Folk of the Fringe

by Orson Scott Card

  When Deaver got back, Toolie wasn't in the secretary's office anymore. He was in the mayor's office, and because the door was partly open, Deaver could hear pretty well, especially since the mayor wasn't trying very hard to talk softly.

  "I don't have to give you a permit, Mr. Aal, so don't start flashing your license from Zarahemla. And don't think I'm impressed because your name is Aal. There's no laws says a hero's kinfolk got to be worth shit, do you understand me?"

  Shit was definitely on the statutory list. Deaver looked at the secretary, but the secretary just moved more papers around. "Just don't wink," said Deaver quietly.

  "What?" asked the secretary.

  If he could hear Deaver's comment, he could sure hear the mayor. But Deaver decided not to make a big deal about it. "Nothing," he said. No reason for him to provoke the secretary any further. Since he came into town with the pageant wagon, anything he did to annoy people would put the Aal family in a bad light, and it sounded like they had trouble enough already.

  "Young girls see you in those lights and costumes, they think you really are the Prophet Joseph or Jesus Christ or Alma or Neil Armstrong, and so they're suckers for any unscrupulous bastard who doesn't care what he does to a girl."

  Finally Toolie raised his voice, dropping the humility act just for a moment. Deaver was relieved to know Toolie had a breaking point. "If you have an accusation—"

  "The Aal Pageant and Theatrical Association is implicated in a lot of these, do I make myself clear? No warrants, but we'll be watching. Just cause you call yourselves Sweetwater's Miracle Pageant these days doesn't mean we don't know the kind of people you are. You tell everybody in your company, we're watching you."

  Toolie's answer was too mild to hear.

  "It will not happen in Hatchville. You will not ruin some girl and then disappear with your commission from the Prophet."

  So somebody did believe all those stories about show gypsies. Maybe Deaver used to believe them, too. But once you know people like the Aals, those stories sound pretty stupid. Except in Hatchville, of course, where they don't wink at sin.

  Toolie was real quiet when he came out of the mayor's office, but he had the permit and the requisition form for the bishop's storehouse—both signed by the same man, of course, since the mayor was the bishop.

  Deaver didn't talk about what he heard. Instead he told Toolie all about his getting permission to apply for a job change, which meant he at least had a shot at getting into the outriders.

  "What do you want to do that for?" asked Toolie. "It's a terrible life. You travel thousands of miles on horseback, tired all the time, people looking to kill you if they get a chance, out in the bad weather every day, and for what?"

  It was a crazy question. Every kid in Deseret knew why you wanted to be one of Royal's Riders. "Save people's lives. Bring them here."

  "The outriders mostly deliver mail from one settled area to another. And make maps. It isn't that much more exciting than the work you're doing now."

  So Toolie had looked into the work his uncle Royal was doing. How would Marshall feel about that?

  "You ever think of joining?" asked Deaver.

  "Not me," said Toolie.

  "Come on," said Deaver.

  "Never since I grew up enough to make intelligent choices." No sooner were the words out of his mouth than Toolie must have realized what he'd said. "I don't say it isn't an intelligent choice for you, Deaver. It's just—if one of us leaves, the family show is pretty dead. Who'd do my parts? Dusty? Grandpa Parley? We'd have to hire somebody from outside the family—but how long would somebody like that work for nothing but food and shelter, like we do? If anybody leaves the show, then it's over for everybody. What would Dad and Mom do for a living? So how could I go off and join the outriders?"

  There was something in Toolie's tone of voice, something in his manner that said, This is real. This is something I'm really afraid of—the family breaking up, the pageant wagon going out of business. And also: This is why I'm trapped. Why I can't have any dreams of my own, like you do. And because he was speaking true, like Deaver was somebody he trusted, Deaver answered the same way, saying stuff he never said out loud to anybody, or not lately, anyway.

  "Being an outrider, it's got a name to it. A range rider—what do they call us? Rabbit-stompers. Grass-herders."

  "I've heard worse," said Toolie. "Something about getting personal with cows. You rangers have almost as low a name as we do."

  "At least you're somebody every town you go into."

  "Oh, yes, they roll out the red carpet for us."

  "I mean you're Noah or Neil Armstrong or whatever."

  "That's what we play. That's not who we are."

  "That's who you are to them."

  "To the children," said Toolie. "To the grown-ups all a person is is what he does here in town. You're the bishop or the mayor—"

  "The bishop and the mayor."

  "Or the sheriff or the Sunday school teacher or a farmer or whatever. You're somebody regular. We come in and we don't fit."

  "At least some of them are glad to see you."

  "Sure," said Toolie. "I'm not saying we don't have it better than you, some ways. A gentile in a place like this."

  "Oh. Katie told you." So it had mattered to her he wasn't Mormon, enough to tell her brother. Mormons always cared when somebody wasn't one of them. In a way, though, it made it so the way Toolie talked to him, like a friend—it meant even more, because he knew Deaver was a gentile all along.

  And Toolie had the grace to act a little embarrassed about knowing something Deaver only told to Katie. "I wondered, so I asked her to find out."

  Deaver tried to put him at ease about it. "I'm circumcised, though."

  Toolie laughed. "Well, too bad it isn't Israel where you live. You'd fit right in."

  Some trucker'd told him when he was about sixteen that Mormons were so damned righteous because they couldn't help it—after you get your dick cut all the way around, the sap can't flow anymore. Deaver knew the part about sap flowing wasn't true, but not till this moment did he realize that the trucker was also putting him on about circumcision being part of the Mormon religion. Once again Deaver had said something stupid and offensive without meaning to. "Sorry. I thought you Mormons—"

  But Toolie was just laughing. "See? The ignorance is thick on every side." He clapped his hand onto Deaver's shoulder and left it there for a minute as they walked along the street of Hatchville. And this time it didn't make Deaver mad. This time it felt right to have Toolie's hand on him. They got to the storehouse and arranged for a cart to deliver their supplies that afternoon.

  "Soldiers of the United States! We could march on Philadelphia and—we could march—"

  "March under arms and grind Philadelphia beneath our boots."

  "Soldiers of the United States! We could march under arms and boot Phila—"

  "Grind Philadel—"

  "Grind Philadelphia beneath our boots, and what then could—"

  "What Congress then could—"

  "What Congress then could deny our rightful claim upon the treasury of this blood which we created by—"

  "Nation which we created—"

  "I'll start over, I'm just confused a little, Janie, let me start over."

  Old Parley had gone over George Washington's speech to his troops so many times that Deaver could have recited it word perfect, just from hearing it while he worked on bypassing a relay to the heater fan. With his head buried deep in the truck's engine, one leg holding him in place by hooking across the fender, the sound of Parley memorizing echoed loud. Sweat dripped off Deaver's forehead into his eyes and stung him a little. Nasty work, but as long as the fan kept blowing they'd remember him.

  Got it. Now all he had to do was climb out, start up the truck, and try it to see if the fan motor actually worked.

  "I've got it now, Janie," said Parley. "But are we now, for the sake of money, to deny the very principles of freedom for which we fought,
and for which so many of our comrades fell? Help me here, Janie, just a word."

  "I."

  "I what?"

  "I say."

  "Got it! I say thee, Nay!"

  "I say that in America, soldiers are subject to the lawful government, even when that lawful government acts unjustly against them."

  "Don't read me the whole speech!"

  "I thought if you heard it once, Grandpa, you could—"

  "You are my prompter, not my understudy!"

  "I'm sorry, but we've been over it and—"

  Deaver started the truck engine. It drowned out the sound of Parley Aal unfairly blaming Janie for his collapsing memory. The fan worked. Deaver turned off the motor.

  "—suddenly starting up! I can't work on these lines under these circumstances, I'm not a miracle worker, nobody could hold these long speeches in their heads with—"

  It wasn't Janie's voice that answered him now—it was Marshall's. "The motor's off now, so go ahead now."

  Parley sounded more petulant. Weaker. "I say the words so often they don't mean anything to me anymore."

  "They don't have to mean anything, you just have to say them."

  "It's too long!"

  "We've cut it down to the bare bones. Washington tells them they could seize Philadelphia and break Congress, but then all their fighting would be in vain, so be patient and let democracy work its sluggish will."

  "Why can't I say that? It's shorter."

  "It's also not at all what Washington would say. Dad, we can't have a Glory of America pageant without George Washington."

  "Then you do it! I just can't do these things anymore! Nobody could remember all these long speeches!"

  "You've done them a thousand times before!"

  "I'm too old! Do I have to say it that plain, Marshall?" Then, more softly, almost pleading. "I want to go home."

  "To Royal." The name was like acid sizzling on wood.

  "To home."

  "Home is under water."

  "You should be doing Washington's speech, and you know it. You've got the voice, and Toolie's ready to play Jefferson."

  "Is he ready to play Noah?" Marshall spoke scornfully, as if the idea was crazy.

  "You were his age when you started playing Noah, Marshall."

  "Toolie isn't mature enough!"

  "Yes he is, and you should be doing my parts, and Donna and I should be home. For the love of heaven, Marsh, I'm seventy-two and my world is gone and I want to have some peace before I die." Parley's speech ended with a ragged whisper. It was the perfect dramatic touch. Deaver sat in the cab, imagining the scene he couldn't see: Old Parley staring at his son for a long moment, then turning slowly and walking with weary dignity back to the tent. Every argument in this family is played out in set speeches.

  The silence lasted long enough that Deaver felt free to open the door and leave the cab. He immediately looked back to where Janie and Parley had been practicing. Both gone. Marshall too.

  Under the kitchen awning sat Donna, Parley's wife. She was old and frail, much older-seeming than Parley himself. Once they brought down her rocking chair early in the morning, she just sat there in the shade, sometimes sleeping, sometimes not. She wasn't senile, really; she fed herself, she talked. It was like she wanted to sit in her chair, close her eye, and pretend she was somewhere else.

  Now, though, she was here. As soon as she saw that Deaver was looking at her, she beckoned to him. He came over.

  He figured she had in mind to tell him he ought to be more careful. "I'm sorry for starting the truck right then."

  "Oh, no, the truck was nothing." She patted a stool sitting in the grass next to her. "Parley's just an old man who wants to quit his job."

  "I know the feeling," said Deaver.

  She smiled sadly, as if to say that there wasn't a chance in the world he knew that feeling. She looked at him, studying his face. He waited. After all, she had called him over. Finally she said what was on her mind. "Why are you here, Deaver Teague?"

  He took it as a challenge. "Returning a favor."

  "No, no. I mean why are you here?"

  "I needed a ride."

  She waited.

  "I thought I ought to fix the heater fan."

  Still she waited.

  "I want to see the show."

  She raised an eyebrow. "Katie had nothing to do with it?"

  "Katie's a pretty girl."

  She sighed. "And funny. And lonely. She thinks she wants to get away, but she doesn't. There is no Broadway anymore. The rats have taken over the theatre buildings. They chewed up the NBC peacock and didn't leave a feather." She giggled at her own joke.

  Then, as if she knew she'd lost the thread of her own conversation, she fell silent and stared off into space. Deaver wondered if maybe he ought to just go back to the truck or take a walk or something.

  She startled him by turning her head and gazing at him again, her gaze sharper than ever before. "Are you one of the three Nephites?"

  "What?"

  "Appearing on the road like that. Just when we needed an angel most."

  "Three Nephites?"

  "The ones who chose to stay behind on Earth till Christ comes again. They go about doing good, and then they disappear. I don't know why I thought that, I know you're just an ordinary boy."

  "I'm no angel."

  "But the way the young ones turned to you. Ollie, Katie, Toolie. I thought you came to—"

  "To what?"

  "Give them what they want most. Well, why don't you anyway? You don't have to be an angel to work miracles, sometimes."

  "I'm not even a Mormon."

  "I'll tell you the truth," said the old lady. "Neither was Moses."

  He laughed. So did she. Then she got that faraway look again. After he waited awhile, her eyelids got heavy, flickered, closed. He stood up, stretched, turned around.

  Scarlett was standing not five feet away, looking at him.

  He waited for her to say something. She didn't.

  Voices off in the distance. Scarlett glanced toward them, breaking the silent connection between them. He also turned. Beyond the truck, the first group of townspeople were coming—looked like three families together, with benches and a couple of ancient folding chairs. He heard Katie call out to them, though he couldn't see her behind the truck. The families waved. The children ran forward. Now he could see Katie emerging, out in the open field. She was wearing the hoop skirts of Betsy Ross—Deaver knew the Betsy Ross scene because he'd had to learn the cue when to raise the flag, so that Janie could help Dusty with the costume change. The children overran her, turning her around; Katie squatted and hugged the two smallest both at once. She stood up then and led them toward the wagon. It was very theatrical; it was a scene played out for the children's parents, and it worked. They laughed, they nodded. They would enjoy the show. They would like the pageant family, because Katie greeted their children with affection. Theatrical—and yet utterly honest. Deaver didn't know how he knew that. He just knew that Katie really did love to meet the audience.

  And then, thinking about that, he knew something else. Knew that he'd seen Katie play out some scenes today that she didn't mean, not the same way, not with that fervency that he saw when she greeted the children. This was real. Her flirting with Deaver, that was false. Calculated. Again, Deaver didn't know how he knew it. But he knew. Katie's smile, her touch, her attention, all that she'd given him today, all that she'd halfway promised, it was an act. She was like her father, not like Toolie. And it tasted nasty, just thinking about it. Not so much because she'd been faking it. Mostly because Deaver'd been taken in so completely.

  "Who can find a capable wife?" asked Scarlett softly.

  Deaver felt himself blush.

  But it wasn't a real question. Scarlett was reciting. "Her worth is far beyond coral. Her husband's whole trust is in her, and children are not lacking."

  He could see how the children clung to Katie. She must be telling them a story. Or just
pretending to be Betsy Ross. The children laughed.

  "She repays him with good, not evil, all her life long. When she opens her mouth, it is to speak wisely, and loyalty is the theme of her teaching. She keeps her eye on the doings of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her sons with one accord call her happy; her husband, too, and he sings her praises: Many a woman shows how capable she is; but you excel them all."

  It might be a recitation, but it had to have a point to it. Deaver turned to Scarlett, who was smiling merrily. "Are you proposing to me?" asked Deaver.

  "Charm is a delusion and beauty fleeting; it is the Godfearing woman who is honored. Extol her for the fruit of all her toil, and let her own works praise her in the gates."

  As best Deaver could figure out, Scarlett was trying to get Deaver thinking about a wife when he looked at Katie. "You hardly know me, Mrs. Aal."

  "I think I do. And call me Scarlett."

  "I'm not a Mormon, either." He figured she'd probably been told already, but Deaver knew how much store Mormons set by getting married in the temple, and he also knew he never planned to set foot inside another Mormon temple in his life.

  But Scarlett seemed to be ready for that objection. "That's not Katie's fault, now, is it, so why punish the poor girl?"

  He couldn't very well say to her, Woman, if you think your daughter's really in love with me, you're a plain fool. "I'm a stranger, Scarlett."

  "You were this morning. But Mother Aal told us who you really are."

  Now he understood that she was teasing him. "If I'm an angel, I got to say the pay isn't too good."

  But she didn't really want to play. She wanted to talk seriously.

  "There's something about you, Deaver Teague. You don't say much, and half what you say is wrong, and yet you caught Katie's eye, and Toolie said to me today, 'Too bad Teague has to leave,' and you made a friend of Ollie, who hasn't made a friend in years." She looked away, looked toward the truck, though nothing was happening there. "Do you know, Deaver, sometimes I think Ollie is his uncle Roy all over again."

  Deaver almost laughed out loud. Royal? The hero of the outriders shouldn't be compared to Ollie, with his mocking smile, his petulant temper.