The Dolenz Circus: Season One: It's Great, It's Terrific!

Episode 12 : Texas Morning

  Robert was indeed correct. Jimmy was able to make the trip.

  The ride from Tulsa through Texas was a surprisingly uneventful one. The train's swaying and continuous rumble over the Frisco railway lines was as calming as it was monotonous, and completely smooth to boot. Jimmy found that even though he had painstakingly strapped down everything he possibly could, he hadn't needed to. Overall, the whole ordeal had been amazingly stable.

  It was one long and quiet ride, except for once, about halfway through. They had stopped for a re-fuel at the Union Station in Denison, Texas, almost as soon as they got over the state line. It was a large brick building with a pleasant grassy courtyard, and the passengers- human, at least- were very happy to get out and stretch their legs. Page peered out his window, watching them go out through the middle of the night, hopping onto the platform and entering the station like it was a rest stop in a road trip. He was a bit tired... the clock in the dining area said it was past 11 already. But he did want to walk out, if just to see the area. He couldn't deny that he enjoyed the travel.

  When the dark haired magician stepped out of his car and onto the concrete floor, he stopped to smell the night air, feel it on his skin. It was already much warmer than Tulsa, especially at night. He didn't even think he'd be needing a jacket on a night like this- it felt like a warm autumn morning more than anything.

  As he walked into the station building, he heard the faraway sound of a door shutting. Upon turning his eyes to the direction of the sound, he saw that much further up the train, two figures emerged. Page ducked his head and went to the doors, opening them up and intending to hold them open for whichever coworker it was. But as he looked back, he saw the tall, stocky figure of David Coverdale, and the tense, small form of Phil Spector.

  Jimmy ducked right into the station, and whipped around a corner before they could get too close. He did not want to be around either of them- especially with the warnings of an involved pistol. As he flattened his back against the brick wall, he heard the door open and close quietly- two sets of steps walking away.

  Page slipped back out the doors, and back outside to get into his car. But as he did, he felt his gut tying itself into knots. He realized that Coverdale had apparently spent the long hours ride in Spector's compartment car. He wondered for a moment on why that would be. After all, even without a gun, Phil Spector did not seem like a sociable person at all. Sociopath, maybe.

  Jimmy stayed at the window for the entire 30 minute break. He watched the rest of the group come back into their cars, and get settled in after the engine was given sufficient break. And he also watched Spector leave on his own, headed to the front of the train, to his car. And later, Coverdale, who headed for the tallest car in the lot- the Falcon's compact.

  And then he slept the rest of the way of the journey.

  Jimmy awoke the next morning to more terrible sounds.

  At first, he thought that he had simply dreamed all of going to the grocer's, and the rest of the ride here. But to his credit, and to his delight, he had not. Instead, after he had drug himself out of a suspiciously warm bed, he realized that the racket outside was actually everyone setting up the circus.

  Like yesterday, it looked like Jimmy was watching an ant colony through a spyglass. So many people were going to and from the train, bringing carts and armfuls of everything between tarps and poles to animals and props. But this time, they were pounding stakes into the ground, lifting beams into the air with ropes, connecting everything by wire and tarps. Rising up the catwalk, getting the lights in place.

  The circus was taking shape. And not only that, but they were doing it in a hazy morning drizzle.

  Jimmy was already fanning himself with his hand when he got out of the bed. He had assumed he was overheating, but even after he went through his morning routine of putting the kettle on, making tea, washing his face and getting dressed, he noticed that he was absolutely not cooled down. In fact, he was a bit over-warm.