The Gallant South- Part One

Chapter IX- October 18, 1912

        After lunch, Cora put on a light loose-waisted dress and low-heeled boots, and pulled her hair into a tight pompadour bun before leaving the house, choosing to walk to the society instead of riding Artemis, or having someone drive her. She liked the afternoon walk.
        The society was less-empty when she arrived, as it was a Friday afternoon and many people were out doing things. Bettirose and Mildred, however, were waiting at the bar when Cora walked in. Cora walked over to them, and gasped.
        "What?" Mildred asked with a grin. Both women were wearing short-sleeved blouses, sleeveless vests, and to Cora's utter shock, harem pants that ballooned out and then tucked into tall boots.
        "You...pants...I don't...how-"
        Both of them laughed, and began walking towards the other side of the room, where there was a set of double doors that opened into a long, green-painted hallway.
        "These are the rooms we give out," Bettirose explained as Mildred led them to the end of the hallway and opened the door, which was very wide and very tall.
        "Ready for this?" Mildred asked excitedly, and Cora wondered what was behind the door.  When the door opened, she got the shock of her life. So far.
        It was a gym. But it was like no gym Cora had ever seen. The floors were made of thick mats, and there were all kinds of apparatuses, pull-up bars, aerial rings, a stretching machine, dumbbells, training floors, a beam, other things Cora had never seen before, and along the very back wall, made of wood, was a climbing wall. Cora was frozen in amazement. She'd never seen any gym like it.
        "What do you think?" Mildred asked proudly, as she and Bettirose walked in. There were about a dozen other people in there, all doing their own workouts. Cora wondered what she should do first, then when she was unable to decide, she asked Mildred and Bettirose.
         "Let's start with weights," Bettirose announced, leading them over to the dumbbells. She picked up one with the number 10 written on the side with white paint. "Can you hold this up with one hand?" she asked, and handed it to Cora.
        It was heavy, but she could hold it. She switched it to her left hand, and she could hold it with that one as well. She handed it back to Bettirose with a grin. Bettirose set the weight back on the rack and picked up one labeled 20. "Try this one," she said, and handed it to Cora. It was twice as heavy as the last one, and Cora struggled a bit more, but nevertheless, she could still hold it in both hands.
        "Sweet. Now try this one," Bettirose said, handing her one marked 30. Cora took it in her right hand, and struggled to hold it up. Her left arm was the same story. After ten seconds, she quickly handed it back to Bettirose, who then picked up one labeled 35 and handed it to Cora.     As soon as Bettirose took her weight off of it, the weight dropped to the floor despite Cora's attempt to hold it up. Bettirose carefully took the weight back. "Careful!" she cried.
        "Alright, so she can lift thirty max," Mildred noted as Bettirose led them over to the parallel bars. She stood in between them, one hand on each, and lifted herself up, counted to twenty, and came back down. "Can you do that?"
         Cora walked over and stood in between the bars, putting her hand on each, getting ready to lift herself up. She took a deep breath and jumped up, counted to twenty, and came back down.
        "Can you lift yourself up with just your arms?" Mildred asked. Cora tried, but couldn't do it. She tried three more times, but couldn't make it up.
        "Alright, what about the vault?" Mildred asked, walking over to the large contraption with the triangle thing in front of it. After a moment of explanation, Cora discovered that the giant leather and wooden contraption was called a vault, and the triangular thing was called a springboard. You were supposed to jump off of the springboard and onto the vault.
        "I'll demonstrate," Mildred said with a hint of pride in her voice. She walked backwards a few steps, and with a deep breath, ran towards the vault as fast as she could, jumped onto the springboard, which heightened her jump. She landed feet-first on top of the vault. Bettirose nodded, and Cora clapped. "Can I try?"
        "Alright first, don't run that fast, and don't try to land on your feet. Land on your hands and knees," Bettirose instructed. Mildred rolled her eyes. "Aw, that's lame! Why can't she do it how I did?" she complained.
        "Because you've been doing it for four years! Cora's never done it before!" Bettirose explained, annoyed. Cora laughed before taking a deep breath, mustering up courage, and running towards the springboard. She jumped onto it and then shot up, landing on her hands and knees on top of the vault.
        "Isn't this just gymnastics?" Cora asked, jumping down from the vault. Bettirose shrugged.    "Technically yes, but it's a wonderful and useful skill to have," she admitted.
        Cora wanted to ask if she could go again, but Mildred, ever the showoff, cried, "Watch this!" and galloped a few more steps away from the vault. Cora and Bettirose watched as she took a deep breath, then another, then took off across the floor, jumped onto the springboard, and shot up into the air, but instead of landing on her feet, she tucked her body, hit the vault with her hands, arms extended, before her feet flew over her head and she landed on her back on the vault. She hopped up, and took a running leap off of the vault, landing right in front of Cora, who was awestruck, and Bettirose, who looked annoyed. "Showoff," she muttered.