"HEAR YE! HEAR YE! GATHER 'ROUND LADIES AND GENTLEMAN! WHITENESS A TWISTED PERVERSION OF NATURE BEFORE YOUR VERY EYES!
A crowd of men, woman and children formed in a cluster around the voice that summoned them in the streets of South East London, most of the children pushing straight to the front. Their curiosity and growing excitement led them to a well dressed man, an entertainer by the looks of it, with a wooden cane in his hand raised above his head and waving around demanding the crowd's attention. Behind him stood a rather large curtain draped over what looked like an even larger box. He lowered his cane and tipped his hat to the people that had gathered. A greedy smirk was smeared across his face as he whipped his can at the curtain to draw their attention to it.
"My fellow citizens of London, I welcome you one and all to feast you eyes on something most sinister, a creature most foul and yet so rare. A deformity of man that could very well be the very serpent in which God himself had punished in disguise!"
The man grabbed the curtain as he watched the crowds growing anticipation. After a slight hesitation he yanked at the giant cloth as it feel off the object that covered it. I flowed onto the ground smoothly to reveal underneath was none other than a giant animal cage.
Inside the cage inhabited what looked like the appearance of a frail and frightened young man. A young man put a hand over his squinted eyes as the unwelcome beam of sunlight suddenly hit him. The only scrap of clothing covering him was a cloth wrapped around waste. At first, he didn't seem too out of the ordinary. Though he was far too skinny, his bones protruding from his sides. His white hair covered in dirt and hung in front of his face. But that isn't all that the crowed noticed about him. As he lowered his hands and looked among the astonished crowed, it became visible what made him so unique. For upon his pale skin looked like the scales of a snake that covered him from head to toe. Above him was a sign that read in black letters "SNAKEMAN"
The man raised his hands to the crowed as he introduced him to the boy.
"I PRESENT TO YOU THE MYSTERIOUS SNAKE MAN!"
The crowd of people backed away in utter horror as they laid eyes upon the scaly looking boy. Parents of the children in front pulled them away from his cage as if the lad was going to attack them. His rough hands were holding on to the bars as his golden eyes looked helplessly upon the terrified people. Though this was his lively hood, being paraded around like the animal he was advertised to be, he couldn't help the emotions that would overwhelm him every time he was put on display like this. Why was it that he was born with a deformity as cruel as this?
The entertainer stepped aside so that his audience could get a better look at his prized possession shivering in his cage.
"Note how his deformed skin displays the scales of that of a snake! His tongue split in half, and his eyes no color ever seen in any other human!"
Pain shot up in the boy's heart as the man he called "master" dehumanized him to all of these people. The worst part is they were all going to believe it. Even if the man hadn't pointed out all of his flaw, just one look at him would let anyone believe that he wasn't human.
"But if you're still not impressed," the entertainer carefully picked up a rather large sack from behind him. "Watch serpent man as he interacts with his own kind!"
Three snakes slither from the sack and inside the cage. They quickly made their way to the boy and effortlessly climbed on to him, as if he was their mother who protected them from the evils of the world. They hissed at the crowed of amazed people as they wrapped themselves around around different parts of the boys limbs.
The entertainer reached back into the sack and took out some sort of foreign instrument.
"And now, ladies and gentleman, boys and girls, watch as I play this here pungi. Or a 'snake charmer' if you will!"
The crowd went silent as the entertainer put the instrument to his lips and blew into the pipes, causing a faced paced and piercing sound to flow from it. As customary, the boy reluctantly took to his feet and began to move jerkingly to the beat of the the music. The snakes lifted their heads at the sound, making their upper bodies paralyzed while their lower halves struggled to hold on to the dancing boy.
He continued to dance as far as the cage would allow, moving his frail arms as fast as he could, stepping his feet from side to side.
A roar of applause and laughter erupted from the crowd as the entertainer seized his playing, taking a bow. They happily threw all of their hard earned coins at the entertainer, thinking they've gotten their monies worth. As the boy stopped dancing, his golden eyes scanned the cheering audience, watching them as they continued to empty their pockets with some still pointing to him with laughter boasting from their mouths. He sank to his knees as the feeling of humiliation took it's toll on him. He put his eyes and head to the ground as the once paralyzed snakes began to move upon him once again. In the wave of discomfort, he found some small relief as his 'friends' made their way around his neck and chest, as if they could feel his pain.
Eventually, the crowed began to die down and slowly leave the scene with fading smiles on their faces, giving the cheerful entertainer an opportunity to collect his money from the ground. He looked at the boy as he gathered them all up and laughed at his pathetic state.
"What's the matter, boy?" The pompous entertainer stuffed the coins into his pocket as he looked at the boy. The boy, however, kept his
"You should be grateful! You will never be good for anything else, that sickly appearance of yours I'm surprised you've ended up here and not in a pit with the rest of your kind!"
Every word that came out of the man's mouth his the boy like bullets to the chest. Not because of what he was saying was clearly hurtful, but because it was also true. He was foolish to ever think that society would have anything to offer him outside of being just a display case for the general public. An object for them to gaze upon in disbelief and disgust, maybe even wonder, and yet no sympathy. They would never see him as a human being, but just a form of entertainment, and all because he was born different.
This is why he finds his comfort within the snakes. In many ways he felt a strong connection to them, and not just by his obvious duplicate appearance from them, but because they too were treated as if they were monsters, demons who slithered up from the very depths of hell. The boy found them to be gentle, yet territorial creatures. Shy, and wanting nothing more but their solitude. This is how the boy saw himself, identical to him in every way. And, from what he could tell, his snake friends could see that in him as well. That is why they wouldn't hiss or bite at him, nor would they scurry away from him. They could only see him as one of their own, a powerful connection that only the snakes and the boy could ever understand.
The entertainer left the boy to his thoughts, humming a merry little tune to himself as he walked into his tent to put away his 'hard earned' money away. The boy laid his side against the cold, hard floor of the cage with his head turned to the darkening sky. His snake friends slithered around him and coiled themselves around the bars of the cage. Before the boy could shut his tear-filled eyes, he thought he could hear a faint sound coming from the horizon. It was a small but high pitched sound echoing into the night playing a slow little melody.
Tom Tom, he was piper's son...he learnt to play when he was young
The sound grew louder and louder as it seemed like it was approaching the boy.
And all the tune that he could play...was "over the hills and far away"
Curious, and almost frightened, the boy sat up to see where the sound was coming from.
"Over the hills and a great way off the wind shall blow my top knot off..."
The last note dragged as the sound became ear piercingly closer, and yet, the boy frantic boy could still see no one. He couldn't even hear the sound of footsteps. It wasn't until the sound of a soft, foreign chuckle reached his ears. He turned to see not one, not two, but five rather oddly dressed individuals. The one who was standing the closest to the frightened boy was a clownish looking young man, roughly the same age as the boy himself. He pulled a tin whistle down from his smiling lips and bowed to the caged figure with a bony looking hand pressed to his chest.
"Pleased to meet ye.. My name is Joker." He started off. He lifted back his head to meet the boy's golden gaze. "We saw ye performing earlier, I must say thy snake handling is top notch."
The boy's eyes closed painfully, as if the comment had offended him. There was only so much ridicule he could take in one day, and he had reached his limit. The man named Joker, however, kept his smile upon his pink lips, even as one of the snakes hissed at him through the bars threateningly.
"Have ye thought of expanding your act?" He asked. The question made his eyes open again. Either this man was attempting to drag him down to painful punch line, or he was being absolutely serious. "
I'll get to thy point." He stepped aside with his boney hand raised to the others standing behind him. One of them was a rather large, almost scary looking man. Every vain, every muscle in his enormous body protruded from his rough and tanned skin. Even his shiny, bald head could break through ten bricks if given enough force. The clown introduced him as "Jumbo." A rather fitting name. Another, rather shorter looking man, had a wide grin placed upon his face. He almost had the same make up as joker, but with more of a fancy attire. He was introduced as "Dagger." There were also two young ladies that stood beside the giant. One that looked more like a young man, but still very humble. Her smile lifted up the many freckles that lay upon her cheeks. She was introduced as "Doll." Not as fitting as the last. The other young lady wore nothing but leather from head to toe, her heavy make up clashing along with it. She held a rather threatening whip by her side, perhaps in case if anything went wrong? She was introduced with the name "Beast." After the quick introductions, Joker cleared his throat.
"We be in the process of putting together a circus, along with our other brothers and sisters." A circus? the boy thought. An actual circus, or just another freak show for him to be dehumanized in? Before the boy could bluntly refuse, Joker continued, pointing to the others.
"We have everything down to the finest, we have our fire breather, our tight rope walker, our animal tamer, and everything else you can think of...everything that is, except our own snake man."
The boy lifted his head upon hearing the words "snake man" and not in a defensive way either. He curiously scooted himself towards the end of the cage, indicating he was now interested in what joker had to say. This made Joker's smile widen.
"We've auditioned many for the role, and yet we have yet to meet any with the skills you have, being able to control theses here creatures without so much as a word."
For the first time in the boy's life, he felt his heart swell at the truly genuine complement. He turned his face away to hide the blush that creeped upon his sickly white face. These people, these four individuals, they looked upon him as if he was some sort of graven image. It was almost as if they couldn't see the scales that ran across his skin. Or maybe, just maybe, they are looking past it.
Joker spoke again, reaching a hand out to the tickle hearted boy. "We know what ye might be thinking..but if you look at all of us individually, you'll see that we're all a little different ourselves." The boy scanned the five individuals, trying to catch a glimpse of anything slightly abnormal. The only thing he could really see was the skeleton like hand on Joker that was reaching out to him. "Believe it or not, we were in the same situation as yee.. So, if yee be interested, we'd be truly honored to have thee be apart of our family."
A family? The word almost seemed so foreign to the boy. His eyes sparkled as he looked down upon the smiling clown. The snakes beside him calming themselves from the now welcomed intruders. They boy slowly lifted his shaking hand slipped it ever so carefully through the bars of his cage. Before he could touch Joker's other gloved hand, an ear shattering scream came from behind the cage.
"WHAT DO YOU LOT THINK YOU'RE DOING?!" the scream had belonged to the entertainer, making all of them turn their heads in surprise. "THE SHOW'S OVER, ALL OF YOU GET OUT OF HERE!"
The circus members stood their ground with Joker in front, unfazed by the man's shouting. This made the entertainer turn red with anger as he pulled out a gun from his belt and pointed it against the non frightened individuals. The snakes made their way to the side of the cage and hissed harshly at the entertainer.
"ALRIGHT, THIS IS YOUR LAST CHANCE. STEP AWAY FROM MY PROPERTY, OR BE PREPARED TO GET BLOWN SKY HIG-"
Before he could finish his sentence, the entertainer fell to the ground feeling a severe amount of pressure in his head. Behind him stood Jumbo, with his hands pressed together above the fallen man. Without any effort, he lifted the man up and off of his feet by the back of his collar. Beast then took her whip, wrapping it around him and tightly restraining the struggling figure. The boy watched in awe as his now former tormentor was being quickly apprehended. It wasn't until the sound of metal breaking and his beloved snake friends scattering away that snapped him out of his thoughts.
He looked up to see Doll excitingly opening the cage door and offering her hand out to him, dagger pointing one of his knives to the powerless entertainer behind her. "Come on, you're free now!" she stated. The boy's wide eyes traveled to Joker, who smiled at him assuringly with a nod. With a gulp the boy lifted his hand once again, only this time to be greeted by doll's welcoming one. With her surprising strength, she lifted the boy out of his cage and brought him to his feet, his legs wobbling from the long awaited gravity as he stood. His snakes quickly slithered out, enjoying the feeling of grass underneath their smooth, slithering bodies. Without another word from anyone, they all retreated from the scene and ran straight into the woods, laughing and shouting in delight over their victory. Doll dragged along the stumbling boy who managed to gather all of his snakes back onto his flailing body.
He was still in disbelief of everything that had just happened. It all had just happened so fast, he thought that maybe it was just a dream as a result of drifting to sleep and he would soon wake up on the cold floor of his cage, once again surrounded by the the black bars that reminded him of his place not as a human, but as a creature. The snapping branches of the woods and the unfamiliar weight on his knees assured him that it wasn't a dream as he and his squeeling saviors ran farther and farther. No matter where they were taking him, no matter what was to become of him after this night, the boy new in his racing heart that his days of being the "Snake Man." were over. There was fear, fear of the unknown, but it was overpowered by something that had been beaten out of him a long long time ago. Hope.
Joker personally showed the boy around their camp. He saw tents of different sizes spread out all over, including a large one with tables and a cooking fire. Joker then took him over to a set of tents that were apart from the rest of the living courters. "This be the our tents, us first tire members get their own personal ones since we be higher up in the ranks." He then motioned his prosthetic hand over to an empty tent that was placed farther away from the others. "That privet one there will be yers. Since your snake friends will be livin' with ye, make sure to keep them away from the other camp members, just for everyone's safety of course.
The boy stared as the tent with awe. The only thing he's ever owned for himself was any scrap of clothing that found it's way onto his back. The hardest thing for him to believe was he now had a place he was willing to call home. No more sleeping in a cold empty cage, no more humiliating himself just to survive. For the first time in his life, the boy actually felt as if he were a human being.
"Now then," Joker began." if ye be joining our family then ye be in need of a stage name!" The boy had pondered once before what he would change his name to if given the opportunity, but there was only one name that fit him perfectly. He answered plainly. "Snake"