Small Steps, Great Leaps
Part Six, Scene One
Margali ripped open the bulging envelope with a flick of her sharp, red nail and pulled out the neatly folded papers within. Her sharp features pinched in a dark scowl when her eyes fell on the stylized logo at the head of the cover letter. Jardine Enterprises.
Clenching her fists with a jangle of silver bracelets, the middle-aged woman ground her teeth in silent fury, her violet eyes burning as she read on.
So, he had done it. That ignorant, swaggering blunderbuss of a Texan had actually paid off the-
"Hey, Mom!"
Margali jumped, startled out of her dark thoughts as her foster son strode into the empty cafeteria and came up behind her, planting a kiss on top of the vibrant, purple kerchief she had tied over her slowly graying hair. Hastily, she folded up the letter and pressed it down flat before looking up at him with as genuine a smile as she could muster.
"Good morning, Kurt," she said lightly. "You're up early. They haven't even started cooking breakfast yet!"
"Yeah, well…" The nineteen-year-old averted his golden eyes, a deep purple flush rising in his fuzzy cheeks. Despite her smile, Kurt couldn't help the disturbing feeling that his foster mother could see right through him, deep into his most secret heart. But that was only his nerves talking. Intellectually, he knew Margali could no more read his mind than she could read the future. Just as in her fortune-telling act, the inscrutable look behind her eyes meant only as much as he read into it.
"Amanda's coming home from the University today," he spoke up suddenly, straightening his back as though this announcement had absolutely nothing to do with his earlier discomfort. "I wanted to meet her at the station."
Margali frowned.
"The train station?"
"That is where trains stop," Kurt pointed out.
His mother shot him a look.
Kurt just raised his eyebrows, letting his eyes do the pleading.
After a long moment, Margali looked away, shaking her head with a deep sigh.
"No," she said. "I'm sorry, Kurt, but I can't let you go."
Kurt's jaw dropped in protest.
"But, Mama, it's only five blocks away-"
"I need you here," she insisted. "Natasha is still having some trouble with her equestrian act and I was hoping you could give her a few pointers."
"Oh no," Kurt shook his head. "You're not going to suck me in with that old trick. Natasha and her horses are all just fine. I should know. I spent all day yesterday helping her with her flips!"
Margali grimaced.
"Then maybe it was Chester who wanted you. Let's go find him and ask if-"
"No, Mama," Kurt stated bluntly. "I'm going to the train station."
"Kurt, you don't know what you're asking. That station is sure to be packed with people-"
"I know how to handle a crowd," he interrupted. But Margali just went on as if she hadn't heard, rising to her feet as in an attempt to drive her point home.
"-people who won't know who or what you are! You have never seen what frightened people are truly capable of. I've protected you from that. But Kurt, if you leave here…anything could happen! I don't want to see you get hurt!"
Kurt's expression darkened, his tail lashing behind his ankles as he looked down into his foster mother's determined eyes.
"So…what then?" he snapped. "I'm supposed to stay cloistered up in this arena for fear of how a few ignorant people might react if they see me away from the circus? For how long, Mama? How long do you expect me to live like this?"
Margali sighed.
"Kurt, honey, you're angry now. I understand. But if you take the time to think-"
"No, you don't understand!" Kurt exploded, his frustration lighting his golden eyes from within. "You must really think I'm stupid if you don't believe I've considered what might happen if I step out those doors into the street. I think about it all the time! My appearance frightens people. OK! I know that better than anyone else! But that doesn't mean I want to hide from the world for the rest of my life!"
Margali pursed her lips.
"I'm not suggesting you hide from the world-" she started, but her foster son's look of wide-eyed incredulity made her close her mouth in shame.
"We've been traveling around Europe from city to city for five years now," Kurt stated bitterly, his rising exasperation lending a fierce heat to his words as he went on. "Five years! And in all that time I've only ever left the circus as part of a parade or for a publicity stunt in some public square or school auditorium. I've never been to a museum or a monument. I've never seen a play. I've never been allowed to go boating or swim at the beach or order a coffee at a café! And now you're telling me I can't even walk the five blocks to meet my sister at the train station!"
He glared, anger and hurt welling up behind his gleaming eyes.
"This is Hamburg, Mom, not some isolated little backwater town!" he shouted. "This is Germany! It's home! If I can't walk around here, where can I?"
Margali shook her head slowly, her expression distant as she reached up to touch her taller son's muscular shoulder.
"You are still so young," she said softly. "So naïve. You can't simply change how people think-"
"Don't tell me I'm naïve!" Kurt snapped, shrugging her off and taking a step back. "Stop trying to protect me! I'm nineteen years old, verdammt, and I know how to take care of myself!"
Margali head shot up at that, her violet eyes sharp with sudden vision.
"No, Kurt. I don't want you fighting!"
Kurt wrinkled up his face, thrown off by her seemingly random comment.
"Fighting? What are you talking about!"
Margali frowned slightly, suddenly looking uncertain.
"I…I'm not sure," she said, raising a hesitant hand to her temple. "I just got this image in my mind when you said that. It was so vivid… You were standing in a large, metal room beside a frightening little man with knives in his hands and a young woman with long, white hair…."
She shook her head, an odd shiver running up her spine.
"Never mind."
Kurt narrowed his eyes in confusion.
"Well, that's not what I meant," he said. "I don't even know how to fight! But I do know how to hide in plain sight, Mama. I've been doing it all my life. That's why I plan to wear my costume when I go to meet Amanda."
Margali frowned.
"Wouldn't that make you more conspicuous rather than less," she asked.
"Naturally," Kurt acknowledged. "Which is why it'll be so much easier for people to believe my…exotic good looks," he grinned, making a sweeping gesture with his tail, "are all a part of the show. If I tried to hide my face, on the other hand, and some nosy citizen happened to notice…well that would trample all over their limited expectations, now wouldn't it? And they'd be understandably suspicious of why I was hiding, possibly even to the point of violence. I think my way is much more fun."
Margali still looked uncertain, but Kurt could tell she was starting to soften. All she needed was one more push…
"Besides," he added with a coaxing smile. "It'll be free publicity! I'll take a few fliers along, so if anyone does start asking questions, I can just tell them I'm an acrobat with the circus and invite them to come see the show. It's the truth, after all. "
"You've given this a lot of thought haven't you," Margali said, the sharpness in her eyes melting into fondness mingled with a concern she knew would never truly fade.
Kurt nodded, fighting back another deep flush as he considered how long he'd been waiting for Amanda's return. He had imagined the scenario so many times he could watch it play out like a movie in his mind: himself waiting to greet her as she stepped off the train, her sweet surprise when she saw him there… Sometimes, she even kissed him.
"You could say that," he said with an uncomfortable shrug.
Margali smiled, making him duck his head slightly so she could kiss him on the forehead.
"Then go, my son," she said, catching his eyes with hers. "And be careful."
Kurt stared at her for a moment, his head cocked slightly as if to make sure he'd heard right. Then, he pulled her into a joyful embrace, an enormous grin erupting across his narrow features.
"I will, Mama!" he exclaimed happily. "Thank you! Thank you so much!"
"You can thank me by returning to me safe and whole," she said, breaking free of his tail and giving him a pat to start him off in the direction of the door. "Now get out of here and go meet your sister. You only have half an hour before her train is due to arrive."
"Never fear," Kurt proclaimed, gracing his foster mother with a distinctly cinematic bow. "And if, perchance, the worst does happen-although I am certain it will not-I can always make a quick escape with a subtle demonstration of Gypsy magic!"
Making a theatrical "throwing" gesture with his hand, as though he were tossing a handful of flash powder to the floor, Kurt winked at his foster mother and vanished from the room with a loud BAMF of swirling smoke.
Margali watched the dark smoke dissipate, her expression thoughtful as she sank slowly back into her chair and re-opened the letter. Kurt's parting words had given her an idea...
According to the note, Amos Jardine, the Texas oil baron who had just closed the deal adding the Munich Circus to his eclectic collection of franchises, was scheduled to make a tour of her circus later that week. It was his plan to take a more active role in determining what types of acts his subsidiaries would be allowed to perform-a plan Margali resented with every fiber of her being. Who was he to determine what was 'moral' and 'decent'? What gave him the right to even consider changing or censoring her acts?
Stuffing the foreboding letter back into its envelope, Margali rose to her feet and strode into the narrow hallway, heading for her temporary office. Perhaps a demonstration of Gypsy magic would be just what she needed convince that arrogant millionaire to keep his bloated paws off her circus. She only prayed she had the strength to carry out the plan forming in her mind…
To Be Continued...