Right there he signed her up to join the show – without even talking it over with Buffalo Bill. Here’s another incredible thing – Mr Salsbury ordered $7,000 worth of posters of Annie before they even had a business agreement! I sure hope he knows what he’s doing.

When we got back from the parade, he lined us all up to meet Annie and Frank. Buffalo Bill didn’t need any convincing. He swept off his hat and bowed to her with his long hair flopping over his shoulders. He then welcomed her as “Missie”, which she kind of liked, I think.

Annie walked down the line, shaking hands and nodding hello to everyone in a way that was so open and kind. You could see that the cowboys, the Mexicans, the Indians, the mule-drivers, the buffalo-handlers and everyone else in the show liked her too.

That’s what folks who ain’t seen Buffalo Bill’s Wild West don’t understand. This ain’t no circus, with sideshows and clowns and animals doing dumb things they’ve been taught to do.

Everything in the Wild West show comes straight from the real Wild West. It’s just like the posters say!

It seems to me that that’s why Annie and Frank wanted to join the show. They’ve worked in the circus and in theatres doing trick shooting, but so have too many other so-called sharp-shooters.

Annie’s been there, shot that. Now she wants folks to see how good her shooting really is. If you ask me, she couldn’t have come at a better time.