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Paul showed me eating/cooking area and it was there I met another performer.
"This is Meep." Paul said to the man who looked more like a child in his…unique bird? I guess you could call it that, costume.
The man-bird child called Meep grinned widely, "Meep."
"Nice to meet you Meep." Extending my hand but he didn't shake it. Instead he jumped up and down calling out "Meep!"
Turning to Paul I asked, "Is that all he knows how to say?"
"That's all he ever says." He shook his head as he led me away while I waved a friendly goodbye to Meep.
"What is his talent?" Inquiring curious as to what Meep could do.
"Meep, uh well he is a simple lad as you can tell." Paul paused, "His act is um biting the heads off small animals."
My eyes widened as a gasp escaped my lips, "That's barbaric!" Exclaiming at the horrific nature of the act.
Paul rubbed his hands on his stomach, "Well he doesn't know it's barbaric but it's what makes him a freak. He doesn't know anything else." Telling me as we walked on.
"Do you call each other freaks?" Asking him.
He nodded, "It's alright if we call each other that, but when other people do it…we aren't too happy. Places like this are the only way we've ever known."
I nodded trying to understand their way of life, "It is such a negative word." Contemplating the word and it's different meanings to the user.
Paul gave me a small smile, "Other people don't seem to realize that like you do."
Giving him a timid smile I walked with him across the camp.
"Ah here is the wonderful Ethel, Ethel this is Madalina she's just been hired to help out around here." As he spoke I came face to face with a woman who had a beard.
Well it was not the strangest thing I had ever seen.
"I know Paul, Elsa quickly filled me in. Hello dear my name is Ethel Darling, I'm Jimmy's momma." She smiled at me. She had a thick accent also but it wasn't anything I had ever heard of, "Oh wait right here." Quickly she disappeared inside her trailer. I glanced to Paul who just shrugged his shoulders.
Ethel quickly reappeared with something in her hands, "It's one of my old aprons. You can keep it that way it won't dirty up your clothes when you're cleaning." She pressed the folded garment into my hands.
"Thank you Miss Ethel for this kindness." Gently smiling at the woman who obviously had a loving heart for her own.
"Think nothing of it honey and if you ever need anything you just come to me." Miss Ethel beamed at me.
"Who's this?" A voice from behind us sounded.
Turning around my jaw almost dropped.
"Bette, Dot this is Madalina she'll be helping out around here." Paul introduced me but he sounded a thousand miles away.
Both identical to each other. Two heads on one body!
"It's not polite to stare." One of them shrewdly said to me.
"Dot be nice now." Paul warned.
"No, no it is alright. Ladies I am sorry for my rudeness I did not mean to make you feel uncomfortable." Apologizing for my awful manners.
"Oh that's alright it is a shock to most people. Hi I am Bette and this is my sister Dot." Bette spoke and I could tell she was the gentler of the two.
"Nice to meet you both, I'm Madalina but you can both call me Lina." Telling them.
"I should show Madalina the rest of camp, we'll see you both at dinner." Paul said in an attempt to scurry me off.
Paul showed me where we took dinner, the performing tent, introduced me to the rest of the troupe and led me to his favorite spot.
It was a clearing of grass not far from camp leading into an enormous field. Paul told me he liked to come out here at night and watch the stars in the sky.
"That must look beautiful." Letting out in a romantic sigh.
Taking a seat on a large log he pulled out a flask which he extended to me but I declined with a shake of my head.
"Thank you but I do not drink."
"Suit yourself." He said before taking a swig.
"Do...do most of the others drink as well?" I inquired interested as to the way the troupe lived day to day.
"Let me put it to you this way, if you were to cut all of us open we'd bleed enough alcohol to make us a few stills." He gave out a hearty laugh that I tried to join in on, but I didn't find it too funny.
"But why?" Questioning as I sat down beside him.
"To escape from the miserable lives we lead. To be able to forget that every day we parade ourselves for other peoples amusement. One half of the world is amazed by us, the other half is horrified by us. The booze dulls the pain dear. It's just what the ostracized do love."
"But that doesn't make any sense. I mean yes it makes sense but…" I paused rising from my place trying to phrase my words, "If that was the case for all the ostracized and hated all of the camp survivors I know would have drunken themselves into a stupor by now to forget." Exclaiming because all of the survivors I knew didn't drink to forget. They just lived their lives because if you made it out you wouldn't waste your life on alcohol.
That would have been the real waste to survive through hell only to throw it away like that.
"Camp survivors?" Paul questioned at me quizzically.
My hands broke out to sweat. Šūdas! I can't believe I let that slip. Prakeiktas Mada!
"I am going to go rest up before dinner. Thank you very much for the tour Paul." Flustering before fleeing the clearing and as calmly as I could I walked back to my trailer.
When I shut the door I let out all of the breath that had built up inside my chest.
Sitting at my vanity I yanked my sleeve up and stared at the six digit number on the inside of my left forearm. A swell of hatred claimed me as I glared at it. Then it passed and was replaced by a settling exhaustion.
Staring at myself in the mirror I exhaled thinking I was going to have to do a better job at hiding my secrets before I let something else slip and someone found out about my past.
Murmuring words of disdain I pulled my sleeve back down making sure it covered all of the tattoo. Making sure nothing could be seen.
That evening after dinner Miss Elsa informed me I could take the time to familiarize myself with the show and how it worked, helping any of the performers if they needed it. Miss Elsa told me someone had bought out the whole show tonight, but when Miss Ethel came out to introduce the beginning acts there were only two people in the audience.
A man and an older woman, maybe his mother? Pondering to myself as I quietly observed them from backstage.
After listening to Miss Ethel's speech about the show I watched her introduce all of the performers and their talent/talents. Jimmy, the Lobster Boy who could make amusing shadow puppets with his hands and could juggle pins. Eve, Amazon Eve the Worlds Tallest Woman who played the piano very well. Little Ma Petite the Worlds Smallest Woman who was put next to Eve to show the dramatic difference. Ma Petite also played, what I assumed was the worlds smallest violin!
Peaking from behind the curtain I watched the reactions of the two people in the crowd. The man who looked so sullen and sulky before was completely different. His face was now all aglow at the marvels in front of him.
Miss Ethel went onto revealing Meep, the simple minded geek who could bite the heads off small animals, that particular talent I turned my eyes away from not wanting to see the gruesomeness of it. Legless Suzi whose talent was being able to move around just on her hands because her body stopped at her waist. Paul the Illustrated Seal who could bend his hands in odd ways and play the drums!
I gave a elated laugh at his talent for it was so unexpected but it was a breath of fresh air to me as I watched from my place backstage. For a brief second he glanced up and our eyes met. His eyes matching his sparkling smile. I hoped I was far enough away, hidden backstage that he couldn't see the huey blush creeping onto my cheeks.
Refocusing my attention on the stage I watched the husband and wife pair, Salty and Pepper amble out in fits of laughter and precede to do a simple dance, Paul referred to their condition as "Pinheads." Lastly to step out onstage were the twins Bette and Dot, who I was told had not found their talent yet so the two women with one body just stood up on stage letting the spotlight blind them.
The man out in the audience seemed to take new life when he laid his eyes upon Dot and Bette. The glimmer in his eyes made me so uneasy that I wanted to look away but I couldn't keep from glancing back from him to the twins who appeared oblivious to their new admirer.
Something in my heart told me that he would become a problem for Dot and Bette, and for the others of the show.