Disclaimer, you know.
The following months did seem to fly right on by, every now and again dorothy and alex would have their little late night chats over the radio, and sometimes during the day she'd call the farmhouse herself to talk to her aunt, uncle, or Aislynn. However tonight was the night of the carnival, a crisp, warm, early summer evening.
"dorothy come on, don't lag behind!" Lorretta shouted as they walked along.
Dorothy had brought a fair amount of her money she had with her in a little purse that her aunt Melinda had bought her. she smiled and ran to catch up with her cousin and friends. When they got there, the first thing they did, apart from getting some ride tickets, was get some food, they went to Lorretta's mother's stand and got some sourdough.
"I heard from a rather reliable source that there's a band from Kansas playing tonight, are you going to stay and listen?" Mrs. Martin asked.
"oh, I'm going to make the best of it, so yes." Dorothy said.
However, little did dorothy know that the surprise alex had mentioned a few months previous, was the band. however, in a motel not far from the carnival, alex was staring out the window. Madeline had gone ahead along with jack, Morris, and ellie to get the Instruments ready, so right now it was just him and Mr. foreman
"she doesn't know." Alex said.
"beg pardon?" Jon asked
"she doesn't know we're here, doesn't suspect a thing." alex said.
"that's the point, isn't it? to surprise her?" he asked
Alex smiled and looked at his reflection in the window. his disguise so that dorothy didn't recognize them right off, was a hat with a fake beard attached to it, wearing it, he looked un recognizable, though he would be the one singing while Madeline and jack did backup vocals. Their reveal would come last of all, which he hoped would be a good enough surprise for dorothy.
"it feels kinda wrong to be doing this, and I feel rather guilty keeping this a secret from her." alex said.
"lucky it is then, that we arrived yesterday, and not sooner." Jon said walking over.
"I guess, I mean, you can see her over there, by the bread stand, see?" alex said.
"oh, it's been years since I had a loaf of California sourdough." Jon said.
"is it any good?" alex asked
"I'd say it is, but as a doctor, I know taste is a matter of opinion." He replied.
"Right, fair point, at any rate, she seems to enjoy it by the looks of it." Alex said.
In the distance, because of how close the motel was from the carnival, he could see dorothy sitting at a small table with Zeb, joe, and Lorretta. People whom he didn't know or recognize, and they all seemed to be enjoying it.
"okay so the instruments are set up for tonight's performance." Madeline said appearing in the room
"okay so first number, will be the hint, second number will be the reveal, right?" Alex asked.
"Yep." Madeline said removing her hat and placing it on a nearby dresser.
"isn't a bit coincidental that this motel even has a room that can fit all of us?" alex asked.
"This is the best small town motel in California, when I decided to travel, I came here on numerous occasions." Jon said.
"I see." Was Alex's response
When the group had finished they're loaves of sourdough, zeb made a bet with Loretta and joe that he could last five rounds on the ride known as the tilt-a-whirl. Dorothy immediately knew this wasn't going to end well for him.
"Well?" zeb asked.
"deal." They both said.
"zeb, you're going to get incredibly sick from this." Dorothy said just in time for him to run off.
"we know, the guy who runs it is big john, normally gives him a bag of candied ginger after wards, last year he tried three rounds, now he's just showing off." Lorretta said.
"I have a friend, who uses candied ginger for nausea as well." Dorothy said.
"well it not exactly an unknown concept, using ginger for nausea, my uncle once told me they sometimes give it to sailors to fight seasickness." Joe said.
"I see, hey isn't that Charlie at the face painting booth?" Dorothy asked.
"oh yea, he and his mother do the greatest at it, while his father and little sister run the sandwich stand." Lorretta said.
"I see, and now he's watching the tilt-a-whirl..." dorothy said
"yep…" Was all they could say.
They watched, for several minutes as the large machine started, spinning and titling with the seats spinning in the opposite direction. Just looking at it made Dorothy's stomach churn to the point where she had to go find a table to sit down.
"Hey miss, wanna try your luck?" came the voice of a carnival barker.
Dorothy looked around and saw a man standing next to three platforms of milk bottles stacked in a triangle on each. The prizes were large stuffed animals,
"Perhaps later, I'm a little, ill." She said, managing to burp out the last part.
Her uncle had taught her that those carnival games were rigged, but she had learned a few tricks, like throwing a good enough curve ball at a stack of bottles or in some cases blocks, was normally enough to get the stuff off the platform.
"Well I'll be here all day miss, with a wide variety of prizes." The barker said.
Dorothy sighed and took several deep breaths before getting up and walking back to joe and Lorretta.
"Three times now." Lorretta said.
"you look rather pale dorothy are you alright?" Joe asked.
"yea…just looking at that ride and thinking about zeb getting sick on it…makes me feel a tad ill." Dorothy said.
"tends to have that effect on people." Lorretta said walking away.
She returned moments later with a bottle of water which she handed to dorothy.
"you know, your uncle bill will be doing the hayrides tonight." Lorretta said.
"I know, he had to call the doctor and get approved this morning." Dorothy replied.
After a few more minutes and Zeb's last two rounds on the ride, he got up and dizzily walked over to them.
"w-w-ell, I-it d-d-definitely seems worse t-than last year." He managed to stutter out before big john came over and handed him a wax paper bag.
Big john was as big as his name implied, he was probably around 6 and a half feet tall. He was nicely tanned, he wore a large hat that covered his shaved head. he wore a black shirt and blue jeans, and on his feet, were a rough pair of boots. His eyes were a piercing green color that seemed to look right through you. He was the kind of man you probably wouldn't want to meet in a dark alley way, or get on the bad side of. He looked like he could take out a fully-grown bull with one punch.
"You gonna go for ten next year?" he asked in a low pitched gravelly voice.
"m-maybe." He said taking a piece of ginger from the bag and eating it.
"thanks, big john, we can take him from here." Lorretta said.
He nodded and walked back to the ride.
The rest of the evening was spent with them daring each other to go on rides. Dorothy got sick the most not being used to going to carnivals on any basis, as she had only been to three others in her life time. As the sky darkened and stars appeared however dorothy decided to get her face painted with simple cat whiskers and a little pink dot on the tip of her nose. Lorretta borrowed her mother's camera and snapped a photo.
However back stage, alex was rather nervous.
"This isn't your first performance in front of an audience." Madeline said.
"I know, I'm just worried dorothy will see right through our disguises, I mean you basically just put your makeup back on, and jack put on a mustache, and ellie, she's wearing a wig, and Morris doesn't even have a disguise, which I guess makes enough sense." Alex said.
"and I can easily be taken for any casual elderly person." Jon said.
"I get a fake beard and a hat that looks like something napoleon would wear." Alex said.
"don't worry, my introduction should throw her off the trail at first, but when the smoke machine goes off just flick your head back and the disguise should fly off." Madeline said.
Alex shook his head and sighed. He hoped this would work.
However back down at the carnival dorothy approached the barker who had called her earlier. She saw that he now had a rather large stuffed wolf up on display.
"I see you're admiring the stuffed wolf, the stakes for that prize is the same every year, if you can knock down each set of bottles from each platform in one shot, you win it, no one has, as of yet." The man said.
"I'll do it." dorothy said giving the man a five-dollar bill.
The man nodded and gave her a baseball. Tossing it in her hand she looked at the platforms.
"does it matter what order?" she asked.
"not particularly, last year I had a man literally stand there and write the math down on a little notepad, he still didn't do it." The man said.
Dorothy sighed and took aim for the one on the far left. And almost on auto pilot, she threw perfect curveball and it knocked all the bottles off the platform.
"wow." She heard someone say behind her.
The man tossed her another baseball. Dorothy took aim at the one on the far right this time.
"in case I miss, could you move over a bit?" dorothy asked.
The man nodded and took a step farther to the right. She wound back and as if on auto pilot once more did another curveball and took out all the bottles once more.
"Hey I think she might actually do it!" came another voice from behind.
"that would be a first!" came a woman's voice
"you're not from around here are you little lady?" the barker asked.
"Kansas, born and raised." Dorothy said as she was tossed the last ball.
She smiled and wound up again, throwing another curveball and once more taking out the bottles. She was met with applause.
"so, that will be the stuffed wolf…you know, I'm glad to get rid of this thing, wolves, kinda freak me out." He said taking it off the hook and handing it to her.
She smiled and thanked the man for her time. She was glad her uncle had taught her that trick. She then went to go find Lorretta, joe, and zeb. They had found a picnic table relatively close to the stage. As a man came out from behind the curtains with a microphone.
"ladies and gentlemen, I would like to inform you that the band from Kansas, what an original name, will be playing in five minute's time." The man said.
"Hey, I'm going to get some more sourdough any of you want some?" Lorretta asked.
Dorothy nodded and gave her some money for it. she returned just in time for the announcer to come out.
"Ladies and gentleman, I am proud to introduce, the band from Kansas." The man said.
When the curtains parted dorothy was met with a familiar looking bunch. The drummer however caught her eyes as he seemed to be staring down into the audience, there was an old man to his left who was ready at a keyboard, and a familiar looking man with a guitar to his right. A girl in the group however walked up to a microphone and spoke.
"ahem, yes, well this is our first performance, I hope you all enjoy." She said in a familiar sounding voice.
I moment later they started counting the rhythm. And started what seemed to be a smooth jazz number.
Got to get you into my life
Madeline and jack
Got to get you into my life
into my life
Got to get you into my life
into my life
Got to get you into my life
Into my life
Alex
I was alone
I took ride, didn't know
what I would find there
Another road
where maybe I could see
another mind there
Oo, then I suddenly see you
Oo, did I tell you I need you
every single day
of my life, yea
You didn't run, you didn't lie
you knew I want to hold you
and had you gone, you knew in time
we'd meet again, for I had told you
Oo, you were meant to be near me
Oo, I want you to hear me
say we'll be together every day.
At that moment, the drummer broke off into a duet with the keyboardist. Dorothy was sure there was something up she could feel it. she knew the voices sounded familiar but her mind was trying to push it back. Then the singing started again.
Madeline and jack
Got to get you into my life
Got to get you in, got to get you in to my life
Into my life
Alex
Ooo, then I suddenly see you
ooh, did I tell you I need you
every single day
Of my life
All
Got to get you into my life,
into my life
got to get you in
Got to get you into my life
in to my life
Got to get you into my life
into my life
Into my life
And with that the music ended and there was a thundering applause. Dorothy stood up and clapped, though at the same time, she still had a feelin that something was up.
song, got to get you into my life, by the beatles.
