Margaret sighed wearily and finished brushing the donkey's fur. She had been with the circus now for two months and she didn't like it at all, not at all. It was nothing like what she had imagined it would be.

First off, the crowd never accepted her for what she was. They catcalled, jeered, called her names and threw food at her. They hurt her feelings and twice she had run offstage to her trailer and cried herself to sleep. The second time, Jimbo had come in and hit her, calling her a lazy slut. She sniffed at the memory. She didn't think she was a slut.

Second, the other freaks all laughed at her too. Only the bearded lady seemed to have a nice word for Margaret Shelburne, the Dwarfette.

Thirdly, Jimbo was not a nice man. It seemed she should have listened to the words of that kind fellow at the gates, she thought.

Fourth and last, Jimbo had come into her car one day and given her a meager fifty cents. The other performers got a dollar, but she only got fifty cents. She could feed herself for a week on that, but after that she would be broke. She sighed again and headed off to the carnival grounds restroom to relieve herself.

When she returned to the donkey pen, she saw that someone had accidentally dumped the tray of dung on the floor. Sighing yet again, she got a broom and a dist bin and began cleaning it up. It figured.

The next thing she knew, she was being pinned to the floor by one enormous bony knee and her dress was being ripped forcibly off. She screamed out for help, but sadly, no one came. Then she felt a gag in her mouth.

"Hush, girl, I just wanna be sweet to you, it'll be over soon " Said a rough voice in her ear. She had no trouble recognizing that voice. It was the tall man.

Margaret closed her eyes tight and hoped against hope that she came out of this alive.

When it was over and Margaret was left bleeding and hurt on the ground, someone came in, finally, and saw her. It was the bearded lady.

"Oh my god, what happened to you?" she exclaimed, taking her bathrobe off to spread over the poor woman, but Margaret saw an odd gleam in Clarice's eyes that she didn't much like.

It looked like Clarice was enjoying this.

Two months later

Two months later found Margaret in a bad way. Her belly had ballooned to twice its normal size after her rape by the tall man, and she was, without a doubt, pregnant.

There was no way the other circus performers could not notice it. Jimbo was furious that she had not stood up for herself, or at least called out for help, and how dare she cause this kind of trouble on purpose, did she hate him that much? Margaret hardly dared tell him that she had called out for help. It wouldn't have done any good anyway.

Because of her condition, Margaret was given her own train car, so at least she was finally free of that snoring behemoth, the fat lady. It was cold because there was a broken window in it, but at least it was her own. She fingered her swollen belly. She wanted this child. It had hurt a lot to get it, and she had had no say in the matter, but her feelings were complicated. She had always like children, perhaps because she was so much like one herself, and she wanted this one. It would be hers and hers alone.

Hers to spoil.

Hers to coddle.

It would be her child and she could love it forever and ever.