Chapter four is gonna go by a little fast, but it's longer than the rest!
CHAPTER FOUR:
MARGARET'S FIRST SHOW
Day 1.
That night, Jimbo put Margaret in with the Fat Lady. She was, indeed, fat, and she took up more than half the bed where Margaret slept. She was engulfed in hot, saggy, smelly flesh, and what was worst, she didn't think the fat lady had bathed in awhile. She was suffocating, and eventually she got down on the floor of the train car she was in and slept there on the hard, cold floor. The fat lady gave a deafening snore and Margaret was disgusted. It was like sleeping with her grandmother, who was almost as huge and just as smelly.
Outside, a donkey brayed and Margaret shivered. This was like camping, not that she had ever been, and she didn't like the unfamiliar feeling of not knowing where she was. But that was preposterous! She was still in town! She was just sleeping…somewhere else, that was all.
On the bed, the fat lady gave another huge snort, and Margaret made a face; it definitely wasn't her favorite person to bed with.
Why couldn't she have been with the bearded lady instead?
Day 2.
The next morning found Margaret in the donkey pen, giving them new hay and cleaning their fecal matter with a wet shovel that she kept dipping in a bucket of hot water. She'd been given a simple, knee-length calico dress that she didn't like; it was too old fashioned. Plus it showed her pudgy, stunted legs. She knew this was the show's way of "welcoming her into the fold", and she didn't appreciate it. But what could she do? She was only three feet tall, and what was worst, the tall man kept eyeing her whenever they were alone together. She tried to stick with the other performers as much as possible.
She was due to start her first show in the next town over. She'd made a deal with Jimbo last night, not to go onstage until she was out of her hometown. In this town, everyone knew that Margaret Shelburne, and if they saw her, they were bound to tell her mother.
So here she was, cleaning up after the animals. So far, the circus wasn't what she thought it would be.
Day 3. Margaret's still with the fat lady
Day three, and tomorrow the show would be leaving. At last, Margaret would get her first show, and with it, acceptance.
She was again cleaning up after the donkeys, and next it was the ponies, yet again. After that, though, she had to feed the pigeon, and her back was killing her. Last night the fat lady had rolled over on her, crushing her, and only after she bit her was she able to wriggle out from under the enormous woman, and she had not been happy.
It was the "bloody pigeon" Jimbo had been yelling about the first night. As far as she knew, they tied long, red feathers to its tail and head and called it a Phoenix.
Sighing, she dumped the last heap of crap into the disposal trough outside and headed to the supply car to dump the pope-scraping equipment and get the pony equipment, which was just a bunch of brushes, combs, ribbons and bridles.
She let herself into the pony pen and approached the first one, her favorite, a snowy white male named Clown. He nuzzled her as she grew near, and she slipped him some feed out of a pocket in her skirt and began grooming him for the next act. Helping her was the bearded woman, who at the moment had no beard. She really did have a beard, too, and it grew faster than a man's. Her hair was bright orange red and her beard was blonde. She wore a bathrobe over her bright red costume, for it was slashed very artistically. She was somewhat of a whore, as far as Margaret could figure out. She was helping her groom the animals, and all Margaret cared about was finishing her duties for the day so she could take a rest without the fat lady.
"I'll take Calico for ya, hon." She said. Despite her whory-ness, she went out of her way to be nice to Margaret, a thing which she appreciated very much.
"That would be nice, thank you. I'll get Bozo for you, then. He likes me." She replied, tying red and yellow ribbons into the mane of a coal black pony with a white front hoof. On his head was a plumed red feather.
"Oh, thanks, Maggie. You're such a dear." Said the bearded woman, whose name was Clarice. Margaret hated being called Maggie but she tolerated it. At least she was being spoken to at all.
Margaret soon finished with her portion of the ponies and Clarice was just finishing up as well. Margaret thanked her again and headed off to get the bloody pigeon, which was making a racket. It didn't have a name, and its feathers were dyed a bright red color. Margaret frowned when she saw it; it didn't look like any pigeon. Its eyes were red, too, and it creeped her out. She threw some feed into the cage and applied its feather headdresses to it and left.
Climbing into the bed she shared with the fat lady, she sighed and gazed longingly out at the stars. Yes, life in the circus would be grand. As soon as they left town, all would be just as she imagined it, and more. Thus thinking, she closed her eyes and fell asleep.