Hi there:)
I was wondering how Barnum would react when someone'd insult his family and...this is it.
I don't know if this is realistic but I'm really trying...maybe you could write a comment from time to time so I can see how you find this story.
I think it's going to be a whole story but we'll see.
Just for you to know:
I'm German (14 years old and NO Native-speaker) and I would love to improve my language-skills;)
So if you recognize any mistake tell me with a comment...I'm trying to learn;)
Anyway:
Comments would be great.
C u
*
Charity had never been called names.
She'd never given people the chance to do so because she was a proper lady, always dressed like the dress codes said, always kind and friendly and never -never!- noisy.
So why would anyone call her names now?!
But they did.
And it was horrible to know that all those shouted insults were meant for her.
It first happened after Phineas' circus had just become popular.
The show had just ended and Charity waited for Phineas at the entrance, both of her girls holding her hand.
Caroline hummed the melody of the title song in a sweet voice. She was going to become just like her mother. The same soft voice, the same passion for dancing, while Helen just was her father's daughter.
There sometimes was that sparkle in her eyes when she smiled, the sparkle that reminded Charity of her husband. And Helen was stubborn and loud...always full of joy...Just like Phineas.
"How did you find the new acts?"
Charity turned around and smiled at her husband, "Great, dear. I loved the beginning."
She took Phin's hand and together with their girls they left the main tent.
Charity felt how Phin squeezed her hand, the warmth coming from his body surrounded her and made her feel comfortable.
"And what about you, little parrots?", Phin asked Caroline and Helen and kissed them both on the nose tip.
He let them dance around him and Charity and heard them laughing, all of his beautiful girls.
Maybe it wouldn't have happened after all if they'd just went home without visiting the elephants.
But the girls begged and begged and when Helen's lips began to tremble, Phineas agreed.
The elephants lived in a darker part of the cages, behind the second tent and next to the Lions.
Caroline and Helen were used to the dark so they weren't afraid of the big shadows from the animals.
And while both girls began to play with the little elephant, Charity stepped closer to her husband.
"You know", she began, "I think you should let Phillip perform a little more. He always just steps in at the end and...well the people are getting used to it."
Phineas didn't answer. He just looked right in her eyes, a serious look on his face.
He always looked at her with a serious curiosity when she told him her ideas to get the show a little better.
And almost every time he took them into the show.
The fire artists, the lions, and almost every trapeze-act had been her idea.
So Phin listened to her words.
"'Never let the people getting used to something. They'll be bored.' That's what you tell me.", Charity said, "So let him run the show sometimes. Or let him write some of the acts. He's a writer."
He nodded.
Their hands were intertwined and Phin gently ran his thumb over the back of her hand.
"You know what he'd just told me a little about a week ago?", he said with a mischievous grin, "He said he admires our story that much that he wants to set it on paper."
Charity couldn't help but smile back, "Really? Well, it's worth admiring it indeed."
She leaned in and kissed him gently, hearing their girls giggling at the sight.
It could've been a great, joyful evening. But it wasn't.
"Look!"
Charity shrieked and turned around.
Two men, a little bit smaller than Phineas but although more thickset than him, stepped closer.
They clearly were drunk.
"Look.", one of them laughed, "What we've just' found."
Charity felt how Phin squeezed her hand and pulled her behind him so his body would protect her if it was going to be necessary.
She saw Caroline and Helen in the corner of her eyes, taking Phineas hand.
"Some freaking assholes."
Phineas coughed, "This isn't your property. I really want you to leave."
But the men wouldn't hear anyway.
They staggered closer and Charity could smell the whiskey every time they breathed out.
"How could ya think anywhere was your place?!", the man asked, "You're freaks. Nothing's your property!"
They laughed at each other.
"The girls all are little whores.", one man said, "First I thought that little black Trapezegirl would be the worst with her slutty pink wig and that short costume of hers."
He stepped even closer.
Charity felt her heart pounding faster almost banging against her ribs.
"But I'm wrong.", he whispered, "It's the stupid one. The one that had left success, money, and renown behind to get fucked by a poor tailorboy."
She didn't want her girls to hear anyone talking like that. She didn't want people to think about her like that...
She didn't want to hear anything of that shit.
"Stop talking like that about my wife.", Phineas mumbled.
"She's a slut! I'm talking to little sluts just the way I want to."
He'd gone too far. Much too far.
Charity knew it the moment Phin let go of her hand.
"Another word about her and you're going to find yourself in the hospital for a couple of months.", he whispered angrily and Charity felt her throat tighten up.
"Phineas...", she began but one of the men interrupted.
"You won't talk until we ask you to, fucked-up bitch!"
Charity couldn't remember what had happened next when she was interviewed by one of the police officers.
She just remembered the screams from her daughters and the moaning and groaning from Phineas.
She couldn't remember screaming herself, but her sore throat told her the truth.
Caroline and Helen grabbed her skirt and buried their faces in the soft cloth while screaming.
She still heard the cracks of broken bones, the noises of two bodies crashing into one another.
Phin had been arrested the same evening.
Just to prove his innocence and to get him the chance, to tell the truth.
Well that was what the policeman told Charity but she knew he was lying.
They arrested her husband because he'd done something wrong. Because he'd lost control over himself.
*
And from this day on Charity Barnum was called names.
When she picked up the girls from school she saw the other mothers whispering behind their hands. When she went to the city center to go shopping all the women and men with little children stood still when they saw her and turned around just to see her walking down the street.
But the worst was how the other girls treated her daughters.
They stopped talking to them, playing with them...being with them.
It was bad for Helen to be alone in class when even the teacher gossiped about her father.
But it was even worse for Caroline.
She'd just made some friends at the ballet school. And now these 'friends' just literally kicked her ass for being her father's daughter.
They weren't called names, Caroline and Helen. Just 'the poor Barnum-daughters'.
But Charity would always be 'the stupid, helpless Hallet that had fallen for Liar-Barnum'.
And it made her feel sick.
How all the other women -even the ones that had gone through the same shit- put her down to a level no one should ever be put on.