Free Coming Up Roses by Alice Duncan

actually about as big as a minute. But you
and Annie Oakley are news everywhere.”
    “ Oh.” That made it even worse. Rose had
come to have a faint understanding of the level of popularity
enjoyed by the Wild West and Annie Oakley and, by inclusion,
herself, but she sure hadn’t known Rose
Gilhooley was a household name.
    Suddenly she expelled a whoosh of
relief. By gum, it wasn’t Rose Gilhooley whose name was splashed all over the
newspapers all the time. It was Wind
Dancer . Nobody knew Rose Gilhooley from a hole in the
ground.
    Feeling much better about life, the fair, the
Wild West, and somewhat better about H.L. May, Rose began walking
again and caught up with her comrades in a moment. Little Elk
offered her the last of his popcorn, but Rose declined with thanks.
A few treats were fine, but she couldn’t afford to eat much between
meals.
    Which reminded her that she hadn’t taken any
supper yet. She never ate before a performance because to do so
would have been most unwise if she valued her digestion. But the
few grains of popcorn she’d consumed had whetted her appetite. As
if she’d just reminded it, her stomach growled. Rose was completely
embarrassed.
    “ Say, I didn’t think to ask,” H.L.
said. “But are you hungry, Miss Gilhooley? You probably can’t eat
before performances.” His tone was so natural that Rose was almost
not embarrassed any longer.
    His perceptiveness made her soften toward him
for a second. She didn’t dare let the softness linger, because she
trusted him about as much as she’d trust a rattlesnake in her bed.
“I am a little hungry,” she equivocated. “I guess I could
use—something.”
    “ I have an idea!” H.L.’s expressive
eyes suddenly expressed eagerness. “How about we get you a
carbonated drink and a hamburger!
    I’ll bet you’ve never tasted either one of
those items.”
    She blinked at him. “Er, no, I haven’t.”
    “ Ha!” H.L. flung his arms wide. “I love
this fair!”
    He was certainly an enthusiastic young man.
Rose found herself reluctantly fascinated by him. He was so free
with his emotions and gestures. Rose had tried to hide herself
behind her Wind Dancer persona for so many years, she couldn’t even
imagine being so open and spontaneous.
    “ Before the Columbian Exposition
opened, nobody’d ever tasted a hamburger or a carbonated drink,
Miss Gilhooley! They’re being introduced here, at this fair!” He
stamped the ground beneath his feet as if confirming the solidity
of his statement.
    “ Oh.” She glanced at Little Elk, who
seemed as interested as she in food. “Um, what’s a hamburger?” Rose
knew that Little Elk, like most of his Sioux kin, liked to eat meat
and resisted the so-called “vegetarian” foods that were being
touted as healthy these days. His preference made a lot of sense to
Rose, who knew how difficult it was to find meat on the plains, but
she didn’t even want to try to explain it to H.L. May.
    “ It’s ground-up beef formed into a flat
patty, then fried, and served on a round roll they call a bun, with
condiments.”
    What were condiments? As Rose contemplated
how stupid it would sound if she asked, H.L. made a question from
her unnecessary.
    “ You can have pickles, prepared mustard
sauce, some sort of tomato sauce they call ketchup—I think it was
developed by a fellow named Heinz from a Chinese sauce—and onions
on the hamburger roll. They’re delicious.”
    Again, Rose and Little Elk exchanged a
glance. Little Elk lifted one shoulder in his version of a shrug.
Interpreting this as compliance,
    Rose said, “That sounds nice, Mr. May. We’d
both like to try a—what did you call it?”
    “ A hamburger. I think there’s a vendor
here selling sausages on a bun, too. They’re pretty good,
especially when he dumps on a spoonful of sauerkraut. The fellow’s
German and calls them frankfurters.”
    “ My goodness.” It hadn’t occurred to
Rose until this conversation that people invented different