The audience inhaled as one.
He let the subsequent silence hang in the air a moment, and then he dropped his jacket and walked down the steps and into the crowd. Some moved back, but Mrs. Delaney and her shrouded companion stayed put.
“No, I’m not heartless, as you see. I give them sustenance and shelter, and a job to do. All these medical curiosities are here today for your education and edification. Yiss. All these marvels are waiting for you to step inside so they may show you the wonders of the world. Look around you.” As he said the word “around,” he turned his head until it faced completely in the opposite direction. The audience muttered, and one of the girls squeaked. He didn’t turn his head in a complete circle, of course, he brought it back the same way, but I would bet there were those there who would later swear he did.
“Yiss, there are wonders in your very midst,” he continued, and he swooped the cloak from Apollo’s shoulders. My hairy friend stood there clad in nothing but his underdrawers and personal hirsute glory.
Men cried out, and women screamed, even though they knew the boy.
“Arf, arf, arf,” barked Apollo, in obvious delight at performing once more.
I choked back a curse. What was that stupid boy playing at? Was he asking to be carried off? Then it hit me. He was. He wanted to join this show. I couldn’t let that happen.
As I tried to work my way through the crowd to get to Apollo, Dr. Mink ran up the wooden stairs to the bally platform again. He silenced his babbling audience with an upheld bony hand. “Tonight, and tonight only, this is a free show for the ladies. Step up, step up, my dears.” The girls came forward in a rustle of summer petticoats, further hindering my progress. “But, ladies,” warned Dr. Mink, “do not venture inside without your smelling salts. I would not wish you to swoon and hurt yourselves.”
“Excuse me, excuse me,” I repeated as I maneuvered by two of the upstairs maids, enjoying a holiday.
Dr. Mink turned his attention to the men. “The admission for gentlemen will be a mere two bits if you wish to lend the ladies an arm to lean on.”
A big man came out with a starry cash box, and Dr. Mink entered the tent. The gentlemen pressed forward, money in hand, pulling me with them. Apollo ran behind the banners and followed Mink into the tent. I fumbled in my pockets. I couldn’t let Apollo go in by himself, but I had no money. As I reached the entrance, Apollo ran out to me and tugged my arm. “It’s all right, Abel,” he said proudly. “You’re with me.” I took Apollo’s arm, ready to pull him away, but the man with the cash box moved in behind me, and the only way to go without a fuss was in.
I was irked. Apollo had made a target of himself, and already he claimed privileges with a show that I had wanted to join.
“Let me go,” squeaked Apollo, and I released my grip on his arm with a snort of irritation.
The audience entered one end of the tent and traveled the length, while a wiry roustabout watched for improprieties. The exhibits were lined up on the other side of a velvet cord. I didn’t see a dark-haired dancing girl. So much for Lady Adventure kidnapped by a man of bones. I was actually disappointed. What a fool I was. At least there were no children on display. That was one less thing to worry about.
The first of the human exhibits was the alligator girl—more of a woman, actually. She hadn’t the face of that beast, but indeed, as attested by her low-cut gown and shortened skirt, her body was covered by a rough, corrugated growth that mimicked the scales of an alligator. Some of the girls stroked their own fair skin nervously, and more than one of the gentlemen appeared a little ill. The alligator girl herself smiled and nodded at all, though no one spoke to her.
They have no acts, I realized. They just sit there like museum pieces or—I swallowed hard—animals at a zoo. My heart went out to them.
“Good evening, ma’am,” I said as we filed by. “I hope it finds you well.”
“Why, honey pie,” she answered in a pleasing voice. “How kind of you to ask, and indeed it does.” She tilted her head as she noticed Apollo at my side. “Are you here to join us, sugarplum?”
“I hope so,” said Apollo.
“No,” I said, and put my hand firmly on his shoulder. She didn’t ask if I was here to join them, I thought glumly, but why should she? I wasn’t covered in fur.
“Well, lookit that,” said a gruff alto voice. “I ain’t seen one a them before.” The speaker was the next exhibit, a lady dwarf with a large head, a protruding forehead, a broad, saddle-shaped nose—and a beard. The joke took me by surprise, and I laughed. I hadn’t listened closely to Dr. Mink—the smallest woman and the most unusual bearded lady were one and the same. Not only that, she was the driver I had mistaken for a man. Trust a showman to make it sound like you were getting twice as much for your money, and still make you feel like you’d received a bonus when you found out the truth.
“What you laughing at?” growled the bearded lady, and she tugged at the sleeve of her flounced satin gown. Her arms were short and brawny and looked odd emerging from that confection. I couldn’t help but notice the dirt under her fingernails.
“My apologies, ma’am,” I said. “I merely laughed with delight at the economy of your design.”
“Well, don’t he talk like a book?” she said, rolling her eyes. “You could take lessons,” she called over to her left.
There lay the caterpillar man in his striped tube of a shirt, the difference from the banner being the lumps on the sides of his trunk where his arms should have been. He was bald and swarthy, with a scowling face that belonged on a man in his thirties. His lips were pressed closed as if he rarely spoke at all, so perhaps she joked.
“Well, doesn’t that beat the devil?” Lillie said. She slid in beside me. “He makes me feel all-overish.” She shivered.
“Hello, gorgeous,” the caterpillar man rasped, and gave me a start. “I’d feel you all over for sure.” He undulated in a most disgusting parody.
“Ewwww!” Lillie stepped back.
“What’s he doing, Abel?” Apollo asked.
“Scratching an itch, I believe,” I answered. I was beginning to have second thoughts about my joining this show, let alone Apollo.
“Stop that!” The bearded lady smacked the culprit on the head.
I tugged Apollo along. Perhaps the poor man didn’t have all his wits.
We found ourselves in front of the giant next. He certainly wasn’t eight feet tall, but he could have been seven and a half feet or more. Even if he’d been eight feet tall, he wouldn’t have been the tallest man in the country, for I’d met the winner of that title. He appeared sickly and lethargic, as giants often do, with swollen facial features and an oversize head. His hands were puffy and hamlike, and I would bet anything that he limped. I couldn’t tell how old he might be, as giants tend to age fast. He wasn’t much interested in what went on, but stared at the tent wall. He seemed sad.
Apollo must have sensed that too. “Hello!” he called, and waved up at the man. “You’re a very fine giant indeed.” The giant’s eyes didn’t even flicker, but I smiled at Apollo’s sweet attempt to cheer him up. I would hate to see the puppy boy exhibited like this, unkempt and uncared for.
We gathered at the far end of the tent in front of a curtained display that promised a finale.
“Man alive! Did you ever see such an all-fired sight?” said a gentleman.
“I will allow I have never,” said another. “Oddments, the whole boodle.”
“Land sakes!” said a woman, hand at her heart. “When I saw that caterpillar feller, I thought I’d have a conniption fit.”
The crowd hushed as Dr. Mink stepped in front of the curtains.
“And now the most amazing sight you will ever see in your life. A person you will tell your grandchildren about. A creature that defies the laws of nature. For a mere one dime more.”
There were some grumbles, but the gentlemen coughed up.
Dr. Mink took hold of the curtain. “May I present to you Mr. Eustace Gin
ger—the two-headed man!” He pulled the curtain aside.
We all gasped.
A man sat in a straight-backed chair, his hands folded in his lap. He appeared normal in every way, from his modest suit to his neatly trimmed beard, but out of his forehead grew a second head, a third of the size of the original.
A girl exclaimed and, by the sounds, someone fainted, but I couldn’t tear my eyes away to look.
He was no humbug. The second head was a miniature parody of the first, complete with beard. The eyes blinked and appeared to be able to see, but they were dull, with no sign of intelligence. The mouth opened and closed constantly, although no sounds came forth. I suspected that it was moronic.
Before I could ask Mr. Ginger some questions—like could his second head swallow, and did it catch cold?—Dr. Mink stepped forward and dropped the curtain.
“Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for your patronage,” he said. “Souvenirs are on sale outside.”
“Well, that’s a swindle,” I muttered to Apollo.
“What did you think?” asked Mrs. Delaney as we left the tent. Dr. Mink walked at her side. He carried his hat under his arm, revealing spiky white hair.
“Impressive,” I said. I didn’t want to be impolite and tell Dr. Mink that it bothered me that none of them did anything.
“Would you and the young fellow here care to join my troupe for a late supper?” asked Dr. Mink.
And have Mink fill Apollo’s head with ideas? I didn’t think so. “Oh, it’s much too late for a boy his age.” I didn’t like the way Mink looked at me when I said that. “Run in the house, Apollo. It’s time for bed.”
“Abel!” my dog-faced friend complained.
“I’ve a bedtime story to tell you about a dancing girl and a thief, if you behave,” I said, meaning an edited version, of course.
Apollo couldn’t resist a story. “It better be a good one,” he muttered before he ran off.
“Dr. Mink,” I said to the showman. “It strikes me that you may be in need of a performing act. Could you use a knife thrower? I have excellent skills and would be glad to demonstrate.”
“A knife thrower, eh?” the skeleton man said, and grinned. “And a dog boy.”
“No,” I said. “Apollo is going home, back to his parents, who miss him.”
“What a shame. What a shame.” Dr. Mink stroked his goatee and thought for a moment. “Well, I may have need of a knife thrower. Why don’t you show me what you’ve got in the morning, when the light is better?”
I took my leave of Mrs. Delaney and Dr. Mink, my heart buoyant. I might have a career after all.
I had almost drifted off to sleep when someone tapped on my door. I shall thrash that puppy boy if he’s come to bother me for another story, I promised. To my surprise, I found Lillie there clad in her chemise and wrapper. I gaped at her like a ninny.
“Will you invite me in?” she asked.
I stood back to allow her to enter, still unable to find words.
She pulled a pin from her hair, and her red curls tumbled about her shoulders. “I thought you might like some company,” she whispered.
I realized that I was standing there in just my shirt. My mouth dried.
She wriggled and shrugged, and her wrapper slid to the floor. My luck was really changing, I thought, as she undid my top buttons and slid her hand beneath my shirt.
“You have a fine build,” she purred, and my knees went weak.
“What’s this?” she asked, and pulled the scarab ring from under my shirt by its chain. “A token from a lover?” She chuckled.
“A good-luck charm from a friend,” I said, gently taking the ring from her. Why did I feel peculiar? I had no one to be faithful to.
Lillie leaned close and her musky perfume enveloped me. She ran her tongue up the side of my neck, and I tossed my foolish reservations aside, pulled her to me, and pressed my mouth to hers.
Her teeth nibbled my lower lip, and my mouth parted in surprise. Before it could close, her little pink tongue slipped within and tangled with mine. I squeaked before I could help it. Her muffled laughter hummed through me, and I grasped her tighter and tried to follow her lead. I was tentative, clumsy, and afraid to prove myself a fool, but she sighed and I took encouragement.
She pushed me and I pulled her, and we stumbled backward to the bed. The heat of her flesh beneath her flimsy nightdress seared me, and the smell of her dizzied my senses. My hands molded the curves of her hips and glided to the mounds of her wondrous breasts. Is this really happening? I wondered as she sank beneath me onto the humble straw mattress.
She took my hand and drew it up her leg to guide it where the fire burned hottest, dragging her chemise along with it. I trembled. “Lillie,” I whispered. “You are the most beautiful creature.”
Her lips tickled up my chest to my throat. “Ouch!” she cried, and her hand flew to her head. Her hair was snagged in the chain about my neck. She lifted the ring to untangle herself. She yelped and dropped it.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
“I heard my conscience, loud as life, say, ‘Leave him alone,’” she replied, her eyes wide. She began to tear her hair free.
“Shhhhh!” I said, trying to still her fingers. I felt an undertow of disquiet. She had touched the ring before she said those odd words. Was it only coincidence? “Why on earth would your conscience speak to you?”
“Oh, you are such an innocent!” Lillie blurted out.
“Not in five minutes,” I said, squashing flat my apprehension. I pulled her to me.
She wriggled out of my embrace. “No, it’s not fair on you. I can’t do this when you were so good and helped me with that bully.”
“Not fair? Leaving me in this state is unfair,” I protested, to my immediate embarrassment.
“You don’t understand,” she said. “Mrs. Delaney sent me to distract you.”
She was right. I didn’t understand. “You’re succeeding,” I said, too aware of the ache of my desire to question Mrs. Delaney’s interest.
“I don’t want to fool you, you’re too sweet,” Lillie said.
“Fool me?”
Lillie placed a hand on my shoulder. “Dr. Mink is stealing away with your friend. Please don’t hate me.”
The scoundrel! He had no intention of watching me perform in the morning. He was making off with Apollo instead! It crossed my mind that Apollo couldn’t get too far in ten or fifteen minutes, but I dismissed that idea as dishonorable. Mr. Northstar had warned me not to let Apollo fall into evil hands, and I had done it nevertheless. I leaped to my feet, buttoning my shirt. “I don’t hate you, Lillie,” I said. Which was true. I hated fate, which gave me a present with one hand and took it away with the other.
As I pulled on my trousers, Lillie explained. “Dr. Mink is Mrs. Delaney’s half brother. He visited recently. When she saw Apollo, she knew he would pay well for knowledge of him. She sent her boy after Mink on the pony.”
I raced out the door and headed for the field.
The wagons were loaded and the horses hitched, but they were still lined up in the lane. I hammered upon the rear door of the wood-paneled wagon. The door opened a crack. “It’s a little late to come a-calling, ain’t it?” said Dr. Mink, a knowing smirk on his face.
I set aside my manners and pushed the door open farther. As I guessed, Apollo was inside, seated on a bunk. “I thought you were asleep,” he said. I hoped he had the decency to blush under that fur.
Dr. Mink sat on a stool. “Apollo has accepted my offer of a job.”
“It’ll be wonderful, Abel. I shall have star billing and my very own banner.”
Two seductions had been taking place, it seemed. “What about your family?” I asked. “And your friends at home?” And what about my job? I thought. I wondered if I could pick him up and remove him by force. Dr. Mink, the little stick man, would be no hindrance.
“I can’t go back home. You know that,” he answered. “Things were bad enough before I defied my fath
er.”
The door behind me slammed, and I turned to see the largest driver blocking my way out. So much for grab and run.
“Colonel Kingston will watch out for you,” I said. “I promise you, all will be well.”
“You can’t promise him anything,” said Dr. Mink, “and you have no authority over him either. You are no relation.”
“Perhaps the sheriff will see it differently,” I answered.
“Yiss, go get the sheriff,” he said, grinning like death, and I knew he was thinking the law would care nothing for a freak boy, and by the time I returned, they would be gone.
“You won’t have fun with all those grown-ups,” I told Apollo. “They’ll always be bossing you around.”
“Oh, we have children,” said Dr. Mink. “They’re waiting for us farther west. Don’t worry, Apollo. You’ll have fine playmates to cut shines with.”
“Are those stolen children too?” I almost asked, before the terrible truth of those words stopped me. Could that be where Mr. Northstar’s child was? I had to find out. How could I abandon a child in need? I almost choked on my next words. “Well, if you’ve made up your mind, so be it,” I said to Apollo. There went all my plans, flying out the carriage window. I could have cussed a blue streak. “But I can’t let you go off with strangers,” I told the boy. “Perhaps you have room for a knife thrower after all?” I asked Dr. Mink.
Dr. Mink paused a moment to look me up and down. He flicked his tongue across his lips. Perhaps he was deciding how much trouble I would be. Finally he spoke. “Not a knife thrower,” he said, “but I need a driver.”
I ran back to the house to grab my suitcase. Lillie was still in my room, curled in a ball on my bed.
“Apollo and I are leaving,” I explained. “Could you give a message to Mr. Northstar, should he return? Tell him I think I know where his son may be. Tell him to follow Lazarus Mink.”
“Will you forgive me, Abel?” she said, and wiped a tear from her eye.
“There’s nothing to forgive, Lillie,” I said. “Take care.”
We were a mile down the road when I realized that once again I had left a job without my pay. I was still broke.