by Chad Leito
“Looks like ye made too much food,” Burl said.
“No such thing,” said Teddy. “The Wilks will eat anything that we don’t.” Teddy grabbed the plates of food in his long hands and we followed him into a hallway. He pulled a string from the ceiling and a wooden staircase unfolded onto the floor. In the hole of the ceiling a dirty faced man stuck his head out. “Hungry?” asked Teddy.
The man looked at the eggs and bacon and nodded. Teddy handed them up to the man and then he shut the attic back up.
“it’s a shame that they have to stay up in the attic,” Teddy said as we walked back into the kitchen. “I think that Bernard from the government offices in onto me, though, and I can’t have runaway Beardsleys hanging around downstairs.”
“Should we go up into the attic?” I asked.
Teddy waved his hand. “No, that won’t be necessary. You’re hairs so short that you don’t even look like your pictures on the posters and Burl is free to come and go to town as he pleases. And besides, you’ll only be here one day.” Teddy looked up at the kitchen clock and his eyes widened. “Oh,” he said. “I’m late. Well, I’ll be back after dark. Make yourselves comfortable, eat anything that you want.” Teddy then threw on his coat and rushed out the door.
Burl laughed. “He’s always late, that’s just like Teddy. So unorganized.”
I looked around the kitchen and furrowed my brow. Shelves lined the walls and were stocked with all kinds of spices and peppers stacked in neat little rows. The chairs at the kitchen table were pushed in and the table was set with napkins and silverware. Hanging from the ceiling above the counter were pots and pans, put in order from biggest to smallest. It appeared as though the man who lived there was incredibly organized, despite Burl’s comment.
Burl saw my eyes and looked around this kitchen. “Oh, yeah, this is organized, but he doesn’t do this. The family in the attic comes down at night and dusts all of his things.”
“Why do they do that?” I asked.
Burl shrugged, “Teddy doesn’t ask ‘em to or nothing, they just do. It’s probably a way to say ‘thank you’ to Teddy for all of his hospitality.”
Burl and I went into the living room and plopped ourselves down onto soft couches in front of the fireplace. Paintings depicting country life hung over the walls. Soon after Burl got situated on the couch, I heard him snoring.
I was beginning to get worked up thinking about what would happen that night. I wandered what would happen if I got caught. I would go to the Theatre, surely, and maybe even be tortured. The thought made me shiver. Burl had explained the plan again to me that morning over breakfast.
Two Salyers were always on guard, watching over the barrels and sacks of food that were to be sent to the Grecos. They watched it so that no one would tamper with it or try to steal it. There were big barrels of black beans there. The plan was to put me in one of those barrels. Teddy was going to empty out one of the barrels slowly at work that day, and at the night time his friend was going to be on guard. His friend, Fred I think his name was, was going to distract the other guard somehow and then Teddy was going to go and put me into the barrel. It seemed like a solid enough plan, but I was still nervous.
I closed my eyes and tried to calm down. I thought about the time in my life when my whole family had been alive. I imagined that I was still on the ship and that my mom, dad, Saul and I were all sitting around dinner and laughing. Before too long, I was asleep.
Burl shook me up and I looked around. Teddy was back from work and sitting in a chair by the window. It was pitch dark outside. “What time is it?” I asked.
“A little past midnight,” Teddy said. “We’ll be leaving soon.”
Fear shot in me and my heart started to beat quickly. I thought that I would have more time.
“I’ve cooked you something. Are you hungry?”
“Not really,” I said.
“Oh, don’t be nervous. You’ll be fine, I promise,” said Teddy.
His promise did not make me feel better. I had promised Saul that he would be okay and he’s not. Some things you can’t promise. I followed Burl and Teddy into the kitchen where they ate roast beef and pieces of bread and talked and laughed. I remained quiet.
“You okay?” Burl asked.
I nodded.
“You don’t have to do this. Do ye’ still want to?”
I nodded again.
After Teddy and Burl had eaten Teddy took the food up to the attic and then I hugged Burl goodbye. “Ye’ll be alright,” he told me.
I could tell by the way that he was talking to me that I was visibly nervous. I wandered if he had felt my heart thumping while I hugged him.
Teddy looked at the clock and said, “Greg’s expecting us to be waiting soon. We’d better get going.”
I said goodbye to Burl before Teddy and I slinked out the backdoor. I followed Teddy and he led me into the forest. “Where is the place that they keep this food?” I asked him.
“It’s out by the landing strip. Is that where you flew in?”
“I think so.”
As we got closer, I found out that it was. I saw the strip of grass that the carrier ship had landed in when I was brought down to Mungus. About fifty yards to the side of that was a tent held up by wooden poles and ropes coming out of the ground. The inside was lit with light from a lantern and I could see barrels of all shapes and sizes, boxes, and large burlap sacks sitting on the floor. We watched them from the trees and kept a good distance so that they couldn’t see us.
“And when are they supposed to actually send this stuff up?” I asked.
“Should be soon,” said Teddy. “They’re fixing a carrier ship and when it is in flying shape they are taking it up.”
Two guards walked back and forth in front of the tent. They were in red uniforms and looking around with watchful eyes. “The short one’s Greg,” Teddy said.
We were quiet for a while and we waited. My heart was thumping up and down in my chest and my mouth was dry. I couldn’t help but stare at the swords that were holstered in the guards’ sheaths. I felt like I was there for ages, wondering what Greg would do to distract the other guard when I heard him scream. I looked up and the smaller of the two guards was screaming and pointing. “Dog!” he said. He ran off to the side. The other guard looked in the night air for the dog and when he couldn’t find one he sprinted after his partner, looking scared of the dog that wasn’t there.
“Follow me,” said Teddy. He stayed low and jogged out of the trees in a straight line headed for the tent. I looked around, saw that the guards were out of sight, and followed. We ran through the night and when we reached the tent Teddy ran for a barrel and opened up a lid. “Get in,” he said, and I was just about to when the two Salyer guards that had run from the dog tackled us and shackled our hands behind our backs in heavy cuffs. Teddy fought and kicked and tried to get away, but it was no use: We were trapped.
They walked us to the Theatre. One of the guards held onto each of us by the shoulder and Greg led holding a lantern to light up the paths in front of us. The lantern shown orange on the walls of the corridors and we followed Greg towards the back and down a flight of stone steps. In the dim light Teddy and I shared a worried look. We were taken down and down and then put into a holding cell until morning. Greg and the other guard left and Teddy and I were left alone in the dark.
When the guards were both gone, Teddy started to weep. “I’m so sorry,” he said. “I never meant for you to get into trouble like this. I thought that it would be okay. I thought that I could trust Greg.”
“Why did he do that?” I asked.
“Probably for the money,” Teddy sniffed. “There’s a big reward for catching criminals.”
“Where are we?”
“We’re bellow the Theatre. They put people down here to await trial before they lock them up in the Theatre to die.”
I swallowed hard and lay my head down. Teddy was crying beside me and his sobs echoed off of the stone pa
ssageways. I didn’t sleep that night, and a few hours later morning light started to creep down the steps and President Confagulous Dickerson came and stood in front of the holding cell with Greg by his side.
“Hello,” said the president with a nasty smile.
Neither Teddy or I said anything.
“This man told me that you two were caught trying to steal food from the charity tent that we’re giving to the Grecos. Is that true?” asked the president.
Neither Teddy or I said anything.
“Oh, it is?” said the President, as if we had answered. “Did you hear them confess?” he asked Greg.
“Sure did,” said Greg.
“Great. Get them ready for the Theatre. Lucky for them they will only have to wait a few more hours until the big show.”
Greg laughed and the president walked out. A few guards came in and escorted Teddy and I to two separate cells at ground level in the Theatre. Metal bars surrounded me and my cell was small with two locked doors. One went into the halls of the Theatre and one looked out onto the sand which was stained red with blood from the shows that came before. I entered through the hallway and would be exiting onto the sand. People began to fill in their seats and I sat looking around at the other prisoners in the Theatre. The cells were completely full.
Down at the floor level the air smelled of manure. I looked around for livestock and found none. The prisoners had been locked away in their cells and hadn’t been allowed to get out to go to the bathroom. I supposed that they were livestock.
“Let me out!” cried a young Beardsley who was also locked into a cell flanking the Theatre floor. “God! Please!”
Men and women screamed and rattled onto the bars, begging to be let out. Teddy lay docile in the cell beside me. His face was in his hands and I couldn’t tell if he was crying or not.
As the crowd swept in to the stone seats surrounding the Theatre floor, I thought about what the President had said last time about all of the criminals in the Theatre being found guilty by a jury of their peers. I had believed him and as the morning went on and I looked out at the sand behind the metal bars I felt foolish.
When the crowd was flush and the morning was hot, Georgie the clown walked out onto the sand.
19
What a Show!
I went over to the edge of the bars and looked over the clown as he took center stage. The crowd cheered and clapped for him. “I love you, Georgie!” shouted a female voice from above. Georgie turned and smiled at her with his black lips. From my cell I could see more detail in the clown than I could from high up in the stands. His face was chapped and cracked dry. His strands of black hair that hung from his head were greasy. He was taller than Saul had been and his shoulders were wider than Burl’s. He smiled showing his sharp canine incisors.
“Good morning,” he said to the crowd. They cheered and in a giddy dance the clown stomped his feet and clapped his hands. “Oh, good morning, good morning, good morning!” The crowd cheered some more and then the clown waved his arms for them to hush. Guards were walking along the sand to get prisoners out of their cells while others were pushing out a large wooden contraption on wheels. The contraption had a pole running horizontal twelve feet off of the ground. Forty ropes tied into nooses hung off of it. I sank back to the back of my cell, but luckily, no guard came and grabbed me. From a distance, pushing the big machine in the sun, I thought that I saw Hank.
Guards flung open cell doors and with the use of force and weapons, they dragged screaming prisoners out of their cages.
“For our first act of the morning, we have something that is sure to please the crowd. It is a competition. While all of the contestants will die, there will, in fact, be a champion. The game is quite simple; all that you have to do is hold on. Forty contestants will be put onto a wooden platform with a noose around their necks and a pole above them to hold onto. When I say go, the platform will fall from underneath them and they had better hold on.” The clown let out a little squawk of laughter as the contestants were situated onto the platform.
“Walt,” Teddy whispered from beside me. Tears were streaming down his face and he held his hand through the bars to me. “Will you hold my hand?”
I put my hand in his and his slender fingers wrapped tightly around my hand. “I’m going to get you out of this,” he said, not taking his eyes off of the contestants with the nooses around their necks. “I’m going to do anything I can. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay, really. I knew that I was taking my life into my own hands whenever I agreed to go. I could have said no.”
Teddy squeezed onto my hand and I saw that all of the contestants were ready. Forty prisoners held onto a pole above them with a noose around their neck. A wooden platform was underneath them and Georgie was holding a lever. “Three,” Georgie whispered into his microphone. “Two.” Georgie smiled and looked around the audience. All of the contestants were holding onto the pole above them, waiting for the platform to drop and for their lives to end. People of all ages had ropes around their necks. White haired Grecos, Beardsley children, and even a few Salyers were up there. I didn’t know if I was thankful that I was still locked up. Hanging to death would be a blessing compared to the gruesome death with dogs that I saw in my first trip to the Theatre. “One,” Georgie said in a flash, and the platform dropped down. Six of the forty contestants, three children, one old woman, and two middle aged Grecos all hanged right when the platform was dropped. They either weren’t ready or didn’t have the strength to hold on. Their bodies fell two feet before the rope snapped tight and their necks were crushed with their body weight. I could hear the ropes straighten from where I sat and I wondered if they had microphones on them.
Beside me, Teddy covered up his face. I didn’t want to watch either, but just-a man fell with a scream that ended when the rope drew in on his neck-like the first time I went, I was having trouble looking away. I looked up into the crowd and saw all of the citizens of Ramus watching on with fixed eyes. “How can all of these people watch this?” I asked Teddy.
“When something goes on for long enough, you just start to think that it’s normal,” he said.
He must have been right. The people in the audience certainly did act like what they were watching was ‘normal.’ A father had brought his son out to watch the show and he bought a bag of peanuts from a vendor. Two women sat under an umbrella and gossiped as they glanced at the dead. Pimple faced teens sniggered and made vulgar gestures at one of the hanging corpses who had big breasts. It was like they didn’t even understand that they were real people. I felt as though they didn’t know that I was real, like them, and being in the Theatre was actually happening to me.
Half of the contestants were dead, and half held on. It was hot outside and a few people seemed to slip because of sweaty palms. The corpses swayed in the wind. 20. 21. 25. 29. A Greco woman with blond hair running down her back was crying out for help. She pulled herself up on the bar with her arms and then twisted back and got her legs onto the pole.
Georgie sprinted, laughing while he went, at the woman. When he reached her he leapt high up into the air, grabbed her hair, and pulled her body down with a nasty snap of the neck. I heard a toddler giggle in the audience. “Was that funny?” its mother asked it. The toddler giggled some more.
A minute later there were two left. “This is it,” said Georgie. He licked his lips and slicked his hair back. “This is the big moment. One of you two lucky contestants is about to be the champion.”
A Greco girl who looked to be about 17 years of age and weigh 110 pounds, and a large Beardsley man with a long ponytail and arms the thickness of trash cans were still holding on. The man’s face was red and he kept on jostling around on the bar and readjusting his grip. The girl had her eyes closed and was trying to remain as calm as possible. With a deep scream, the man’s hands slipped and he fell to his death. The rope tightened and he was just another swinging corpse.
“We have a winner!” said Georg
ie. At this comment, the girl opened her eyes for the first time since the competition had begun. She looked around her, saw the corpses and began to scream. So many people who had been walking, talking, feeling, fearing, just a few moments ago were nothing more than dead bags of flesh and bones. She screamed and thrashed and lost her grip and soon joined them.
Georgie clapped his hands and jumped up and down. “Excellent! Excellent!” he said. The contraption with the nooses was wheeled off, the corpses swinging into one another, and Georgie again took center stage. He licked his lips with his long tongue and smiled up at the audience. “Now, we have for you,” he said addressing the crowd, “the most basic form of contest. It is, in my belief, the oldest for of competition. A barbaric, bloody thing, but also entertaining. War.”
Guards were walking over the sand towards the cells. Their boots made imprints and they unlocked cells and dragged people out. Teddy and I were still safe for the time. No guards walked our way.
“For the remainder of our time today, ladies and gentlemen, for your viewing pleasure, there will be battles held upon the sand. Yes, like the old ancient myth about the gladiators and the coliseum, we have for you criminals fighting to the death.” A guard brought Georgie a big burlap sack and he dumped in out onto the middle of the sand. Wooden bats, knifes, syringes, broken bottles, plates, and other crude weapons fell into the middle of the arena. Six prisoners were standing with their arms held behind their backs by Salyer guards. “And, like they did in ancient Rome, and a Theatre first, the winners of the fights will get to keep their lives, at least until next time. Six people fight. One wins. Go!”
The Salyer guards released the prisoners’ arms and pushed them onto the sand. Four of them were wemon, all Grecos, and there was a Greco man and a Beardsley man. The prisoners looked wildly around at each other. The Greco man stood up and raised his arms wide at the audience. “I’m not going to fight them. You people are mad!”