Baby for Michaela?
A half-breed baby was visiting the homestead while he regained his strength after being ill. Michaela had treated the child, but now insisted that the baby needed rest before the father hit the road with him again.
Anyone looking at Michaela with that child could see how much she wanted a baby of her own. Her biological clock was running down and she didn't have a husband or any prospects for marrying in the near future. Her mother had always told her she would be an old maid if she became a doctor rather than following her four sisters' example and live the rules of society which meant marrying a man of the Boston society and bear his children. Michaela had not followed her mother's plan at any stage. She went to college and medical school rather than finishing school where she would have learned to be a proper lady. At a school her mother had preferred for her, they would have taught her to walk with a book on her head for her posture and to dance to develop her grace. These skills would have helped her use her natural beauty to attract the right kind of man. She would have learned to sew and cook so she could supervise her servants when she ran her husband's home. And she'd have learned all about flowers from her mother so she could supervise her future gardener. This was how her mother said she would make a good match and eventually become a mother. Michaela had done none of those things, and it turned out her mother was right. She was in her upper 30's, living in a shack all alone with no husband and no children.
Michaela loved being a doctor and she knew she had more patients in Colorado Springs than she would ever have in Boston. She was even hopeful that she would slowly but surely gain more patients until she truly was Colorado Springs's trusted doctor. She even brought modern medicine to the local Indians. From them she had learned about natural remedies which she actually used with her medicine to help her patients. The only thing wrong with her life was that she was lonely. Holding and rocking this baby while his father sang to put him asleep really brought these feeling out of Michaela. Even though she loved being a doctor she still wanted a family.
Her best friend, Charlotte Cooper, wasn't lonely because she had three wonderful children, even though her husband had skipped out on them. When Charlotte had to travel around the territory to deliver babies the children would stay with Dr. Mike. On one such occasion near Halloween the two older children were in the barn while the youngest boy was inside with Dr. Mike. Matthew and Colleen were supposedly looking for a bucket to fill with water to wash the dishes, but they were whispering a lot. Of course it didn't take both of them to bring the water for the dishes into the cabin. They were using the errand as an excuse to talk to each other in private about a Halloween joke they were planning.
Halloween was a big deal in Colorado Springs. The whole town took part in a costume contest with a $5 prize and a big party with games. Charlotte was making her children's costumes. Brian's was going to be a scary surprise as usual. The older children designed their own apparel and their mother helped them figure out how to do it. The children were trying to explain to Dr. Mike how important it was for her to be a part of this holiday. They felt her participation would help bring her into the community and earn the trust of the citizens of Colorado Springs and therefore help her medical practice grow. Dr. Mike couldn't sew and really didn't know what to do for a Halloween costume. In Boston she would just go to a costume shop and pick out a costume. She would not have a scary one, but one that would make her look beautiful. If she wore that kind of costume here, the town would feel she thought she was better than them. This would definitely not accomplish her goal of earning their trust though. After the dishes were done, the children and Dr. Mike sat down to decide what she should wear for the town's Halloween celebration.
" I can't wear one of my Boston dresses trying to be a beautiful character like Cinderella or Snow White. I remember how the town reacted when I wore one to church when I was first here," Michaela said.
Brian suggested, "You could wear a scary costume like I always do."
Yet Colleen pointed out that it was a bad idea for a doctor to arrive with a lot blood on her costume. Matthew jokingly suggested she dress in a more reveling dress and pretend to be a new employee at Hank's saloon, to which Colleen and Michaela, both looking horrified, yelled, "Matthew!"
Dr. Mike knew that she couldn't dress as a Cheyenne because most of the town didn't think highly of them. The fact that she supported the Indians already hurt her standing with the town. Yet then Brian had an idea. "What if ya dress up as a man and pretend to be our cousin from Soda Springs?"
Doing that would certainly be unexpected. Dr. Mike always looked so put together and beautiful. She tried to wear her simplest clothes to fit in more with the ladies of the town, but in spite of her best efforts she always looked like a beautiful lady. Dressing as a man would definitely be against type. Michaela was so petite that it was a good idea for her to be their cousin, a young man. Giggling, the children helped Dr. Mike to dress. She put on a pair of Matthew's pants he had outgrown, and one of his shirts. In addition, he put one of his bandanas on her and loaned her a hat that was big enough for her to put her long hair under it. Halloween might be the biggest party of the year, but it wasn't worth her cutting her hair. They used some charcoal from the fire to give Dr. Mike a 5 o'clock shadow which helped her look more masculine.
The trouble with this costume was that if it was successful, no one would even know she was at the party. The town might think that she stayed away because she thought she was too good for them and wasn't willing to get down and dirty. To solve this problem the children came up with a brilliant idea and, believe it or not, Dr. Mike agreed to go along with it even though she would get covered in mud. One of the games the town always had at their Halloween party involved trying to catch a pig. A pen was built in the middle of town and a lot of water was poured on the dirt floor to make it very muddy. A small young pig was put into this pen and food scraps were thrown in. After eating some of the garbage, the pig usually rolled around in the pen therefore covering itself in mud. Young men would sign up to try and catch the pig and carry it out of the pen to win a $5 gold piece. It was very difficult to catch a muddy pig and to be able to control and carry it out of the pen especially when you were moving around in mud. By the time someone actually succeeded, all the participants were usually unrecognizable and covered with mud. The whole town always stood around the pen watching at the attempts to try and catch the pig and laughing at the mud covered boys participating. actually agreed to take part in this competition, knowing that when it was over she would be one big mud creature. She would need to go into the clinic to wash up and change clothes. The plan was for her to take her hat off in front of everyone so they could see her hair drop down. Even being unrecognizable covered in mud her hair would give away who she was. The Cooper children felt the town would be impressed with her costume since they couldn't tell she was a woman and her good sportsmanship since she was willing to get herself that dirty. The children hoped she would win the costume prize. Dr. Mike just hoped the town would see her as one of their own.