by R. E. Rose
But, instead of getting out of the car I observed as people gathered and milled at the wrought iron gates, lineups of folks formed right back to the car lots.
I remembered that I’d said I’d do a pole dance routine in the burlesque tent, but no one seemed concerned that I hadn’t worked out a routine or picked a costume. Maisie was usually all over promises like that one, but I guess she was too busy to chase me down.
I wanted to text Glendie, but just as I reached for my phone, I saw Temmie. I presumed she was with her boyfriend, Silvio – the owner of the panther’s paw, at least according to Emi. Seeing him made me a little nervous. They drove up in a new large, black pickup and parked a few cars away from me. Before they even got out of their vehicle, they were quickly approached by two well-dressed men in suits, who seemed to come out of nowhere.
My first thought was that these guys had to be parking lot attendants about to ask the couple to park somewhere else. I lowered my window a bit and listened to the conversation.
One of the very polite fellows introduced himself in a friendly manner and told the couple his name was James King. He was a large guy, about thirty-five, at least six-four and built like a Viking. I knew the man, and I knew he was a body builder and joint owner of Hercules Gym in town. I’d seen him working out at the gym, the few times I’d found myself there looking for Barkman Moore, the Strong Man in Maizie’s deck. He occupied the Strength card. The gym wasn’t my kind of place. But it sure attracted some great looking guys.
James introduced his partner, Pepé Lance, a smaller, wiry, kind of guy. He also had a great build. With his crew cut hair and elegant suit, he looked like a movie star whose name I couldn’t quite recall. Pepé was also a regular at Hercules Gym. I’d always figured James and Pepé for a couple, but I didn’t know anything for certain about the two men.
The next thing I knew a heated discussion ensued between, James, Pepé and Silvio, their voices carried across the lot. Pepé approached Silvio’s side of the truck. James told the couple they hadn’t paid their rent for their spot in the carnival.
Then Temmie spoke: “Oh, I paid for the permit. It’s right here,” she said. While she fished through her bag looking for the permit, she explained that they purchased it from Meadowvale’s city hall over a year ago. She pulled the permit from her shoulder bag. She held it out. James snatched the permit from Temmie’s fingers and tore it up without looking at it.
Silvio jumped out from behind the wheel of the pickup and ran up to James. He spat at him, and his spit slid down the man’s silk tie. James pulled out a hankie with one hand and with the other he pulled Pepé back from Silvio. Both men wanted to fight. Silvio hid a hand in one pocket, and I was sure it was a weapon.
He swore in a language I didn’t understand but presumed to be Spanish. I quickly closed my window, locked the doors, and watched as the two big guys circled each other.
Temmie tried to distract the two men, who looked as if they were about to start a big punch up. But her attempt to defuse the situation backfired. If Temmie’s presence couldn’t cool them down, nothing could.
James spoke to Silvio.
“You’re hiding behind skirts again.”
Silvio uttered Spanish expletives. Pepé approached Silvio and then with the lightening speed of a spider subduing a creature caught in its web, he was all over Silvio. When the dust settled, he’d quickly and efficiently put Silvio in a head lock.
For a few moments, it was a standoff. James approached, but he stopped short of the pinned Silvio.
Meanwhile, Temmie removed her feather from the necklace she wore and stepped toward James. He gave her the once over and quickly dismissed her as non-threatening and not worthy of his attention.
Silvio appeared calm, even relaxed in his headlock, like maybe he had something sinister up his sleeve – something that would end the tense situation one way or the other. Temmie brushed James with her feather; he called her a nasty name and turned to Silvio. “
“You can do a lot better than that skinny little piece of road kill. But I’m happy to take her for a workout if you don’t pay up my friend.”
When Temmie’s feather touched him, he backed off, and his demeanor rapidly changed. The two men quickly left together.
Silvio and Tem looked at each other. He straightened up, and Temmie dusted him off.
She said, “I don’t know how long your spell will last. You must hide. I will look after the stand.”
I heard Silvio say he wasn’t going to hide. His tone conveyed how insulted he felt by her suggestion to hide. He intended to go after the thugs and finish them off.
Then Temmie touched him with the feather she wore at her throat, and Silvio calmed right down. For a moment, he seemed to forget all about his revenge.
While I sat there wondering if I now even wanted to go into the fair grounds, I saw Maisie’s Mercedes slide into the lot. She hadn’t seen me, but it looked as if she’d heard or seen the altercation between Silvio and the gym guys.
“What happened?” Maisie asked Temmie. But Silvio answered, still angry.
“Those two idiots are extorting money from the fair people. They say we haven’t paid enough for our food stand and came to collect. Temmie doesn’t want the police involved.”
“Probably better not to have police, Silvio,” Maisie said, “Temmie what do you want to do?” She sounded very sympathetic to their plight.
“The deck is full?” I overheard Temmie ask. I didn’t hear the response, so I assumed that Maisie nodded, or shook her head.
“They’re not with the Silver Bullets or the Razors?” It was Maisie’s voice asking.
“No. They’re local independents, but they won’t last long,” Silvio said, angrily.
“Let them run their game. We’ll see where it takes them. It’s good that everyone has a job and is busy,” Temmie said. “We’ll find them and pay up the extra money they’ve asked for then let’s see what happens.”
I sat up straight then. I couldn’t believe Temmie’s coolness and tone. She was turning out to be much more than the sweet little doe-eyed creature I’d met in the antique shop. She sounded too in control. I sat there and wished that my bright, electric blue car did a better job of blending into the background.
Maisie got back into her Mercedes and drove by me. It was then that I noticed that Emilia sat silent and deadly, riding shot gun in Maisie’s Mercedes. If Temmie had given the word, I’m certain Emilia would be wandering the fairgrounds looking for one beefcake, and the one hot dog from Hercules’ gym.
Temmie and Silvio sat in the cab of their truck discussing something I couldn’t hear. And when I thought I’d get out and head to the fairgrounds, I noticed Maisie’s car pull up right beside me. Maisie’s window slid down. She looked pale.
“Hello, Jane. Something’s come up back at the shop, and we have to go. Otherwise, we would have walked into the carnival with you. But we must be quick.”
Then Emilia spoke up.
“Just for the record, Jane, I don’t want to go back. I’d rather wander around here.” I think her comment was directed more to Maisie than to me.
“I don’t want her gone,” Maisie said. “She’s got her own agenda tonight, and I’m not sure what it is, but I need my death-dealer by my side this evening,” Maisie said to me, but I’m sure that comment was meant for Emi.
Then Emi popped open the car door and announced that she had to pee like a race horse and was going to find a toilet. She slammed the door and headed toward the fair grounds.
“Damnation,” Maisie said. “She won’t be back tonight. She’s getting too big for her britches.”
“I have noticed that she’s talking a lot more and her aggressiveness is growing along with her belt colour.” Emi now sported a black belt.
Maisie leaned out of her window and yelled in Emi’s direction. But Emilia didn’t look back.
Temmie and Silvio got out of their truck. I watched as the couple walked a few steps toward Maisie’s car an
d then Silvio turned sharply away, as if he changed his mind about something. Silvio, still hot from the encounter with the two men, tried to pull Temmie away from Maisie’s car, calling Maisie a bruja, a witch, under his breath.
I witnessed Temmie touch Silvio again with her feather, and once more his mood lightened up. Temmie turned and made eye contact with me. She waved and smiled, and came right over. She left Silvio standing there.
She leaned down and whispered in my ear that her boyfriend was a mago, a wizard, and knew a lot of magical things, different from our magic.
“Our magic?” I wondered what the difference could be.
“He was never in any real danger,” she said. I couldn’t help but be impressed with Silvio, the handsome young man. I didn’t blame Temmie for wanting to hang on to him, even if he might dabble in evil.
But Maisie got antsy then. She got out of her Mercedes and came over.
She greeted the young woman, and then to me:
“Jane, go find Emilia. I really do need her. We need to get back to the shop as quickly as possible in order to be back here for the opening ceremonies.”
I agreed to go find Emilia. I looked apologetically at Temmie, and she pulled my car door open to let me out.
“I’m so glad you came to opening night,” Temmie said, and sounded genuinely friendly and excited. She waved her boyfriend over. He quickly came and nodded a hello. He didn’t smile, but he wasn’t unfriendly. He didn’t seem to recognize me when Temmie introduced us.
“This is my sweetheart, Silvio Eduardo Garcia.” She stood on tippy toes to kiss him. He leaned down to accept her affection. “He came here as a student from Mexico, and stayed. He loves it so much here. We are very much in love,” she said.
We all stopped talking at once when we heard the tires screech on Maisie’s car. She drove away, and in silence we watched her slowly make her way toward the parking lot’s gate.
I got a text on my phone: “Call me when you find her.”
Temmie and Silvio crowded me once Maisie was out of sight. They told me to be careful, and that if they found Emilia first, they’d call me. Silvio gave me a homemade amulet to ward off evil.
“Like Maisie,” he said.
I looked carefully at the amulet made of beautiful coloured beads. Each bead had a small but lovely eye on it.
“She’s not evil,” I said, sounding unsure even to myself. He crossed himself.
“Do you know her boyfriend, Devon Raker?” he asked.
I laughed and couldn’t stop. I really thought he was joking.
“Devon’s not her boyfriend,” I said.
Silvio only shrugged.
“She gives me all kinds of gifts,” I told him. I found myself supporting Maisie. Then I remembered the gift she claimed did not come from her. “A feather and a candle had arrived at my door as a gift that she says she didn’t give to me. I didn’t believe her. She said it came from you. Did it?”
“Don’t be afraid to try them out,” Temmie said to me. I had a strong and unexplainable urge to hug her, and was about to when a breeze picked up the magical feather on her necklace and caused it to twirl and spin, as if the feather wanted to get free and follow the wind’s direction.
Temmie gave me a mesmerizing stare. The glassy expression in her eyes and the straight set of her mouth made her look like she saw something that I couldn’t.
“Emilia’s at the gambling tent,” she said, sounding somewhat tranced.
Temmie grasped her feather on her necklace and tucked it down into her top. Her matching earrings dissolved from the lobes of her ears, gone, right before my eyes. She gently touched her ears and looked out at the horizon, to the rising dust cloud made by Maisie’s speeding car.
“We better hurry,” Silvio said. “You, too,” he said to me. He had the slightest accent. And he was so very attractive. “We want to catch the opening act.” His anger seemed to have dissipated, and he seemed excited, like a kid.
“Ceremonies,” Temmie said, correcting him.
I hadn’t heard that the carnival had an opening ceremony until Maisie mentioned it moments ago.
“Yeah, come on with us, Jane. It begins in an hour and a half in the main tent – to officially open the fairgrounds. Most everyone will be there.” Temmie grabbed my car door handle, opened the door and took my hand to help me out. I grabbed my purse and went with her. Even though the ground had been graded and raked, it was still difficult to walk on in any kind of heels!
The ticket takers waved us on through, and we stopped at a candy floss stand to get Temmie a giant puff ball of pink floss. I saw a big sign that pointed us in the direction of Huckster’s Alley. They wanted to walk left, away from the alley, but I wanted to go right into Hucksters Alley. We parted ways.
“I’m going to check out Tommy Black’s booth,” I said. Temmie gave me a quick kiss on the cheek and said she’d meet up with me a bit later at the main tent.
“Don’t miss the concert, Jane.” Something about her tone made me think, I won’t. Silvio nodded and gave me the thumbs up. He still didn’t show any indication that he recognized me from the Cheshire dimension.
“What about your food-stand? Don’t you have to work that tonight?” I asked in parting.
“Tomorrow,” Temmie said. “Tonight is ours.” She looked dreamily into Silvio’s eyes. We parted ways then. Away they went in the direction of the giant Ferris wheel. The crowd was growing, so I thought I better make my way to Tommy before things began to get crazy.
I found the building set up with a bowling alley and all kinds of games. I peeked inside, and there I saw Glendie! I’d completely forgotten my promise to meet her here for her birthday. I panicked. Should I stay or should I go? I wasn’t prepared, no card, no gift. But I couldn’t walk away and leave her. I went inside.
Glendie bowled a strike just as I walked up to her.
“Jane! You came!” She leaped on me and gave me a hug and a kiss, and I could smell the beer on her breath.
“Yeah, I couldn’t miss your birthday, Sweetie.” I felt a little lame. “But I don’t have your gift yet,” I confessed. Then her hot pink bowling ball came back, spinning up the return dispenser.
“Don’t you worry,” she said, grabbing her ball. “You play a few games with me, and we’ll call it done.”
That seemed too good to be true.
“Okay, it’s a deal, Glendie, but let’s not miss the opening ceremonies in the main tent tonight. It starts in about an hour.”
“Okay,” she said. I lost two games of bowling with Glendie, but I knew my turn to win was coming. Glendie was on her second beer, and that would do her in, or so I thought.
Then she fired that huge bowling ball down the lane. WHAM – it knocked all the pins downs, and some young teenage guy ran over with a giant, stuffed, hot, green fish with purple lips and put it in her arms. I swear, Glendie started to glow a little more brightly after that strike. “We have a winner,” he screamed, and everyone started to clap.
19.
A Happy Place
A special guest needs special treatment. Remember that Devon, or disappear.
Maisie Price, Knowitall Journal
Maisie wrote in the knowitall journals, too.I’ve always found that a curious habit. Why would she have to write in the journals if she’s in charge? As I got to know her, I wondered who she might be working for. I’ve always thought of her as an independent, but I’ve started to become suspicious of that presumption.
When Maisie returned to the shop from the fairgrounds, there was something pressing on her mind. She kept a sharp watch on her deck of cards, as if the carnival folks’ arrival threatened the deck’s existence. She made sure the box was always closed, lid on and all cards inside. She’d tuck the deck behind the counter or under the reading table where it couldn’t be easily found. She needed those cards for her fortune-telling tent, the one being set up on her behalf at the fairgrounds.
Maisie later wrote that Devon’s demon spirit was trapped i
nside the locked and warded shop, and until she came to release him, he couldn’t get out. He’d started to call, mentally, to Maisie. His calls drove her nuts, so she came back to let him out.
She’d written in the journals that she’d taken Temmie’s earring feathers and held the feathers close to herself to calm her nerves. I guess that was why I saw those feathers disappear right out of Temmie’s ears.
*
“Devon, out of the card,” she commanded him. But Devon napped and didn’t arrive when called. “Devon, get out here now!”
Maisie was forced to pick out the card and finger flick it three times to get him out. And when he did come out, he took on his demon form. He looked like a traditional devil, but smaller, with some contemporary touches, his hoodie, jeans, and sun glasses.
“What are you doing?” she asked.
“This is my tuxedo,” he said, sarcastically.
“No way. Get human now,” she insisted.
“I’m too upset about being locked in the deck for so long that I can’t get back to human form, not yet,” he said, fire and brimstone came out of his nose as he snorted.
“Get to your happy place quick because I want to be in the main tent at the carnival in less than an hour, and you need to bring the guest of honor. I came back to let you out. You’ve wasted a lot of my time! I will see you there when you’re ready.”
Maisie saw him notice the pair of feather earrings she’d purposely left on the counter. Devon touched them, and they soothed him. That was the first step in relaxing him. As he relaxed, he gradually lost his demon form and became his regular, street-vagrant self.
“Wait! Where’s the guest?” he asked, sincerely puzzled. Maisie looked hard at him.
“He’ll find you, Devon, and when he does, bring him to the tent immediately.”
“Where else would I go?”
“To hell.” She snapped at him. Maisie didn’t seem too happy with Devon.
Devon laughed and was still laughing when Maisie stormed out of the shop.