The Schooner Bay Home for Indigent and Invalid Seamen

The Circus Comes to Town

Chapter 4:

The next day was warmer than usual for May, and Mrs. Muir was concerned that it would be stuffy inside of the circus tent that evening. It was cause for some worry, since the men of the Schooner Bay Home for Invalid and Indigent Seamen were older and some were not in the best of health. Still, they were looking forward so eagerly to attending the circus's first night, and she would not deny them.

Martha and Hannibal had prepared an early supper of sandwiches and salads and Carolyn made sure that everyone had plenty of cold water to drink. Captain Gregg, who usually was nowhere to be found when housekeeping chores needed to be done, graciously offered to clean up the kitchen while everyone went to change into their best summer clothes. Of course, all he needed to do was point a finger at the pile of plates and utensils to put them into the sink, and then with a flick of his wrist will them to be clean. Still, it was the thought that counted.

There was already a large crowd at the circus tent when their group arrived. Having a while to wait until they were allowed inside, the group from Gull Cottage wandered around the grounds. Several went to the refreshment stand. Carolyn was happy to see that most passed up the cotton candy and funnel cakes for popcorn and peanuts. Captain Gregg was seen talking with members of the Town Council and looking rather grim. Nate Douglas had been admiring the painted banners of the performers that lined the entry into the circus tent. They depicted the Ring Master, the Juggler, the trained animals, the arialists and the fire breather. While they certainly weren't great art, they more or less depicted these persons acurately. It was the last poster of the female fire breather, that captured Nate's attention. There was something in the woman's face that seemed familiar, although he couldn't put his finger on exactly what it was. Before he could probe the depths of his memory further, however, the circus tent's entry was flung open with great panache, and the crowd began to enter.

Their crew had front row seats, so that the men wouldn't have to strain to see and hear what was going on in the ring. Amy and Red Secor were sharing a bucket of popcorn while Martha and Hannibal were passing a bag of peanuts back and forth. The rest of the men were settled on their benches while Carolyn, seated above them, waited for the Captain. He approached with a frown on his face and seemed to sigh as he joined her.

"Is something wrong?" she asked.

"The Town Council asked me to attend the meeting they will hold tomorrow evening in regard to the purchase of the land just past Gull Cottage for another hotel. It had been my experience with the county that their bureaucracy will fall on the side of those with the most money, not with those that have the best interest of the community at heart." Daniel seemed to sigh again, close his eyes and shake his head.

"Something else is wrong, isn't there?" probed Carolyn.

"Nothing is 'wrong'. It is merely that it takes considerable energy to to maintain a solid expression of myself for so many people who want to shake my hand and put a hand on my shoulder. But my dear, I still have sufficient strength to hold your hand," at which he gently took Carolyn's small but strong hand, "and I always feel rejuvenated when I do."

The calliope at the back of the tent, which had been playing, stopped and the Ring Master stepped forward.

"Ladies and Gentlemen! Children! Welcome to the New England Excelsior Circus! I am your host and Ring Master, Charles Chamberlain. Tonight we are going to delight and astound you, make you laugh and make you gasp and leave you wantin to see the show again! We have clowns! We have Gregor, juggler extraordinaire! Enjoy Madam Fifi and her French Poodles, the Contini Flying Family of aerialists, Maria Poleska's Polish Stallions, Bruno and his wild animals and last, but certainly not least, Aida, The Egyptian Fire Breathing Princess!"

The crowd clapped heartedly. "Let the show begin!" shouted Chamberlain, and with a sweep of his hand, the juggler ran into the center of the ring, throwing and catching colored balls with nonchalance. Behind him, an array of clowns mimicked his movements, to the delight of the crowd. When Gregor caught all the flying balls and stopped to take a bow, the clowns advanced on him and kicked him in the bottom, sending him face-first into the sawdust. The juggler stood and with all the dignity left to him, swept his costume clean and then started to throw the balls at the clowns. They handidly caught them and threw them back, ending in a volley back and forth and the crowd clapping in delight.

Next was Madam Fifi whose little dogs danced, jumped through hoops and went up to members of the audience offering paws to shake. Next came the horses, two chestnut brown beauties whose coats gleamed and who's manes were braided and decorated as exotically as any woman's hair in the audience. Miss Poleska put them through their paces dancing and posing and then stood on their backs as they rode in tandem around the ring, first trotting and then galloping faster and faster until she dismounted by doing a back flip to the sawdust. Bruno took the center of the ring next, bringing out a dancing brown bear first. After dancing on two legs, the bear did a little polka on all fours and then stood up again the carry a small casket in its paws, prominently labelled "Honey". After the bear, Bruno brought out the elephant, who posed on a stand, turned and twisted to the same polka tune, took peanuts from the audience and then lifted Bruno onto his trunk.

The Contini Family climbed up to two platforms with swings, high above the circus ring. They swung back and forth in a variety of positions and then began to jump from one swing to another and into each othe's hands. The crowd clapped in amazement as the strong young men of this family of aerialists showed their daring. But then their sister, Claudia took to the high rope above them and walked and posed, delicately balanced. The audience held their breath, not merely because of the dangerousness of her act, but because she was wearing a costume that was only down to her knees! Then she sat down on the rope, tossed her balance poll to one of her brothers, while the rest ran underneath her with a net. With her hands on the rope, Claudia swung around it one, twice and then dismounted into the net. The response was a standing ovation while the Contini Family took their bows.

Chamberlain strode into the center of the ring again as the roustabouts disassembled the Contini's flying apparatus and unobtrusively swept up any deposits the animals had previously left. With a grandiloquent bow, the ring master once again addressed the audience; "Thank you for your appreciation. I'm sure you agree that the Contini Family is a most excellent addition to our New England Excelsior Circus – and why wouldn't they be? They came to us all the way from beautiful, exotic Venice in Italy. But now we have for you an even more exotic act, an extraordinary example of artistry, learned at the feet of Egyptian priests. Secrets passed down from the time of the Pharaohs! All the wonder and magnificence of the ancient civilization of the the Nile! Ladies, Gentlemen and children! I give you Aida, Egyptian Princess of Fire!"

Aida entered the arena twirling two firebrands. Although she wore a harem-type costume that showed a bit of her midriff as she moved, she was clearly not middle eastern. She was adorned with a belt around her waist with little brass bells and coins that tinkled and caught the light of the fires. High up on each of her arms was a brass bracelet in the shape of a snake and on her auburn hair was a brass circlet surmounted by a cobra in full attack position. If you looked closely, you could see that her eyes were blue.

The curve of her face and the angle of her cheeks was familiar to Nate, as were her long limbs. The hair color, the way she moved…the memory was clear now. Alma Monroe, not quite twenty years old, quietly scheming to avoid the life that her family had planned out for her.

Aida danced and gracefully tossed the firebrands, but Nate was not seeing her. He was remembering the young Alma there on the Boston docks. She had questioned him when he came down the gangplank of the passenger clipper he had been working on. She was looking for passage to Bermuda and wondered where the Aquebogue would be heading next. Before Nate knew what was happening, they had spent the day together, and then the night. Alma asked to meet him the next afternoon, a little while before the final preparations to cast off with the evening tide. He met her at a neat house in a better part of the city. He was surprised to see two men and a woman with Alma. The older of the two men held out his hand and greeted him. "A pleasure to meet you, Mr. Douglas. Well, now that the groom is here, we can get this wedding taken care of so that you and your new missus can make the tide."

Nate backed away from the group, his confusion mixing liberally with his anger. "Alma, what is this? Explain yourself!"

"Well, my dearest, didn't you propose to me last night? Didn't you say that you wanted me to join you on board you ship? Don't say that I misunderstood you, please don't say that. You know how much I love you, even if you had been drinking all evening!"

"I know no such thing! We only met yesterday. Are you a madwoman? Or…is it money your after?"

The Justice of the Peace (which is what the older man was and the other two people were the witnesses) stepped forward to intervene. Nate was becoming red in the face with anger and his fists clenched menacingly.

"Money? In a manner of speaking. You see, if I don't leave Boston, my father will have me married off to an old widower. He is wealthy, but he already has three grown children, and I don't want to live with an old man. I have no money of my own to get away, however. I thought that if I got married to you, even if I had to trick you into it, you could take me with you to wherever your ship was going and then get the marriage annulled when we arrived there. Please, won't you rescue me?" she pleaded tears forming in her eyes.

Nate reigned himself in. The angry, animalistic side of him wanted to slap Alma, but he knew that his position as Second Mate would be on the line if he did. Growling, he responded; "I never want to see your face again. You are a dishonest, lying piece of work. You will get what you deserve, but not from me." He turned to the three others in the room. "My apologies." He took a coin out of his pocket and handed it to the Justice of the Peace. "For your trouble. Good day!"

He returned to the Aquebogue and immersed himself in his work and gave no further thought to Alma Monroe until he came to the circus.

Aida had been throwing the firebrands back and forth and from hand to hand, and then blew the fires into longer and longer streams as she strutted around the ring. Finally she returned to the center and with a flourish, extinguished the firebrands in her mouth.

She had to be the daughter of Alma. She looked so much like her, there just couldn't be any other explanation.

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It took a while for everyone at Gull Cottage to settle down for the night after the excitement of the circus. Everyone, except Nate who kept to himself, was talking about the acts and going back again later in the week. Amy, who had never seen a circus before, was overwhelmed by the whole affair, especially the little dogs and the sparkly costumes. Finally, everyone had gone to their beds, and Daniel was waiting for Carolyn in her office bedroom. Sitting at the chair by her desk, he offered a glass of madeira.

"That was quite an event, wasn't it, M'dear?" he offered as they clinked glasses.

"It certainly was. I noticed that more than one of the men was quite interested in the ladies of the circus," she replied.

"Well, it is not every day that one gets a good view of a shapely ankle and generous calf!" Daniel's eyes twinkled. "But I did want to talk to you about the town council meeting. However, it is far to late to speak of it now. Perhaps in the morning, after you've had your breakfast and done your rounds?"

"Yes, I think that would be best." Carolyn put down her empty glass and stood. "Will you do your rounds now?"

"Yes, but I will be back to tuck you into bed, my darling," Daniel replied, winking at her. They both knew that the "tucking in" would involve kisses and perhaps more.