My grandmother, Barbara Benson was born in the late 1890s. By the time the depression came along, she had been married and divorces twice. She had two kids, a boy and a girl, but neither plays a part in my story. They were already out on their own. Betty Carson and Beatrice Swanson, on the other hand play a major role as they made up the "gang" that followed Barbara's every whim.
Betty, Bea, and Babs made up the B-girl Bandits. Betty was the driver, Bea as the muscle, the mean one of the bunch, and Babs was the brains. The only picture I have of them is from 1933 and shows them standing alongside a late twenties black Ford parked on the side of a dirt road.
What is so interesting about the photo is not the pump shotgun my grandmother has resting on top of her shoulder or the .45 caliber Thomason machinegun Bea was holding, but the fact that all three are nude. All three had on hats, thigh high stockings, high heel shoes, with a cigarette dangling from their lips and nothing more. Talk about scandalous.
The black and white picture shows my grandmother's short blonde hair on both ends but her eyebrows were jet black. Her breasts were the largest by far but full and round, high on her chest. I remember her as thin but the photo shows a more rounded, meat and potatoes figure.
Bea had dark hair on her head and dark hair on her sex. Her breasts were small but full with large dark circles under small hard nipples. She was slender with curves but had a hard no nonsense face. Her stockings on the other hand were the most feminine of the group.
Betty was the shortest of the three, with dark hair on her head and no hair on her sex. Her breasts were small like Bea's were but they appeared more pear shaped. Her shoes also had less heel and were more suited to driving. She was also the only one who wore a watch.
Overall, they were a sexy and dangerous looking group.
*****
"Bea, give the nice man back his watch. He's not charging us for the pictures," Betty said softly.
"Only because we've got the guns," Bea replied as she cradled the Thompson across her body under her breasts.
Babs chuckled and looked at Bea. "Give the old man his watch back. We don't need it. We don't need the pictures either but they were fun to take."
Bea frowned even deeper than normal but she reached into the front seat of the car and retrieved the old pocket watch from the seat. The old man had finished putting his equipment away in his car. As he turned around, Bea tossed him the watch saying, "Make sure those pictures get to the Post Office Box Babs gave you or I'll come back and take a whole bunch more than that watch."
"Be nice," Babs said to Bea before she turned to the old man. "Thank you. We enjoyed having our pictures taken and I hope you enjoyed it also."
The old man grinned. "Three lovely naked ladies. What's not to like? It beats the hell out of taking baby pictures."
"Making baby pictures would be even more fun," Betty said with a giggle.
"Down girl," Bea said, "You'd kill the old fart."
"But what a way to go," the old man said with a wink at Betty. Then he opened the door to his car and got in. "You ladies have a nice day."
As he drove away, Betty glanced at her watch. "We'd better get a move on if we want to make that general store before they close up."
Bea looked at Babs. "Why the general store and not the bank?"
"The bank is broke and the general store is taking land from the local farmers to cover their over priced credit debts. That doesn't sit well with me." Babs replied as she opened the back door of the car. "Mount up ladies, we have people to do and places to be."
All three took a moment to put on long black dusters before they got into the car. None buttoned them up. That is what had started the picture taking session. The old man had been taking pictures of a herd of cows when the three stopped to watch. They very seldom button the dusters up unless they were in a big city.
It had started out as a joke but had not worked out that way. No one had ever given an accurate description of any of them after a robbery. The men were too busy looking at flashing body parts and the women were too embarrassed to look. It also kept a bunch of their exploits out of the papers. No one wanted to write about naked bandits. If they did, they didn't publish it.
*****
Dixon was a typical small town along the railroad line that ran through the area. A small local bank, the general store, a rooming house with a restaurant, a dress store, a feed store, and a blacksmith shop made up the town. Less than a hundred people lived there but it serviced three times that many farmers. The nearest sheriff's office was fifty miles away.
Betty drove into town slowly and pulled up in front of the general store. Babs and Bea got out on the sidewalk side of the car. The dusters hid their guns as they crossed the sidewalk. Babs opened the door and Bea entered drawing the Thompson out into the open as she did so. Babs entered, flipped the closed sign around to show closed, and moved the shotgun to the top of her shoulder as she crossed to the counter.
The man behind the counter had a shocked expression on his face but it was not at the appearance of the guns but at the way, Babs's coat was pulled open exposing her naked body. "We're here for the cash and for the deeds in your safe," she said to him.
He glanced at her face and then his eyes went back to her breasts. "I, uh, don't have any cash or deeds in the safe that I know of," he said off handedly as his eyes dropped to her sex.
"Are you sure?" Bea asked as she leveled the machinegun in his direction.
His eyes moved to her for a second and then returned to Babs exposed body as he nodded his head. "I'm quite sure."
"Why don't you and I go in the back and check on that safe," Babs said as she walked to the end of the counter.
The guy took a deep breath now that Babs's charms were out of his sight as she walked away from him. When she rounded the end of the counter the duster was even more open than before. He groaned softly as his eyes ran up and down her lush body. "I can't do that. My wife would kill me."
"I can save her the trouble," Bea said with a nasty smile.
"But I don't own the store, my wife does. It was her fathers and I worked for him," the man protested. "I've never had the combination to the safe."
"Where is she?" Bea asked quickly.
"Uh, she has a wedding dress fitting at the dress shop next door. She owns that also," the man blurted out quickly.
Babs paused and looked at Bea. "Looks like I need to go visiting on my own while you keep this one occupied."
Bea nodded. "I don't like us splitting up but...."
Babs grinned as she headed back around the counter. "Why don't you take our friend here in the back room and tie him to a chair. You can take off your duster and let him have a good look at your charms while I go get the wife."
Bea smiled shyly and then grinned. "You know I don't like showing off as much as you and Betty but.... It might get to be even more fun when the wife shows up and I'm prancing around in front of hubby all nude and everything."
As Babs went past Bea on the way to the door, she whispered, "I'd tell you to rub some on him but we better wait until we see what the wife is like."
"A total bitch," the man said. "Just don't tell her I ever said that. I like my balls where they are, thank you."
"I didn't know you had any," Bea said with a wink at Babs.
Babs paused at the door to tuck the shotgun under her coat before she opened it. Outside, she paused by the car to fill Betty in and then headed next door.
When she opened the dress shop door and stepped inside, she saw four women. A young one in a white wedding gown was on a raised platform. Another young one stood close by and was probably a sister. An older woman stood in front of the bride and looked enough like her to be the mother. The fourth woman was bent at the waist working on the back of the dress.
Not looking up or around the bride, the woman working on the dress said, "Have a seat, I'll be with you in a moment."
Babs had been holding the duster closed but as she started across the room, she left go of the opening and raised the shotgun to rest it on top of her shoulder. The duster opened up and the three women facing her had shocked looks on their faces. Babs grinned. It was an expression she was very used too.
As she reached the platform and stepped up onto it, Babs said, "I'm afraid I need all of you next door and I don't have a lot of time."
"What?" the woman bent over said as she straightened. Seeing Babs right in front of her, she looked confused for a second and then asked, "Who are you?"
Babs lowered the shotgun and then tapped the woman on the forehead lightly with it. "No questions--" she started to say but she had to quickly reach out and grab the woman by the front of the blouse before she fell backwards off the platform. Several button popped on the front of the blouse as she pulled the woman back upright.
"Help!" the woman yelled and Babs tapped her again. The woman did not move back this time as Babs still had a hold on her blouse but another button came undone.
The woman had a dazed look in her eyes as Babs said, "What part of shut up didn't you understand."
The woman's eyes focused and then got big. "You're... you're that flossy...."
Babs shook her head as she tapped the woman a third time. The woman sagged and ended up on one knee. "Some people are just downright stupid," she whispered as she let go of the woman.
The bride had moved over by her sister and the mother was behind them both. "I have no real business with you three ladies but I can't have you running all over town so.... If you would be so kind as to escort...." Babs looked around at the shop owner. "What's your name?"
The woman gave her a groggy look and said, "Doris."
Looking back at the three women, Babs said, "If you would escort Doris here, next door, then I probably won't have to thump her on the head again."
The two young sisters giggled and the older woman asked, "And why should we help you?"
"Because I asked nicely and I have a shotgun," Babs replied with a smile.
The two girls giggled again and the older woman sighed. "Yes, there is that."
A moment later, the two young women helped Doris to her feet and they headed for the door with Babs bringing up the rear.
*****
They entered the general store and Babs paused long enough to lock the front door. "Everyone in the back room," she said a moment later.
Looking out the window in the front door, she got Betty's attention. She motioned for Betty to move the car to the rear of the building. The car was moving as Babs turned back to the women going behind the counter. Doris paused near the cash register and hastily looked on the shelf under it. When she straightened up, she had a sour look on her face.
