by Philip Roy
“The Master of Ceremonies? How can he be the Master of Ceremonies?”
“I don’t know; he just is. You should hear him. He makes everyone super-excited.”
That was hard to imagine.
“Cinny!” barked a bald man with a large, curled moustache and a big belly. “Sweep up after Mindy!”
“Yah, I will.”
“That’s Pierre,” Cinnamon said as we went up a short ladder. “He’s the strong man.”
“He doesn’t look that strong to me.”
She stopped and whispered. “He uses magnets. Don’t tell anybody.”
“He uses magnets? How?”
“They’re under the stage. He makes the audience try to pick the weights up first. Then he releases the magnets with a foot lever.”
“That’s cheating.”
“No, it isn’t. It’s the circus.”
“Why is he so angry at you anyway?”
“He’s not angry; he’s just like that in the morning. By evening he’s nice as can be.”
We reached Mr. Chee’s door and Cinnamon knocked. We took off our shoes and entered. Mr. Chee was back on his swinging chair. “Something happened. What happened? You have pain again so fast. How can you have pain again so fast?”
“I jumped off the ship to rescue my dog from a snake.”
“You jump off ship?” Mr. Chee started to laugh. “You leave acupuncture and jump off ship?”
He laughed harder. He had such a funny laugh that Cinnamon and I started laughing too. But though I was laughing, Mr. Chee could tell that I was in severe pain. I had to sit down. I pulled Hollie off my shoulder and put him down. The room started to spin and I fell onto my knees.
“Okay, okay. No more laughing now. Now you sit with head between your knees like this.”
Mr. Chee helped me get comfortable. “Now you breathe like this.”
I imitated him. He brought some pillows over and put them behind me. “First you rest. Then, acupuncture.”
A little while later I had needles sticking out of my arm, shoulder, back and head. I felt like a porcupine. But Mr. Chee had worked his magic again: the pain was gone.
Chapter 16
WE SPENT THE afternoon on the stern of the ship, dangling our feet over the side and watching for fins in the water. If you stared long enough every wave seemed to turn into a fin. The fog had disappeared. Under the hot sun we shared a fat, ripe papaya and some pineapple. Mr. Chee told me to eat lots of papaya, because it was good for damaged tissue. I should also meditate on how to live a life less dangerous, he said. I promised to try.
It was pleasant sitting with Cinnamon. She was so strong and smooth she reminded me of the sub’s engine in a way. But I didn’t think she would appreciate the comparison so I kept it to myself. As we dangled our feet over the side and stuffed ourselves with sweet papaya, she told me where she came from and why she joined the circus. Hollie lay beside me with his head on his paws. He kept one eye closed and one open, watching the deck.
“I was born in Goa.”
“Where’s that?”
“India. It’s on the west coast. We were really poor. My father worked in the fields and my mother made dresses to sell to tourists. One day my father got bitten by a poisonous snake. His leg swelled up really badly and he went blind. Because my father couldn’t work anymore my brother and I started begging for money from tourists. Then one day my brother went missing.
He was younger than me. Some kids told me they saw him climb on a ship, so I went looking on that ship. It was dark. I didn’t find him. Before I could get off, the ship started to move, so I hid. Then I fell asleep. I didn’t get off the ship until it reached Sri Lanka. I was so hungry and thirsty I thought I was going to die. But I was more afraid of getting caught. Then I saw this ship. Because it was a circus ship I thought the people would be friendly to me, and they were. The first person I saw was Megara. She took me into her cabin. At first I was afraid of all the snakes, but they are not poisonous snakes here and they are friendly. And that’s how I joined the circus.”
“But didn’t you want to go back home? Didn’t you miss your family?”
“Yes, at first I did. But I never knew how to get back home. And then the circus became my home. I love the circus. I wasn’t happy in India. We were always so poor. I hardly even knew my parents because they were always working, and there were so many of us. My father didn’t even remember my name most of the time. The only one I miss is my brother. Every day I say a prayer for him and hope that he is all right. Someday I will find him and bring him here to be in the circus with me. That’s why I save my money.”
We sat quietly for a long time. “Did you ever go to school?”
“No.”
“Can you read and write?”
“A little. Megara taught me. I can write my name. I help paint the signs for the circus. I can say words in seven languages.”
“I hope you find your brother.”
“I will. Someday.”
When darkness fell, the ship came alive. The gangplanks and passageways lit up with coloured lights and people appeared from out of nowhere and seemed in a hurry to go somewhere, even though there was nowhere to go.
“Oh! I’m late. I have to practise,” Cinnamon said suddenly. “Will you stay and watch?”
“Okay. Sure.”
“Great. After, I will take you to meet Megara.”
Hollie and I followed her to one of the holds of the ship. It was set up with hanging bars, swings, ropes and trampolines. A man and woman were there already, dressed in leotards and swinging from ropes. “You’re late, Cinnamon.”
“Sorry.”
She disappeared into a room and came back wearing a leotard. Although she was slim, she was all muscle. Her muscles showed through her suit. I watched as she took a short run, jumped into the air, caught a rope and climbed up like a squirrel. Then, she began swinging back and forth, catching the hands of the other two. They were just warming up. They held on to ropes with their feet just as well as with their hands. It was pretty amazing. After a while they switched to the hanging swings. I was nervous at first because I didn’t see how they could catch each other while they were making somersaults in the air, but they always did. The older couple were pretty good at it but there was something special about Cinnamon. It was as if she could fly. I could have watched her all day. After a few hours she suddenly dropped in front of me, sweating and out of breath. “Okay. I’m done. Let’s go eat. I’m starving.”
We passed through another hold, and I saw Mindy, a small, fat and very friendly elephant. We also saw the two lions. I was surprised to see that their cages were wide open. René, the young lion, roared when he saw me, and that frightened Hollie and me, but Cinnamon said not to pay any attention to him; it was just for show. “Just act a little scared.” That was easy. There was also a pony with big, soft, sad eyes. Cinnamon gave her a hug and kiss. The pony seemed very interested in Hollie.
“She used to have a dog partner but . . . he’s gone now.”
“The snakes?”
“Yup.”
I shook my head. “How do you live with snakes? That’s crazy!”
“No, it isn’t. It’s just that certain animals go well together and certain ones don’t. Just like people.”
We stopped in the kitchen. It reminded me a little of Sheba’s kitchen because it smelled good and there were herbs and spices everywhere. The cook was Pierre, the bald and burly strongman with the moustache. He was wearing a heavy frown when we came in, just as in the morning, but when he scooped up two bowls of soup and laid a plate of fresh bread in front of us his face burst into a warm smile.
“Thank you, Pierre.”
“Thank you,” I said.
He nodded thoughtfully, raised his chest, stared down his nose at Cinnamon and sighed. “You’re skin and bones. I don’t know how you can fly through the air on so little. Eat three bowls. Eat a loaf of bread. Put some fat on you!”
He slapped his stom
ach. That’s where most of his muscle was, it seemed to me. Ziegfried could have picked him up and carried him over his head. But Cinnamon was right: he was a lot friendlier at night. He looked at me curiously. “Are you sailing around the world in that tin can?”
I smiled. “Pretty much, I guess.”
“Well, you’d better find some place to hide before the typhoon hits.”
“Typhoon? We already had the typhoon.”
Pierre bellowed out a laugh. “No, that was just a storm. When the typhoon hits, you’ll know what a typhoon is. It’ll probably come next week. Stay away from the islands north of Saipan because they’ve been rumbling undersea and Megara says Anatahan’s going to blow any time now. And she knows.”
“Blow?”
“Volcanic eruption. If it blows undersea there’ll be a tsunami. Though I suppose you’re in a submarine. How deep can you dive in that thing?”
“Four hundred feet.”
He nodded but looked as though he were already thinking of something else. “Have more soup.”
After supper we went to Megara’s cabin. It was in one corner of the ship, away from everybody else. Cinnamon knocked and opened the door.
“Should we take our shoes off?”
“No, leave them on.”
I followed her in. Hollie jumped to his feet in the tool bag.
“It’s okay, Hollie, it’s okay. We won’t stay long.”
The room was bigger than a normal cabin. It was lit with soft light. Megara was standing in the centre. She was short and stocky and had white hair. At a glance, I had the impression she was what Cinnamon might look like in fifty years, except that Cinnamon was a lot prettier. Megara was wearing so many snakes I couldn’t see her clothes. In the dim light I noticed something else—movement. The room was moving with snakes.
Megara opened her arms and Cinnamon went to her and they hugged.
“My darling,” said Megara. “This is the young man you told me about?”
“Yes. This is Alfred. Hollie is on his back. He’s a dog, but he’s not a pet.”
Megara’s eyes lit up. “Oh? Is he food?”
“No! No, he’s part of my crew.”
“Is he for sale?”
“No. Definitely not.”
“Would you trade him for a snake?”
“No way! No, thanks.”
“Snakes make wonderful pets.”
An image passed through my mind of snakes slithering all over my submarine. I felt something bump against me below the tool bag. I turned and saw a snake sniffing at Hollie. “Go away,” I said.
“They’re just curious,” Megara said. They won’t do any harm. Come, sit with me.”
We went over and sat down on a plush Indian rug. I pulled Hollie from my back and put him on the floor between my legs, still in the tool bag. I wouldn’t dare open the bag in here. Cinnamon sat in front of Megara, who began to brush her hair affectionately. I felt a snake touch lightly on my shoulder and I gently brushed it away.
“Snakes are curious and very friendly once they become comfortable with you.”
Megara continued talking but I was struggling to pay attention. It seemed to me that all the snakes in the room were slowly making their way towards us. They came from the floor, the walls, even the ceiling. They rolled like waves over Megara’s shoulders, down across her lap and over Cinnamon. Cinnamon sat silent and peaceful. She was enjoying having her hair brushed. Megara seemed to have become like a mother to her. Cinnamon’s eyes began to droop. It was warm in the room. I felt drowsy too. There was something almost hypnotic about the soft light and movement of snakes. But I knew I had to stay awake and stay alert.
Cinnamon shifted her position, laid her head upon Megara’s lap and continued to stare at me though she was falling asleep. She looked so soft and gentle now with Megara pulling her long dark hair away from her head and letting it fall. Cinnamon’s hand floated through the air and brushed gently against the head of a snake that she seemed to know was there without looking. It seemed strange to me that this was the same girl that just an hour earlier was spinning somersaults in the air in the sweaty hold of the ship. Now, she looked like a girl in a painting. She was so pretty. As Megara brushed Cinnamon’s hair and spoke words to me that I wasn’t really hearing, Cinnamon’s eyes shut and she fell asleep. It was time to go.
I stood up and tried to shake the sleep from my eyes.
“Do you have to go?” said Megara.
“Ummm . . . yes. Yes, we have to . . . uhh, sail tonight. Would you please tell Cinnamon that we will see her in Saipan?”
“I will. Please do come. She likes you. She never has anyone her own age to spend time with. And I know her; she will wait for you every day.”
“I’ll come. I promise. Goodbye.”
I took one last look at Megara’s eyes. There was definitely something hypnotic about them. I pulled Hollie onto my back, went out and closed the door behind me. I was careful not to let any snakes out.
Chapter 17
MR. CHEE HAD told me to meditate. And I had promised to try. So, I turned the lights low, lit a candle and sat on a blanket by the observation window. Hollie and Seaweed sat beside me and watched.
First, I practised breathing the way he showed me, which was pretty much what I always did before I free dived, as it helped me dive deeper, which was what I was really looking forward to doing again as soon as my arm was well enough. It had been such a long time, and I hadn’t been able to dive in the Arctic. I had learned to dive to a hundred feet, but found I could dive deeper in warmer water than cold, so was curious to see how deep I could dive in the Pacific. Anyway, I was supposed to empty my mind and focus on the idea of living a life less dangerous.
I shut my eyes and tried to empty my mind. Suddenly, I remembered the polar bear trying to squeeze his nose into the portal. Whew! That was a close one. Then I remembered being stuck in the ice for three days. Funny, it had felt like much longer at the time, like forever. Now, it didn’t seem such a big deal. Imagine what the crew of the Franklin expedition must have gone through.
Concentrate! I told myself. Empty your mind. I breathed more deeply. The image of the fishing trawler drifted into my head. I wondered if it had reached bottom yet. Probably. And the pressure would have crushed the hull together like a tin can. And the sailors? And the man who had shot me? Did they drown right away or had they survived for a while in that lifeboat? What a horrible thing to happen. Was that really karma, or was that just bad luck? And those waves; how big did they really get? Stop thinking! Empty your mind.
I breathed deeply, opened my eyes and peeked at the candle. The light reflected off Hollie’s eyes. How frightening it must have been for him to have been chased by that snake. I imagined the snake sneaking into the sub, so quietly Hollie wouldn’t even have heard it. Snakes are surely the scariest hunters. Would Hollie have smelled it? Probably he started barking but nobody heard him. Then Seaweed heard him and he flew down and started squawking, trying to warn me. Hollie and Seaweed were fiercely protective of each other, in spite of their fussiness. The snake would have gone for Hollie, and Hollie must have jumped out of the way. Then, he ran to the ladder, which he once had climbed, but couldn’t get up fast enough to escape the snake so he ran into the engine compartment, and the snake followed . . . Stop thinking! Empty your mind!
I shut my eyes again and breathed more deeply. I wondered where we should go next. Saipan, of course, but there was another place I wanted to visit on the way: Bikini Atoll. It was the most contaminated place in the world. Dozens of atomic bombs had been exploded there in the 1940s and ’50s. The first hydrogen bomb was exploded there too and it was so powerful it had vaporized three islands. They don’t exist anymore. Wow. How does an island vaporize? Bikini Lagoon is still there though. It’s a graveyard for warships now. Cool. Bikini Atoll is in the Marshall Islands, which is where Amelia Earhart probably went down. If her plane is under water, it’s probably somewhere in the Marshall Islands. Hey! Maybe if I try re
ally hard I can find it. I don’t have to worry about ice here . . . Concentrate! Boy, I would really like to find Amelia Earhart’s plane. Concentrate!! Nah . . . forget it. I can’t. I jumped up, blew out the candle and hit the lights. I couldn’t meditate. There were just too many things to do.
According to my map and compass readings, we were about twenty-four hundred miles due west of Hawaii, and the same distance from Japan, in the opposite direction. We were just two hundred miles west of Wake Island, a tiny island with an American Air Force and missile base. I figured it was probably not a good idea to sail any closer than we already were, even though chances were, with all their sophisticated detection systems, they already knew we were here and were watching us. So, I set a course, cranked up the engine, climbed the portal with Hollie and headed due south towards Bikini Atoll.
The horizon was turning blue. The sky in the Pacific was different from the sky in the Atlantic or Arctic. It had more colour than the Atlantic and was bigger than the Arctic. I didn’t know if that were true but it sure felt like it. We saw a bird. It came out of nowhere in the night sky. We could just make out its silhouette against the blue. It was flying alone. How far it must have come. Where would it land? I thought of Amelia Earhart again. She had been flying these skies when she went down. It was at night. I read that her plane, a Lockheed Electra, twin-engine, would only be travelling at thirty-five miles an hour when it landed on a runway. At that speed she could easily have survived a landing in the water. Her plane probably wouldn’t have broken apart. But it would have sunk. Probably it was still in one piece somewhere.
The bird looked so lonely I couldn’t stop watching it. Hollie watched it too. Why would one bird fly so far all by itself?
When the sun came up I cut the engine and slowed to a drift. The water looked inviting. Sometimes the nicest thing was to dive from the top of the portal into the water. It was something you should never do in a lake or river or anywhere with dark water that you couldn’t see through, because you might strike something. Out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, where the floor was a couple of miles down, that was unlikely.