Booker stood up and stepped away from the wire that held him in the air.
“John! Watch out!”
Booker came straight at him and moved too fast for Brad to get away. The man’s shoes slammed into his face and drove Brad into the floor with the force of a falling anvil. The impact didn’t kill him, but it left his spine ruined. Agony flared in his neck and head but didn’t seem to make it down to the rest of his body. Not far away, Booker was standing up, brushing himself off.
He moved closer and squatted next to where Brad lay on the ground, wanting desperately to move and failing.
“I had a little sister around that age once, Brad. And I saw a few little girls who ran into the wrong sort of man.”
Brad tried to speak, but he couldn’t get his mouth to move the right way. It felt like his lips were doing their own thing and that didn’t involve listening to his commands. Also, there was blood spilling down the side of his face and running into his ear.
“I’ve done a lot of bad things in my time, Brad. Probably more than you ever did, but that? To a little girl?” Booker’s hand reached out and blocked off Brad’s mouth and nose. Something must have been wrong with his vision, too, because Booker was all pasty white and looked like he was wearing makeup. “Nothing personal, Brad. But you disgust me.”
Brad would have fought the suffocation if he could have, but he couldn’t even move his head. He could only watch the face of the man above him as he was smothered to death.
***
Everything had been going well and apparently for a little too long. It was inevitable that something go wrong. Still, Tia hadn’t expected murders to be among the issues.
One of the stagehands found two bodies hidden in the corners of the set. That was on the Tuesday afternoon, as the stages were being disassembled. Gary Peck, the narrator, was one of them. She’d met him briefly and he seemed like a really nice guy, but beyond that she knew nothing about him. And also a stagehand, one of the small army that had to make everything run smoothly. Both of them were as good as strangers to her, but that didn’t make it any easier to accept.
People were dying on the sets, at least three that she knew of, and it was scary stuff.
More importantly, it was going to slow down the show. There was a small army worth of men in police uniforms looking the place over, and she doubted they’d be allowed to leave before the entire group was supposed to be in the next town; Philadelphia in this case.
Somehow the media had been left out of the picture, but she doubted that could last for very long. Sooner or later the same people who’d showed up for the press party were going to come back and start asking questions.
Which was why the entire staff was sitting in the auditorium seats and listening to three suits talk about how to avoid getting trapped by the reporters. They were also being told what would happen to their job security if they did talk. From what she was gathering, it would be a very bad move for her career if she talked to anyone without permission and got caught in the act.
The orders had been given and now it was down to people asking questions, a few of them obviously trying to find out if there were loopholes that would let them get away with speaking to reporters. Tia had already decided she liked her new job too much to risk it for any reason. She felt herself starting to drift, her mind wandering away from the morons who wanted to find ways to get fired, and slipping back toward the rumors about the bodies they’d found earlier.
“So, once again, no one talks to reporters or anyone but the police about the unfortunate incidents. Anyone caught doing so loses his or her employment, and any and all bonuses that have accrued. It’s in your contracts, people. Don’t think we won’t enforce the contracts, because we will.”
Tia sighed and flushed with guilt simultaneously. Yes, it was frustrating having everything put on hold, but two people had been murdered and she’d have to accept that things were going to be delayed.
Next to her, Leslie shook her head and muttered for a moment before brightening. “Hey, at least we’ll have a few more chances to practice before Philly, right?”
Tia smiled gratefully. “Yeah! I need it, too!”
“Jamie says you’re doing great.” Jamie! That was the choreographer’s name. “Besides, I can always use the practice myself.” Leslie shook her head. “I don’t know how some of these guys do it all.”
Tia knew what she meant. There were several of the performers who had to move between scenes and change every aspect of their appearances. It would have been possible to have a cast of three hundred with as many small roles as there were, but in the long run it made more sense to have some of the bit performers switch costumes. The only problem was, that meant more than a change of clothes, it also meant a change in demeanor and the nature of their performances. One of the men she’d met, Brandon, was on stage as much as any of the leads, but in ten different costumes and doing ten different things. He juggled, he climbed on a high wire—well, relatively high, it was only fifteen feet off the floor, but still—as well as several dance routines that were complex enough to make anyone panic.
“Has anything like this happened before?” Tia asked the question without thinking, and a second later felt herself flinch at the idea that the big bosses might have heard her. They’d just had a long speech about not starting rumors and what was she doing?
But Leslie shrugged it off. “People quit sometimes, but nothing like this. I mean, you know how hard the routines are, Tia. Some of the performers can’t keep up with the drill, so there’s always a couple of them that end up walking away.”
“Not me, not ever.”
“Same with me, but you know what? I’m probably going to take a few days off after Philadelphia, because I can feel it in my ankles.”
“Really?” She couldn’t keep the excitement out of her voice. If Leslie took time off, she got to be on the stage.
“Seriously. I was talking with Jamie about it. He said you were ready, and he’s with me, no reason to kill myself if there’s a back up ready to go, right?”
“What if I freak out?” Her stomach sank at the idea.
“So the first couple of times, I’m there and ready and if you can’t handle it, I step in.” Leslie shrugged. “I did it for Liz a couple of times, too.” Her face wrinkled into a smile and she winked. “What? You think this week was the first time I ever went out there? I’d have pissed myself.”
“So we have until after Philadelphia and then I go on stage?” She wanted to make sure she was hearing the words properly. That meant there was a real chance she’d be able to perform for her family, not just sit on the sidelines and let everyone else have time to shine.
“New York City, Tia. That’s when you get on stage and I get to go out shopping.”
At least fifteen uniformed police officers moved into the room, ready to take statements from every single member of the show.
Tia watched them and felt her heart sink again. “Yeah, we just have to get there first.”
One by one, each member of the troupe was taken aside, moved to a different part of the massive auditorium, or even back stage, where the props that could be packed away had already been taken care of. Each of them was asked questions and then signed off on statements.
Most of them had a longer interrogation than Tia, who had only been with the show for a week. For the most part, the people in the room cooperated. The few that tried to be funny about things or that had something they wanted to hide soon discovered that a forgotten speeding ticket was hardly a good reason to argue with the local police. Several people were dragged away in hand cuffs.
The end result of the investigation wasn’t known, but that the delays would be substantial was becoming more and more obvious by the dragging moment.
And all Tia could think about the new changes was that they were good. The more the next show was delayed, the better her chances of having the part down perfectly when they got to New York.
Life on the Road: Part
Five
You don’t think much about circuses going year round, but in the case of the Halston Circus, that’s exactly what happened. We started off in Illinois, and moved east until the weather started going sour. Then we were on our way to the south, and whatever towns Halston arranged for us there.
The road never lost its magic for me. A lot of people in the troupe hated the traveling, but I thrived on it. There were always new places to see and new people to meet, though in truth, I’d met the one woman I was certain I would someday marry.
Her name was Doreen Miles, and according to the signs, she was a succubus. It took me a while to find out what that meant. She was supposed to be a demon from Hell, one that specialized in seducing men into willingly giving up their souls. I have to tell you, I think I would have been tempted if she’d ever asked any such thing of me.
I wish I could tell you how she looked, but unlike most of the people I traveled with, I only remember Doreen a few features at a time. Her hair was dark, though I couldn’t say anymore if it was blond, brunette, or even red. I just know it was dark. Her eyes were hazel, except sometimes they were green. Her nose was small and straight and fit the rest of her face perfectly. Her lips were perfect.
Want to know the scary part? No one else who met her could have told you what she looked like very well, either. I know, because its one of the things my roommates and me talked about sometimes, late at night when we were riding the rails.
I met Doreen in the Freak Show. Last place I would have expected to meet an angel, but you never know what life has cooking, do you? I’d gone past the scariest dog I’d ever seen, almost as tall as I was and that was while it was sitting down, with eyes that glowed green and steam coming from its nostrils every time it breathed. I’d gone past the fat lady and the strong man—both of whom I’d already met, by the way—and I’d made it past the snake man, who really did have a human torso and the long sinuous body of a snake. I thought I was done until I saw the crowd of men staring at one last cage, a heavy affair with thick steel bars and a lock that would have taken a few shots from a cannon before it gave out. The men stared raptly, and it took the brute next to the cage poking them with sticks to get them to move on to the curtains that put them back in the main tent. I think some of them would have protested even then, but he always reminded them that their wives and girlfriends were waiting outside. That normally did the trick.
Finally I looked at what was the source of so much attention, and I understood why they might want to fight.
At first there was only the darkness in the cage, and a scent like lilacs, and then the light above the cage grew brighter and revealed her to me, one secret at a time. Perfect face, perfect body, supple wings that stirred in their own gentle breeze, and horns that rose from above her perfect eyebrows and curved gracefully back away from her face.
I blinked, and the wings and horns were gone. I shook my head and they were there again, but only for an instant. She looked into my eyes, and I saw her sweet, full lips play at a smile.
Again, she was beautiful. I couldn’t tell you much more than that to save my life, but she was enough to make me hold my breath and stare. I was afraid that if I exhaled, the gust of wind would make her evaporate like a mirage.
Her eyes spoke to me, promised me a hundred pleasures from holding hands, to kissing to so much more. The bars between us annoyed me, and I reached for them, determined to bend them, no matter what, so that I could hold her in my arms.
The feeling of wood cracking my knuckles brought me back to the real world in a hurry. I looked away from the girl and toward the oversized fat man who held the stick and for one moment, I swear I was ready to snarl at him.
He smiled and winked. “Time to go back to work, lad, before Alex decides to cut your wages.”
Reality came back to me then. I looked into the cage again, but the light had gone out, and there was no sign of the girl.
The rest of that night seemed rather pale in comparison. I went through the motions, but my mind was always on the woman I’d seen for only a few moments.
Later that night, I talked to Dexie and the rest of my roommates about her. She seemed to have that affect on every man she met. At least I wasn’t alone in my misery.
We moved on, and while I enjoyed the travel time, I kept thinking about the girl. When I couldn’t stand it any more, I asked Carter about her.
Carter smiled knowingly and stuffed his cheap pipe with tobacco from a pouch. “Doreen Miles, the Succubus,” he chuckled. “She is a beauty, isn’t she?”
“Why do they keep her in a cage?”
“They don’t.”
“But I saw her.”
“You saw her act, Cecil. Her routine. She stays in the cage as long as you stay in your greasepaint.”
I stared at him, having trouble believing what he’d just told me.
Carter laughed and patted my shoulder good-naturedly. “Relax, boy. She’s not a prisoner. None of the freaks in the tent are prisoners. They’re here by choice, same as you, same as me.” He winked. “Still, if there was ever a damsel worth saving, eh?”
“Where does she hide when she isn’t in her cage?”
“She has a trailer, same as you and me. Only hers is a little better decorated and a lot more private.”
I had no answer to that, so I sat in silence for a while. Later, when his pipe was snuffed and I thought Carter had long since drifted off to sleep, he spoke softly to me. “The only way you’ll get to know her, my boy, is if you approach her.”
“I could never…” I trembled at the very idea.
“Why on earth not?”
“She’s…”
“Too beautiful?”
I nodded my answer.
“How lonely the rose that sits on a hill unadmired.” Carter sat up and cast a wink in my direction a second time. “She spends all of her time in that room, and almost never speaks to anyone. But she’s been known to pass the time with me and do you know why?”
“No. Why?” I asked because I was genuinely curious.
“Because I take the time to say hello.”
That was the last he said about the matter. It was the last he had to say to make his point to me. I made plans to talk to her, if only to say hello, when we reached the next town.
Of course, there were other things to do first, like pitching the tent, gathering my supplies and preparing for the parade through town. I’d sewn extra pockets in my jacket and hidden a few inside of my shirt as well, the better to do a few tricks for the crowds, and it took time to make sure everything was concealed the way it was supposed to be and that my make-up was just so. I always spent that time with Burt and Carter, learning from them and now and then teaching them a few simple tricks.
Then it was parade time, and for the first time ever, I noticed the men on the streets and the way they looked at the women around me. More than one looked like he was on the hunt.
The shows went well, and two things happened that changed my worldview. The first was that Halston got himself in trouble. The second was that one of the girls, Miriam, the Snake charmer, got raped.
It was at the end of the second night when we heard Miriam screaming. Listen, whether people want to believe it or not, there’s a real sense of family in the circus life. You work with the same people every day, you sleep in the same room with a few of them and you even share meals when things are rough. After a while they become a part of your world. I know for a fact that everyone was exhausted, because we’d done three shows to handle the crowds. That didn’t mean a damned thing when we heard Miriam.
I was off my cot in a flash and I was slower than Carter and Burt, both of whom were out the door by the time I was halfway to the floor of our trailer.
By the time I got outside, half of the crew was already there, and Halston was standing in front of a man who was quivering, his pants around his ankles and his arms wrenched behind his back by Walker Kincaid, the strong man of the circus.
The man
was a blubbering idiot and he had a good reason. Alex was holding a knife with a blade that was at least a foot long and aiming the point directly at the man’s erect penis.
Miriam was trying to cover herself and several of the other women were surrounding her, shielding her from any more harm.
Alex spoke softly, but he was heard very clearly by everyone.
“Miriam said ‘No’. That should have been enough for you.”
The man in question was a slob, dirty and drunk. I could tell by the clothes that he was probably a well-respected member of the town, and I could see the wedding ring on his left hand. It didn’t take much to connect the dots.
“I paid her! I gave her five dollars!” The man was trying to sound indignant, but it wasn’t working out very well.
Alex smiled and I have to say, that was the first time in my life I understood that a smile could be filled with hatred. “So, if I have Walker here fuck your ass and give you five dollars, that makes it okay?”
Oh, how that man paled at the thought. “No!”
“Well then, why don’t we just give Miriam her pound of flesh?” He jabbed at the man’s penis with the knife and the man soiled himself. All around me, the people I’d come to know laughed. It wasn’t a happy sound at all, but more like the low warning growls of a pack of feral dogs.
I should have stayed put, but I couldn’t. “Alex! Let the sheriff take care of this.” I was pleading, because I knew where they were going with this and I didn’t want us in trouble with the local law. I didn’t want to see the people I was growing attached to thrown in jail cells.
Halston looked at me, his hawkish nose wrinkled up like a wolf’s muzzle. “Cecil, you’d do well to keep your tongue.”
“Report him to the sheriff! Let the locals take care of their own, and let’s just go on.”
“Ask Miriam if she wants to let it rest!” Alex’s face was livid. He pointed with the knife, the edge of the blade inches from the throat of his chosen prey. “You ask her how she feels about this sick fuck walking away from here with his cock where it belongs!”
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