Half Broke Horses

As Lily travels, the road is hot and largely empty, apart from occasional cowboys or “wagonfulls of Mexicans.” Lily and Patches rest in the shade during the hottest parts of the day and then keep going until night. Lily stops to buy food—like jerky and biscuits—in the small towns they pass, where she also often asks lonely shopkeepers about road conditions.

After passing Indian Reservations, Lily falls into a rhythm with Priscilla Loosefoot, a Navajo woman not much older than Lily and riding a donkey. Priscilla says her parents had traded her to settlers for two mules, but she ran away after the settlers abused her. The two make camp together and Priscilla says they could make a good team. That night, however, Lily awakens to find Priscilla going through her saddlebags. She pulls her revolver on Priscilla, who defends herself by saying she was taking advantage of a rare opportunity. Despite understanding where Priscilla is coming from, Lily tells her to stay behind and moves on alone. 

After twenty-eight days, Lily arrives in Red Lake. She notes that she is filthy and has lost weight, and that there are new lines around her eyes, but she has made it “through that darned door.”

Shortly after Lily’s arrival, she meets the county superintendent, Mr. MacIntosh. He explains that the board wants certified teachers with at least an eighth-grade education, and she will be there until they find someone more qualified. Lily is happy to see that the one-room schoolhouse has an oil-stove and a blackboard; there are no living quarters, however, so she sleeps on the schoolroom floor in her bedroll. Nevertheless, Lily loves being able to teach exactly what she wants and how she wants. Her students are of all ages and extremely poor. There are no school supplies, so children practice reading with whatever texts they can find at home.

Halfway through the year, Mr. MacIntosh finds a certified teacher for Red Lake. For the next three years after that, Lily moves between small towns in the same county as a teacher. Despite her nomadic and lonely existence, she loves teaching and feels confident in her skills. When the war ends, however, Mr. MacIntosh says he has to fire her, asserting that despite her glowing reviews she will never be as qualified as all the certified teachers returning home. Lily is angry, having worked hard to teach “wild and illiterate kids” in small towns. Mr. MacIntosh says she has “pretty eyes” and will be fine if she just finds a husband.

During the ride back to the ranch, Lily sees a red airplane, her first ever. She excitedly gallops after it and, upon realizing that it stays up by “planing the air,” wishes she had students to explain this to. When she makes it home, the ranch seems smaller than when she left, though in good condition, and she notices how much older her family looks. Buster and Dorothy are now married, and the latter basically runs the ranch. Mom frets about Helen, who is now sixteen, finding a husband; Helen, meanwhile, wants to move to Los Angeles in the hope of becoming an actress.

Having seen the airplane and cars in Arizona, Lily has doubts about the future of the carriage horse business. Lily no longer wants the life of a horsewoman and realizes that Dad is stuck in the past. Seeing the plane made her understand how much more there is to the world, and she doesn’t want to sit around at the ranch waiting for a man to propose or becoming a “spinster.” A month later, she boards a train to Chicago—“the biggest, most boomingest city I could find.”

The trip to Chicago takes only four days, whereas Lily’s trip with Patches took a month to go half that distance. Lily gawks at the size of the crowds and buildings, and marvels at the lake, wondering how so much water could sit “there undrunk, unused, and uncontested.” She rents a room in a women’s boarding house and circles “help wanted” ads in the newspaper. Finding a job proves more difficult than expected, as people are unimpressed by her lack of education and big-city experience.

Lily resigns herself to becoming a maid, and quickly finds work with a commodities trader and his wife, Mim. Their house is modern, with a radiator and running water. Mim is rude and dim, however, and fires Lily after a week for not behaving meekly enough. Lily finds another maid job, but also starts going to school in the evenings to gain her diploma, reflecting that “polishing silver for rich dunderheads” is not her “Purpose.”

Lily loves the hustle and bustle of Chicago and grows close with her roommate, a spunky Irish girl with long black hair named Minnie Hagan. The two regularly discusses politics and religion and attend rallies for granting women the vote. Minnie gives Lily her first tube of red lipstick for her twenty-first birthday, and Lily considers her a genuine friend. One evening, however, Lily comes home to learn that Minnie’s hair got caught in the machinery at the factory where she worked, pulling her into the grinder gears and killing her. Lily reflects on how delicate and unpredictable life is, and chops her hair off to just below her ears.

Lily’s new haircut makes her feel modern and flapper-like, and attracts the attention of Ted Conover, a former boxer turned traveling vacuum-cleaner salesman. Despite Ted being “a bit of a huckster,” Lily falls for him and the two begin dating. Lily partakes in her first glass of champagne and cigarette, and Ted also teaches her how to swim. After six weeks Ted proposes with a flashy-looking diamond ring, and the two marry in a Catholic Church. Lily enjoys married life, and the two live frugally. Ted encourages Lily to “dream big” about her future.

Ted is often away for work, but Lily does not mind because she is so busy with her own job and school. She receives her high school diploma at age twenty-six and begins looking for a better job. While Ted is on the road, Lily is hit by a car when crossing the street. Falling from horses taught her to take a fall, however, and she is fine. Nevertheless, the man driving the car insists on taking her to the hospital.

At the hospital Lily calls Ted’s office, introducing herself as his wife and asking how to reach him on the road. Ted’s coworker tells Lily he is not on the road and that his wife’s name is Margaret. Lily rushes out of the hospital and heads to Ted’s office, where she waits until she spots him leaving for the day. She stealthily follows him back to another apartment, where she knocks on the door and is greeted by a tired-looking woman Margaret. Despite her urge to confront Ted, Lily does not want to hurt Margaret or their many children and pretends to be with the census.

The next morning, Lily finds that Ted has nearly drained their joint bank account. She packs her gun in her purse and confronts him at his office, beating him with her purse. Ted breaks down in tears and insists that he loves Lily and has destroyed her life, but Lily will have none of it; she asserts that Ted does not “have what it takes” to destroy her. She walks out, slamming her purse against the office door so hard that the glass shatters.

Lily is angry but knows she will survive. She reflects again on the inability to predict the future, and how everything can change in an instant. Looking out at the lake, she decides it is time to return to the ranch. She is able to get her marriage annulled, but does not press charges against Ted, understanding that his going to prison would just make life even harder for his wife and children. She does, however, write a letter to Margaret explaining what happened. Lily tries to sell her engagement ring, but the jeweler tells her it is fake.

Lily applies to the Arizona state teachers’ college in Flagstaff and works multiple jobs while waiting to hear back. By the time she is accepted, she has saved enough for a year of college. She reflects that she is leaving Chicago having learned more about herself and others, including how easily people can steal your trust. While riding the train back, she also notes how little she feels she has accomplished in the past eight years; teaching during the war made her feel fulfilled in a way Chicago never could.