A Tale of Two Carnies

9 - The Challenge

I woke up early the next morning lying uncovered on my bed. My trailer had an old window-mounted air conditioner that was undersized and unable to overcome the miserable heat and humidity. The loud hum of the compressor and rattling fan made it difficult to sleep. I could easily fix it, but it was so old there were no longer any available parts.

Around closing time during the previous night, the cantankerous water tank started leaking again. I was really starting to hate that thing. The weather report promised more oppressive heat and tropical humidity. I didn't look forward to crawling around in the mud getting all grimy and sweaty again. I decided to get up super early during the cooler part of the day. I'd reward myself afterward with a refreshing shower.

After pulling on a pair of jeans and work boots, I slipped yesterday's smelly t-shirt over my head. No sense wearing a clean one until after I showered. I exited my trailer quietly as possible so as not to wake the neighboring carnies asleep in their trailers.

Everything lay quiet and still. The sun had yet to show its face but signaled its approach by having already swallowed the stars. Drawing in a deep breath, I caught a whiff of lemon scented toilet cakes from the upwind row of porta potties, cleaned and ready to use by the visiting natives when the carnival opened at noon.

The snick snick cadence of footfalls tapping against the hardpack startled me. Somebody was running behind our row of trailers. Sometimes we suffered damage from local vandals, bigots who objected to our appearance in their town. I looked around for something to use as a weapon.

The mystery runner rounded the corner, and I relaxed after seeing it was Cozbi. She spotted me and stopped. She bent over and placed her hands on her knees, taking a moment to catch her breath.

I admired the view of Cozbi in her barely there running shorts and loose-fitting, sleeveless tee. "Good morning."

She straightened. Her face was puffy as if she had been crying. She ran her arm across her running nose and sniffled. Cozbi wept a lot, and I guessed it was a symptom of her chronic depression.

I approached. "Hey, what's wrong?"

She waved me off and seemed to pull herself together. "It's nothing." She changed the subject. "I saw you sniffing around a townie girl last night near closing time."

"Yeah, what of it?"

She motioned with her head toward my trailer. "Did she stay over?"

"No. I told you I wanted my first time to be with you."

She scoffed and rolled her eyes.

"I hope you feel the same way."

She gave a dismissive wave of her hand. "So, did she stay over, or not?"

Cozbi's persistence surprised me. I wished people were easy to understand like the mechanical things I worked on. I often found my fellow humans to be a mess of confused emotions making them unpredictable and illogical. Cozbi was the prime example of an irrational human creature. I couldn't figure her out.

"Didn't you hear what I just said? I want you in my bed and not some random girl. Anyway, that girl, Carol, was just a curious local who latched onto me. I was being nice and showed her around."

"Carol, eh?" She cast her gaze to the ground.

Why did she act all upset? "You've made it perfectly clear you want to keep me friend zoned. Don't act all jealous."

"You're right. It's none of my business."

I couldn't help pushing the issue. "If you mind me hanging around townie girls, there's a simple solution. Move in with me. Take me off the market."