I believe Emma Gatewood was honest. I also believe there’s an equal chance that her stock answers were covers. They were honest—and also incomplete—responses to a question she couldn’t bring herself to fully answer, not when she was a “widow.” Not when she had a secret. Not when she had tasted her own blood, felt her ribs crack, and seen the inside of a jail cell. To suggest she was trying to be the first woman means believing that she was walking toward something. I’m not sure that’s wholly true. I’m not sure she was walking toward something so much as walking away.
