After the show I was helping Eve put away chairs when the man and the older woman from the audience came up to Miss Elsa.
"Hello I am Gloria Mott and this is my son Dandy. We want to know how much the Siamese twins are for, we want to buy them." Speaking in causal tone.
Eve and I stopped our worked to watch this bizarre scene unfold.
"Is she serious?" Whispering dumbfounded.
"If she is then she's crazy honey." Eve glared at the women and her son.
"My monsters aren't prostitutes." Miss Elsa sternly told Mrs. Mott's.
"You misunderstand we don't want to buy anyone for the night. We want to buy them, period. Five thousand." Casually explaining, as if there was nothing wrong in buying another human being!
"For one maybe, but there are two beauties here." Miss Elsa toyed with her.
"Okay ten thousand." Dandy replied.
Glancing at Jimmy our eyes met and he shook his head. In response I rolled my eyes. We silently agreed that this woman and her son standing in our presence must must have something wrong with them if they couldn't take a hint that they weren't going to get Dot and Bette.
"Have you any idea what kind of box office they'll bring in over the next year? They're my headliners, let's ask them. Do you think ten thousand is a fair price for you?" Elsa turned around asking Bette and Dot.
"Fifteen thousand and not one penny more. Unless she grows another head." Mrs. Mott's laughed with her son at the apparently hilarious joke.
Finally Dot spoke up, "We're staying right here."
"This is our home." Bette smiled at everyone.
Elsa's mouth spread into a grin, "Darlings that's just what I wanted to hear. I knew it, one night in the spotlight and you've got the bug You're one of us. You see, we are a troupe of entertainers. A family, and you will not split up our family." Firmly giving Mrs. Mott's the final answer she did not want to hear.
Dandy and his mother appeared irritated at not getting their way, "Come Dandy I need a long, hot bath but I fear nothing will wash away the ghastly memory of that infernal caterwauling. By far the most freakish thing of all tonight was your pathetic attempt at singing."
Glancing at Miss Elsa's face I could see the harsh sting Mrs. Mott had caused before it passed over her face and buried into her soul.
"That was very rude and I believe you owe Miss Elsa an apology!" The words were out of my mouth before I could even control myself or my heated tone of voice.
Suddenly everyone was staring at me.
Dandy and his mother glared at me in distaste, "My dear when you have as much power and money as I do. You do not apologize for anything." With that she turned around with her son in tow and left the tent.
"Kvaila karvė." Speaking in bitter Lithuanian after she had left.
Miss Elsa walked over to me, "Thank you liebe for standing up for me."
"People like them are ignorant because they think they own the world but all they own is the malice within in their hearts." Huffing out breath remembering almost every Jew hater I had ever met.
Miss Elsa smiled, "Well family sticks up for family, you are doing a good job of becoming apart of ours."
A soft smile reached my face. Family...I had not truly experienced that in a long time.
I tried and willed the sleep to come but it was not working. Rarely did I ever get a decent nights sleep; After the War I learned to adjust to my erratic sleeping habits, sometimes it was insomnia other times it was dark nightmares that kept me awake.
The ghostly faces. The barracks. My momma and papa drifting in and out of my mind. The endless torture and murder that never seemed to end. This is what haunted my dreams. The dead have a special way of never leaving you, even when you desperately want them too.
Letting out a groan I flung my blanket back and sat up. Knowing I would not be sleeping anytime soon I grabbed a cardigan to cover my nightgown, preceded to grab a pen and my writing pad and sat upon my steps to write.
The full moon provided ampule lighting as I set to the task of writing my letter.
My Dear Eliezer,
I am writing to you from a place known as Jupiter, Florida. The place known as my new home, for however long that may be. It has been a long day filled with travel and...unexpected and surprising meetings. So much can happen in just one day but then you and I already know that.
Let me start by telling you that right away I have found employment, but please bear with me when I tell you the details. I am working for a woman named Elsa Mars, who runs "Fräulein Elsa's Cabinet of Curiosities". Basically it is a traveling troupe, or carnival of sideshow performers or "freaks", as the world commonly calls them. Yes, not only am I working for a German but I am dealing with extraordinary people though I prefer to not call them freaks for the word is too harsh and negative.
My employer seems to be nice enough because she gave me the job but then again I have only known her for one day...
But hopefully I will become apart of these people's lives because in our cases it is never bad to have too many friends who become family.
Eliezer there are so many incredible people I have meet in the troupe with extraordinary abilities, like Eve-she is known as 'The World's Tallest Woman.' Or Ma Petite-'The World's Smallest Woman', she is adorable. I want to carry her smile with me everywhere. There is Ethel, the 'Bearded Lady', and let me tell you she could give some of the Orthodox men we know a run for their money when it comes to facial hair!
There is Jimmy, the 'Lobster Boy' because his hands are fused together and they look like claws. Dot and Bette, the pair of Siamese Twins. My jaw almost hit the floor when I saw them for the first time.
Then there is Paul...he is known as 'Paul the Illustrated Seal' because he arms seemed to have stopped developing at some point and they give off the impression of seal limbs. He is also tattooed up to his chin in grey ink to mimic the kind of fur seals have. It is wonderfully strange and amusing, and he is quite handsome...
Yet even after meeting everyone there is a voice in the back of my head reminding me that all of these people would have been killed directly and immediately at the camps. If they even would have made it to the camps. All because on the outside they appear different. Hitler himself would have had a personal field day with everyone I have met here.
It is funny. I wanted to forget and get away from the cruelness of what the world can do, but I end up in a place where innocents are harassed and ostracized for just being themselves. The irony is not lost on me I assure you.
"Hey." A voice sounded startling me knocking my pad to the ground. Jimmy bent and retrieved my pad for me.
"Thank you." I said to him with a smile and he nodded.
"Can't sleep?" He asked me.
Shaking my head, "No I do not sleep as well as I used too. Getting a good nights sleep is a rare gift for me." Responding to his question.
Jimmy nodded again and a awkward silence began to approach on us.
"Why'd you stick up for Elsa like that?" Jimmy asked me. I guess that had been nagging at his mind.
"Because it was the right thing to do." Simply responding to the question.
Even though Jimmy didn't even know me for a full day I could tell he was baffled by me. I was puzzle for him to figure out, trying to figure out why I was really here and what my aim was.
But if I did not have anymore slip ups like I did earlier with Paul then he would never truly know and that would be for the best. I did not want to be pitied or gawked at because of what had happened to me.
I did not need people staring at my tattoo and that being the only thing they ever saw.
"Anyway thanks for doing it. It was cool for you to do it." He told me.
Before I could respond my head shot up.
"Do you hear that?" I stood up and asked him.
"Hear what?" Jimmy questioned.
"Listen." Instructing him as I tried to find the source of the noise. When you spend years having to figure out how to be painstakingly quiet for many reasons you gain valuable hearing skills.
Descending the stairs I followed the trace of the noise, "Follow me."
Jimmy was at my side in an instant as I navigated the camp.
"There, the shadows in that tent. It looks like a figure-a man maybe is standing over something or someone." Stopping him to point at a nearby tent where I was sure the noise was coming from.
He turned to me, "That's Bette and Dot's tent."
For a split second we stared straight at each other before taking off into a run to the tent.
We heard Bette before we saw her, "No, no get away. Get away, get away! No, get away, get away, get away!" Frantically yelling.
Jimmy and I burst through the tent curtain to find a heavyset man standing over the twins. I ran to Dot and Bette kneeling beside them as I grasped Bette's hand in mine giving her and Dot some comfort as I glared up at the intruder.
The man backed off a bit to face Jimmy and when he did I saw his badge. What would a policeman be doing here in the middle of the night like this?
"What's going on here?" Jimmy questioned the man.
"I gotta thank you. That sign you freaks put up helped me find my two main suspects. Bette and Dot Tattler, you're under arrest for murder." The policemen stepped forward yanking Bette's hand from mine as he put handcuffs on them.
"That hurts. It's too tight." Bette whimpered out in pain.
Murder? Is he talking about the murders in town Paul told me about earlier today?
"Now just hold on a second, Detective. Bette and Dot are victims too, they were stabbed themselves." Jimmy defended the twins.
"Yes how could you possibly believe they murdered anyone?" Speaking to him as I stayed close to Dot and Bette.
"Is that why they ran from the hospital? Their mother died days before they were attacked, and there was no sign of any forced entry at the house. Way I see it, they murdered their mother, and then they tried to cover it up. Wouldn't surprise me if they were involved with the killing at the lake and the Bachman murder." The Detective told us his theory in an arrogant manner that I did not welcome.
"Lies. You're telling lies!" Dot started yelling at the Detective. I put my hand on her shoulder to calm her down and quiet her.
"So that's it? Case closed?" Jimmy spat out.
"Look at 'em. They're monsters. Jury's gonna have no problem seeing that." The Detective scoffed at Dot and Bette.
Jimmy seethed, "Don't call them monsters."
"I call a spade a spade. Now, you should get out of my way." He warned.
"I can't let you take them." Jimmy whistled and in less than a minute Paul, Eve and Suzi appeared in the tent backing up Jimmy.
"And who's gonna stop me? You and your miscreants? Come tomorrow morning, my boys are gonna come over here and run you out of town. There is no place in Jupiter for freaks." I saw him start to pull his gun out of his holder. This was going to end very badly if I didn't act.
"Don't call us freaks!" Jimmy roared at him. I had to pacify him before he did something irrationally awful. Moving away from Bette and Dot I placed my hand on Jimmy's shoulder cautiously standing between him and the Detective.
"Do you have a warrant for their arrest?" I questioned him as calmly as I could.
"Excuse me?" He replied clearly annoyed.
"Do. You. Have. A. Warrant?" Questioning again irritated.
The Detective paused and stared at me for a long moment, "Who the hell are you?"
"Madalina Lekeman, and you sir are not answering my question. By avoiding the answer you are leading me to believe that you do not have a warrant for Bette and Dot's arrest." Knowing I was right.
He tried speaking again but I held my hand up to silence him, "No I think you have done enough talking for one night sir. Now it is time for someone else to speak their mind. My thinking is you know in your conscious that Dot and Bette did not kill those innocent people but you are pinning them for the crimes because they are an easy target. A scapegoat for your police department problems, which you know is not right but you do not care anyway. Let me ask you this, what if you take Bette and Dot right now but another horrendous murder happens? Then who will you blame? Someone else here perhaps?"
The Detective was stuttering trying to formulate an answer but I was not going to let him try to talk, "Dot and Bette did not 'run' from the hospital they were tired of being stared at and wanted solitude, solitude that Miss Elsa has provided them. If they did 'run' maybe they knew no matter what they would be suspected for these murders because of simple fact that they are different. Is there any evidence that they killed their mother? What possible intent could they have to kill the one person who took care of them?" Who loved them?" Trying to pile on sympathy for their dead mother.
Frankly I did not know if Dot and Bette killed their mother but if they did that was their sin to deal with and it was not my place to ask. I was just trying to keep them out of jail.
"Now sir, if you do not have a warrant for these girls arrest, which I know you do not. I suggest that you kindly leave the premises before something happens that you or one of the performers will regret. If you ever come back I suggest you only come back to see the show and that is it." Squaring my shoulders sternly telling him.
Almost a minute passed before the Detective huffed out a breath, turned around and left the tent.
A shaky breath escaped my mouth as soon as he left. The tension gone, the trouble gone for now. At least I had managed to save Dot, Bette and the Detective.
I turned around to face Jimmy, "I know that emotions get out of hand when people persecute the ones you care about, but murder in rage is never the answer. Trust me, killing the opposer does not do much for your soul in the end."
Suddenly feeling exhausted I walked past him, all of them and out of the tent.