2. Fluffed Performance
Jake woke up from his sleep at the dawn when he realized activity in the paddocks. He watched as the traveling circus people packed everything up and stowed it in their wagons. Then they harnessed everything to their own peccaries and they were ready to depart, presumably to arrive at the next destination as early as possible.
As soon as the caravan started moving, Jake followed them at a safe distance, but just enough not to be seen. The trailer with the snakes went last. Jake noticed that the driver occasionally lost his way and the cart shook on the uneven ground. Jake's scales bristled at the thought of the little ones still hanging from the ceiling of the trailer. He suspected the guy was driving over potholes on purpose, which in turn caused his venom glands to swell with anger. But he kept his anger in line and continued in pursuit, teeth clenched.
Coal Rock Town wasn't a pleasant place to rest. Jake only knew that from personal experience. In the evening, there were loud drunks hanging around. You could even think half of the city gets drunk, although the area was pretty poor in women anyway. It was a remote cluster of wooden shacks that was once near a mine. Now the mines were empty and the once hoped-for splendor of the mountain town just vegetated away. Nevertheless, it was well attended.
After Jake was sure that the circus caravan was visiting this city, he withdrew behind the mountain. He didn't want to venture too close during the day, but rather wait until evening. The circus would not move on until the following morning. He paused and kept his eyes on the sun. He was a little nervous. He didn't like this area. Not because he was concerned for his safety, but because it could be dangerous for newcomers in the evenings. It would not surprise him if there were a riot at the circus performances. He decided to go straight to the first evening performance. As soon as the sun had disappeared behind the horizon, he crept under the cover of darkness near the tents that had already been set up. As expected, the first drunks trundled between the booths. Jake was careful that no one met his path. After he had found the tent he was looking for, he peered under the tarpaulin again. This time there were mainly middle-aged and elderly men in the tent. Not as mixed as in the last city.
Jake's attention was drawn towards the tent entrance when two skinny desert lynxes slammed the tent sides aside. They were drunk, clearly. Jake wondered why drunkards like that were allowed in here at all. But with money, everyone had a free pass maybe. They sat down on a bench. They each held a glass bottle in their dirty paws.
Fog gathered in the tent. The performance went back to the pattern Jake knew from last time. At first the spectators seemed impressed, but after a few minutes the drunks grew impatient.
When Ramirez let one of the rattlesnakes jump over a staff, the first drunkard jumped up and yelled, "Lame, hit it!"
Ramirez seemed to have expected this and brandished his whip. But that wasn't enough for the drunken desert cat. Instead, he threw his nearly empty bottle at one of the rattlesnakes. The little reptile hissed at him, quite upset. But that spurred the drunk on to provoke all the more. Jake saw that the drunk jumped forward and kicked the small snake. The little snake hissed at him angrily and rattled its barely there rattle. Ramirez swung the whip, forcing the rattlesnake to focus on the trick again. But as soon as it turned around, the drunk kicked it in the back. Jake held his breath. The little snake spun around and bit the drunk in the leg. The desert lynx cried out and tried to shake off the snake. Ramirez immediately rushed forward and whipped the small snake so hard that it let go the leg in panic. But even as it slid away, he kept hitting it with the whip.
Jake was about to leave his hiding place when Ramirez finally finished his spanking. However, only when the other three snakes placed themselves protectively in front of the little one. This caused the angry tamer to turn to the bitten animal for a short time. The people around had jumped up in fright. But Ramirez only made a reassuring gesture. He took something out of his pocket and sprinkled something over the leg. He then made a mystical hand gesture and announced that the bitten person was healed. Jake watched the bitten desert lynx closely. He was still unsteady on his feet, but he didn't seem to feel anything. Jake narrowed his eyes. Usually the bitten victims can hardly hold themselves up because of the sheer pain in the bite wound, but here the drunk was either free of pain or really nothing had happened to him.
The two drunks left the tent. They had lost interest in the performance. Jake preferred to follow them to make sure the drunk didn't fall over after all. Before that, he took another look inside the tent, where Ramirez dragged the guilty rattlesnake away behind the décor. Jake snorted. This performance had gone completely wrong.
Jake couldn't explain it all. The bitten drunk staggered along the old houses with his buddy, but he stood on his two feet and even drank a bottle while walking. Normally he should be dead by now. After half an hour of secret surveillance, Jake gave up spying and his mind wandered back to the tent. What kind of game was this Ramirez up to? Or had he hired these drunkards specifically to cheat in front of an audience? Jake snorted. He couldn't fool him with the medicine man act. He would find out what was behind it.
He crawled back to the tent. But everything was empty there. The tent was closed to spectators, which worried Jake a little. He feared the worst. He stopped when he saw Ramirez walking between the booths. He didn't look relaxed. His furry face wrinkled with anger, then he disappeared behind another tent.
Jake took advantage of Ramirez's absence and crawled behind the tent with the snake act. Once there, he listened and tongued tensely. His gaze wandered to the trailer. He hastily crawled towards it, but it was empty. The little ones still had to be in the tent.
He crawled back quickly and looked under the tarpaulin every few meters. Finally, he got into a tent room, where he saw a cage in which the little rattlesnakes were sitting. Jake pulled back and peered through the tent crack. He didn't want to be discovered. He didn't know how the little ones would react when he appeared. He watched them scrutinizingly. They seemed very intimidated. Their bodies were lowered, but it wasn't a relaxed posture.
Jake winced as he felt footsteps coming his way. A group of drunks staggered along the tent. Jake hastily backed away and left the crowded area. He paused in the lonely corner of the rock and looked back at the lit area. Because of the crowds, he couldn't go unnoticed. He had to wait until everyone had moved away from the tents. Reluctantly, he curled up and waited, but kept his eyes on the tent.