Play Date [ Dandy Mott ]

Howdy Doody, Dandy.

Early the next day, I went back to the Freak show, ready for my first day. I quickly found Jimmy, and he showed me around, including the tent that I'd be staying in.

I can't help but notice that Jimmy's carrying a shovel, and has dirt on his hands.

"What's that about?" I gesture to his dirty hands.

"Oh, uh..." Jimmy shift awkwardly, "I was just burying a friend of ours, Meep."

"Aw, I'm sorry for your loss." I say sympathetically, although I really couldn't care less.

"Here, I'll introduce you to everyone." I follow Jimmy to the main tent, where a long table is set up, and people are eating.

"Everyone," Jimmy lets me walk in first, "This is Blair."

I wave to the group of freaks, and they stare back in confusion.

"She's joining the show," Jimmy explains, "I know she ain't a freak," He says quickly, "But she came from an abusive home and needed somewhere to stay."

I pretend to look awfully sad. 

"Hey, isn't she the girl who came with that rich boy who tried to buy us?" One of the twins says, and the freaks look at me apprehensively.

"Yes." I say.

"I bet you that rich white boy was the one abusing her," One freak says to the other.

"No," I say, defensive all of a sudden.

"Leave her alone," The bearded woman says, "I'm Ethel, Jimmy's mom. Come, sit down."

I sit next to her, and she smiles at me welcomely. She forces everyone to introduce themselves, and I wave at each of them in turn.

"We should remember Meep by working even harder. Maybe dedicating the show today to his memory." One of the twins, I think Bette, says.

"The show? It's Halloween." Ethel says, looking up from her mug. "No freak performs on Halloween. Any idiot knows that."

The twins look embarrassed.

"It's not fair. They're new. They don't know about that old superstition." Jimmy springs to their defence.

"Not superstition. It's true." Ethel says harshly.

"What is?" I ask curiously.

"Why we don't perform on Halloween. On accounts of Edward Mordrake." Ethel says as if it was the most obvious thing on earth.

"Who?" I ask again.

"Edward Mordrake. Aristocrat who lived in the middle 1800s."  Ethel says, and I try not to fall asleep as she starts to explain the story. "He was heir to all kinds of titles. Could've been a duke or a lord or some shit, things had been different. Things are never different. An Englishman of noble birth, Edward was a young man with fine attainments. He was a scholar. He was a poet. Musician of rare ability."