DISCLAIMER: Carnivale and its canon characters are the property of HBO and the show's producers; no copyright infringement is intended.
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An off-screen voice says, "I am interested in hearing the continuation of your story, Mr. Leonhardt. But I must tell you, I'm finding it harder and harder to believe."
The aged dwarf shrugs. "You sought me out, Mr. Rush. And you've chosen to come back and listen to me, again and again."
"Please - I keep asking you to call me Jonathan."
"And I keep asking you to call me Samson. Do you have a problem with it because I'm old enough to be your grandfather, or because I'm a character in the story?"
"A little of both, I think," the unseen man admits. "But I 'sought you out' because you're my favorite author of novels about the supernatural, and I was surprised when I read that article about your turning ninety, with all the photos and details of your colorful life. I wanted to learn more.
"I can't help suspecting, though, that what you've been telling me is the plot of another planned novel -"
"That I think I won't live long enough to write?" Samson gives a grim smile. "No. This story is true.
"Only thirteen years ago, in 1962, the Cuban Missile Crisis brought the world to the brink of nuclear war. Why is it so hard for you to believe humanity was in danger thirty years ago - when, as I've told you, supernatural forces were involved?"
"I think of 'supernatural forces' as fiction. But that's not the only thing I'm having a hard time with. If Justin Crowe had been as famous a preacher as you say, I would have heard of him. And I would have heard of Clayton Jones, who you say came back years after a career-ending injury, to become the ace of the Yankees' pitching staff when he was in his forties!"
Samson ponders that for a moment. Then he says judiciously, "I will admit I've changed some of the characters' names. If I used the real names, you'd recognize them."
"No, I wouldn't!" Rush sounds exasperated. "It doesn't matter what you call them. I'd know about a preacher like that, a ballplayer like that, if they'd ever existed."
Samson's smile is cryptic. "I only said you'd recognize the names."
"What does that mean?"
"You'll just have to listen to more of the story, and find out."
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So the tale continues to unfold...and ultimately reaches its climax, when a worn, prematurely gray Ben Hawkins follows Sofie to the Trinity test site in New Mexico. Sofie is planning to use her powers to make the first test of the atom bomb misfire and strike San Diego - an atrocity that will set in motion a chain of events sure to doom humanity. But Ben succeeds in healing her spirit, through the limitless power of love. She abandons her plan, and the world is saved.
Ben and Sofie expect to be killed by the test blast. They're willing to sacrifice their lives, rather than redirect the blast to a location where there's a chance of others dying. But their selfless choice makes it possible for their nine-year-old son Adam - who is, unknown to them, the most powerful of all Avatars - to fulfill his destiny, and save them, by drastically changing reality.
Avataric powers no longer exist...and aren't remembered. Ben Scudder - restored to a youthful appearance - wakes in a military hospital, several months before the Trinity test, with a new set of memories that include his having been wounded in combat in the Pacific. He's reunited with long-lost love Sofie, now a nurse. And as soon as he's able to leave the hospital, she takes him to meet their son.
As they pull up in front of the Crowes' modest house, Sofie sounds the horn three times - obviously a prearranged signal. Her beaming parents come to the door. But as Ben gets out of the car, they step aside to let him see...a perfect, nine-year-old miniature of himself. Father and son look at each other, dumbfounded. Then they burst into gales of laughter, and Adam runs into Ben's arms.
"Now I know you're my father!"
" 'Course I am! Why've you been hidin' from poor old Dad all these years, you little rascal?"
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Back in Samson's living room, the men are now sitting side by side. Jonathan Rush looks much as "Ben Scudder" might have looked at forty.
Rush sounds dazed as he says, "I...I don't understand. When did I begin telling the story to you?"
Samson says quietly, "Some time ago. At the point when you realized it was your family's story."
"I was...I was...the boy you called Adam. 'Justin Crowe' was my grandfather, Jared Steele. And 'Clayton Jones' must have been a friend of my father's, Stanton Royce. A former major-league pitcher, whose career ended early because of a knee injury."
"Yes. When you contacted me last month, I recognized your name. I'd known you as Jonathan Steele, of course, and your father as Will Hanks. But I knew his father was Harold Rush, and that could well be the family name now.
"Then, when I met you, one look at you told me I'd been right - you're Will's son."
Rush seems overwhelmed. But after a pause, he says slowly, "More of it's coming back to me. I'd traveled to the Trinity site in my thought-form, but my Aunt Margaret, back home, was shaking me and trying to bring me out of the trance..."
Viewers see the scene play out, as it had all those years ago.
"She was frightened," Rush says in a voiceover. "She meant well. But if she'd succeeded, my parents would have died, and I would have been...shattered.
"I had just enough awareness of what was going on at home to realize you got there, and stopped her."
"Yes," Samson acknowledges. "I'd been trying to catch up with Will, but missed him. A friend of ours, a Hopi Indian shaman, was with me. He understood, the moment he saw you, that you were 'projecting' and shouldn't be disturbed. Fortunately, your aunt knew me and was willing to listen to me.
"But then, enough of you was present in your physical body that you grabbed my hand, and you were still clutching me when...everything changed."
The flashback vision ends.
Shaking his head, Samson concludes, "I found myself in a different place, with two complete sets of memories."
"I'm sorry if I hurt you," Rush says contritely. "I remember now that I did grab you deliberately. I thought that if I succeeded in what I was trying to do, I might edit myself out of existence! And it suddenly seemed important that someone remember what had happened. Remember my father's - and, yes, my grandfather's - heroism. I willed you to remember."
"I remembered," Samson assures him. "And let me say this. Doing what you did, when you thought you might 'edit yourself out of existence,' was heroic on your part. And you were only nine!
"Knowing reality had been changed didn't impact my life too much. I was still a carnival manager, though it was a different carnival. And" - he grimaces - "I was still divorced from my ex-wife Sabina. I guess that marriage was never meant to work out."
"I'd forgotten all of it," Rush reflects. "But I think now that subconsciously, I must have recognized you when I saw the old photos that were published with the article about your birthday. I think I was drawn to you because I knew, on some level, that there were things I'd forgotten, that I could learn from you."
Samson nods. "That's what I thought, all along.
"Now I can tell you that I've already written part of the story - as a 'novel' to be published after my death, when I won't have to answer questions about it. I improved my English, and worked for years to make myself an accomplished writer, just so I'd be able to do that. The truth will live on, masquerading as fiction.
"And now that we've become friends, I'll entrust the manuscript to you. You can decide when this 'rediscovered' work of mine can safely be published, without risk to your kin or anyone else who might recognize themselves.
"But I'd never known what actually happened at the Trinity site...what became of you, Will, and Sonia...or whether her killing of Brother Jared had been undone. I was afraid I might cause some kind of damage if I tried to find out."
"You filled me in," Rush muses, "and I'll be able to do the same for you! I'm sure we were meant to meet again.
"I realize now that up to a certain date, I still had my original memories. And a psychic link with my father.
"As time went on, he was suffering. I knew everything he was going through, but I couldn't help him..."
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The story continues.
Its ending, on that "certain date," surely leaves Samson wearing a smile that's neither grim nor cryptic.
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The End
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Author's Afterword: My purpose in writing this was, of course, to address a logic problem with "Trinity." If reality had been changed, and with it everyone's memories, how could an aged Samson be delivering those Monologues?
I brought in a Hopi Indian shaman as a nod to Daniel Knauf, whose earliest plan for the work that became Carnivale - very different from what finally aired - had included such a character.
In inventing "real" names for many of the characters, I tried to make some connection with the "fictional" names Samson had supposedly given them.
Will Hanks = Ben Hawkins: I kept the same initial for the surname; also, all the letters of "Hanks" are included in "Hawkins." I thought I recalled that one thing Daniel Knauf liked about the name "Hawkins" was that it suggested Jim Hawkins, the boy in Treasure Island. (Young, innocent, initially naive? Sort of plain and homespun, nothing fancy?) I figured "Hanks" was a name that would subliminally suggest actor Tom Hanks - usually thought of that way, despite his amazing versatility - and also, that most Americans have read at some point that Hanks was the maiden name of Abraham Lincoln's mother. (Middle American, wholesome, a "Norman Rockwell" association.) And both "Will" and "Ben" are plain, one-syllable first names.
Jared Steele = Justin Crowe: Here, I kept the same initial for the first name. Both names consist of a two-syllable first name - accent on the first syllable - and one-syllable surname. Since there was no way I could duplicate the "bird" references in Daniel Knauf's character names, I decided to give the grim preacher a hard surname.
Harold Rush = Henry (Hack) Scudder: Again, I kept the same initial for the first name. And I remembered an association some fans, at least, had thought of involving the name "Scudder." They'd related it to the verb scud, which means, in a nautical sense, "to run before a high wind with no sails set." That was a derogatory reference to the character - an unwilling Dark Avatar who spent most of his life running away, trying to deny or escape what he was rather than (as Justin would do) fight it. The closest I could come to that was "Rush," a verb that basically means "to hurry."
Jonathan Rush = Adam Crowe, known after his parents' marriage as Adam Scudder: Even the name Adam was my own invention. I'd given more thought to "Adam": this Adam would be not the first human in a "universe," but its actual creator! So I wanted to use the name of a very important Biblical character, one who could be seen as - from necessity - a pioneer. "Jonathan" was simply a name I liked. But in both cases, I thought a Biblical name would be appropriate for a preacher's (supposed) son.
Stanton Royce = Clayton Jones: As in the Steele/Crowe naming, both names consist of a two-syllable first name - accent on the first syllable - and one-syllable surname. In this case, both first names have seven letters, ending with ton, and both surnames have five letters.
Sonia = Sofie: This was the simplest of all. Both names are forms of "Sophia."
Margaret = Iris: I'm not sure I had anything in mind here. I may have run out of ideas! But I can see a remote connection: a woman named Margaret can be nicknamed "Daisy" - a flower name - because the French form of the name, Marguerite, is also the French word for "daisy."