Chapter 5 – The Circus is back in town

"Isn't it exciting, señorita Victoria? The Circus! In Los Angeles! Again!" sergeant Mendoza said at the tavern, delighted like a little kid. "And it is a proper, world-wide renowned company this time: "Circus Zaragoza", from Spain."

"Yes, it is, very exciting," Victoria said while wiping a stain off the counter, amused by the Sergeant's anticipation. "We haven't seen any travelling circus for a while. And, together with the festivities of the Virgen de Agosto, it's going to be a memorable weekend."

"Yes, indeed. I am going to see how they put up the big tent. Excuse me for a moment," he said, finishing his drink quickly to go out in a hurry. Several men were outside, at the entrance of the pueblo, erecting the big top, lifting and connecting large poles quickly and efficiently, as they were so used to do the job every few days. Many citizens were at the plaza as well, watching and commenting on their skills.

Victoria carried on scrubbing off the stubborn stain, which reminded her of the other one she had to clean off the floor only a few days ago, and she was so absorbed with the task she didn't realize Diego and his cousin had come through the door.

"Our favourite sergeant looks excited," Diego said when he reached the counter. She lifted her head, smiling back to her friend.

"Yes, he is. I think he has told me a million times already how he wanted to become "Mendoza, the strongest man on Earth" when he was a child," she said, laughing.

"Yes. I heard about that too. At least three times, maybe more," he said, also laughing.

"How are you Diego? Your eye looks much better."

"It is, thank you. All that swelling and the dark tinge has come down now. It was time."

"And how are you, Esteban? Are your ribs still bothering you?" she added politely, looking at his companion. After the affection she had shown initially to spur Diego's jealousy she had tried to ignore Esteban as much as she could, because she felt she was cheating on Zorro every time he was around, and she didn't want to be mean to Diego anymore.

"No. I'm fine now, thank you, Señorita," he said with a radiant smile, which she ignored one more time.

"Great. What can I serve you? Do you want a fresh lemonade?" she said warmly, looking back at Diego.

"Yes, thank you."

"A glass of wine for me, please," Esteban said, fed up of so much lemonade and orange juice.

"Certainly," she said in a neutral tone, heading for the kitchen to press some lemons.

"Why is she so cold with me now? What have I done?" Esteban asked when they took a seat at a table at the back.

"I don't know," Diego said. He had also noticed the change in Victoria's attitude towards his cousin, and he was delighted about it. "Have you upset her since you gave her the rose?"

"No, I don't think so. Women… who can understand them?"

"Not me, that's for sure," Diego joked.

"Diego, I have been wondering… Why are you not married?"

"Uh, oh… I don't know. I guess I haven't found the right woman for me yet."

"Really? I asked around, and nobody has seen you courting anyone in Los Angeles for years. That's a big change from Madrid, ah?" he said, winking, slapping his arm. "I remember that gorgeous girlfriend of yours, Zafira. I hope you are not still heartbroken after she dumped you at the altar, and that is not the reason why you don't want anything to do with the other women here, is it?"

"No. I was hurt for a while, of course. Anybody would be after that. She was perfect, and she was going to marry me, and then she didn't. But I was young, and naïve. It doesn't matter now."

"You know, there is also some talk that you may be…" he said lowering his tone and lifting his eyebrows, but he didn't finish the sentence.

"That I may be what?" Diego knew perfectly well what he was talking about, but he chose to play dumb one more time.

"You know… that."

"What?"

"Inverted," he whispered.

"You mean, that I like men?" he said, pretending to be shocked. He knew that rumour had been circulating for a while, but it had never reached his father's ears. The only reason Diego knew about it was because Felipe heard it once when the gossipers thought he could not hear them.

"Yes, that," Esteban said. Victoria approached them with the drinks on a tray, and he cleared his throat loudly to alert Diego, who could not see her coming behind his back. "Thank you, Señorita. That's wonderful."

"Anything else?" she said after leaving the drinks on the table.

"Only one more thing. We are going to get tickets for the premier circus performance on Saturday. Would you like to join us?"

She looked surprised, and she glanced at Diego first, and then at Esteban, unsure what to say.

"Felipe and my father are coming too, and my uncle," Diego said, reassuringly. "It will be fun."

"Oh, yes. Yes, I would like to go, thank you."

"Inverted..." Diego said after she left, shaking his head. "Come on, you know better than that!"

"Of course I do! I thought it was funny, though. Sorry. Maybe you should look… I don't know, more "manly"? You look different now. I hardly recognize you. You've gone soft."

"I am the same, Esteban."

"If you say so," he said, unconvinced, and then he changed the subject. "I heard there is a horse race Saturday morning. Should we take part with your stallions? I bet they are the fastest rides in Los Angeles."

"Probably, but there is a good price on that race, and usually professional riders bring the fastest horses from many miles away, as far as Monterey. And my father won't like it; he won't risk hurting his horses. Last year one beautiful chestnut fell, broke its leg and had to be put down."

"Come on, live a little! It will be fun!" Esteban insisted.

"Well, you can ask your uncle. I don't want to. And he is going to say no." Or maybe not, just to prove me wrong.

"I will." Esteban finished his wine and looked around for something to do. "Are you working on the newspaper this afternoon?"

"Yes, I told you that."

"All right. In the meantime, I'll check what's going on at the plaza. I'll see you later."

Diego watched him go, relieved. Every time the conversation turned to events at Madrid, he got nervous. Sooner or later, his cousin was going to say something inconvenient in public and get him in trouble. And now he wanted to take part in the "manly" horse race. Sure the feminine, "inverted" Diego was not expected to do that, he thought, smiling. Although, if he could take part on the race with Toronado he would wipe out the competition, including Esteban. No doubt about it.

ZZZ

Esteban watched how the circus workers got the large tent up. It was massive, the biggest one he had ever seen. While they finished securing the thick canvas, he had an idea.

"Do you have a knife thrower?" he asked one of the men.

"Yes."

"Who is he? Where can I find him?"

"There," the man said, pointing at a tall, exotic looking man with olive skin and thin, dark beard and moustache. "His name is Cuchillo."

"Really?"

"Artistic name."

"Oh, yeah. Of course. Thanks." He approached that man then, hoping he would be suitable for his plan.

"Good afternoon, señor Cuchillo. I am Don Esteban de la Vega. Can I talk to you for a moment in private, please?"

"What do you want to talk about?"

"I heard you are an excellent performer with the knives, and I have a business proposition for you."

"What is it?"

"As I said, I want to talk to you in private," he remarked again, looking around, as some of the men were too close, within earshot. "Can we go somewhere quiet?"

"All right. Come to my caravan then."

Esteban followed that man outside the tent, and he guided him among the rest of the performers who had set camp at the edge of the pueblo, close to the North entrance. Everybody was busy, either practicing their skills or helping to get things ready for the premier on Saturday.

"So, what do you want?" Cuchillo asked when they were inside his private caravan.

Esteban got closer and whispered a few words on his ear.

"Are you insane? I can't do that!"

"Why not? You are skilled throwing the knives, aren't you?"

"But I have a reputation to maintain! That would ruin it!"

"I'll pay you 200 pesos. Your reputation will only suffer while you are in Los Angeles, and then this issue will be forgotten. Besides, it may add drama and excitement to your performance."

"Maybe."

"300 pesos then. Do we have a deal?"

"All right, three hundred, but I think you are crazy."

"Now, before I commit to this, I need to see you in action. Can you show me what you can do?"

"Come on then, I'll show you at the practice wheel."

He grabbed a set of knives from a box and got out, followed by Esteban. Close to the caravan he had set up his practice camp, with a large, round, decorated board in the middle. It had a large star painted over, one that would fit someone standing like Da Vinci's Vitruvian Man, with the arms and legs spread out.

"Spin the wheel."

Esteban did that and Cuchillo threw all the knives in a fast sequence while the wheel was turning, distributing them evenly around the star, not touching it by a very short distance, with the sharp edges of the knives nearly touching the edges of the star.

"Fantastic! Awesome!" Esteban said, clapping.

"Now, what you are asking could be technically more difficult than that, because I am not used to hit people. I would like to have the money in advance, just in case."

"All right. It doesn't matter, because if you fail, I may not need the money anymore. However, try not to fail, thank you."

After he settled all the details with that man, he asked him where he could find the best female trapeze artist.

"Sonia. She is the best in the group. That's her caravan," he said, pointing to a beautiful blue painted one.

"Thank you," he said, walking towards it.

"Crazy man," Cuchillo said slowly while shaking his head, closing the caravan's door to return to the large, main tent.

ZZZ

Felipe knocked on the Guardian's office door using their secret knock-code, and he then came inside, not waiting for an answer. Diego was busy, writing on his desk, with a pile of papers at his side.

"Hello, Felipe," he said, hardly taking his eyes off the paper he was writing.

"Are you all right?" Felipe signed. As Diego didn't answer, he touched his sleeve.

"What? I didn't catch that, sorry. I wasn't looking."

"Are you all right?" Felipe tried again.

"Yes, yes. I am fine."

"You look nervous. Upset."

"Nervous? No. Upset? Probably."

"What happened?"

"It's Esteban. He keeps mentioning things about Madrid. I think at some point he is going to say something stupid and he is going to blow my cover as clumsy Diego. Now he wants me to take part in that endurance horse race on Saturday. How can I enjoy that if I have to pretend to be useless all the time? For once, I would like to be able to show him what I can do. Although he already knows, and that is part of the problem. He thinks I have changed and I have gone soft, and he is right about that. At least Diego has." He paused for a moment, hitting the paper with his pencil repeatedly, absent-minded. "Do you know what he came up with today? He heard someone saying I like men because I don't have a wife or a girlfriend."

Felipe laughed. "I told you that before. It was Luis García who said that. He, of all people!"

"Yes, it takes one to know another," Diego said, laughing as well. "Esteban talked about Zafira. He doesn't know I saw her here in Los Angeles last year."

"Is he still courting Victoria?"

"Not much. And the best thing is she's ignoring him now, which is a relief."

"Maybe you should tell him you like her. As Diego, I mean."

"No. I can't do that. It's too embarrassing. He would start a new discussion on why I am not telling her anything about it or courting her myself. You know, sometimes I think it would be easier to tell him I am Zorro so he leaves me alone."

Someone knocked at the door then.

"I think that may be him," Diego whispered. "Yes?"

"Diego, it's me," Esteban said, opening the door ajar to show his face through it. "Are you done? I want to go home now to ask your father about the race."

"No, I want to finish this, but… It's all right, I'll finish it tomorrow," he said then, standing up, leaving the pencil and papers on the desk. He wanted to be present when his cousin asked for permission, to remind his father of the dangers for the horses and to dissuade him from that idea. "Let's go. Are you coming with us, Felipe?"

He nodded, and he followed his mentor with a cheeky smile on his face. He couldn't miss it. It was too much fun.

ZZZZZ

A.N – I could not resist naming the travelling circus "Circus Zaragoza", as the one in the film Madagascar 3 (btw, that's where I am from, a lovely city in Spain.)

Once again, thanks for reading and for your nice reviews.