Missed My Stop

Chapter Six: You're Attacking a Tiger with a Cabbage?

"The name's Othello, but you can call me Otto for short. I hope you like animals Rebecca."

The both of us were beside the train, in front of the box cars. You could hear the animals inside the cars, growling and such. Just waiting to bite my head off. The thought put a shiver down my spine.

I made a force smile. "Sure, as long as they're cuddly."

His eyes sparkled. "Then I bet you'll become great pals with Bobo."

"Bobo?"

At the mention of the name, there was a loud roar that came out of one of the cars.

"Yeah, Bobo the bear."

I laughed weakly. "Did I mention cute too? Cute and cuddly."

Otto laughed. "You're cute yourself, I like you. Well, we better get to work."

Otto was about my age maybe older, just as tall as Jay but slightly more muscular. He had curly dirty blond hair and gray eyes. He wore a simple tee and jeans, his headphones were hanging around his neck. I noticed despite the fact he is stuck with this job, he had a carefree personality. It was quite admirable.

Otto tossed me boots, gloves, and a shovel. I set down my frying pan on the ground, then I quickly put on the boots and gloves then tied my hair on a rubber band. As I was doing this I noticed him watching me as I do it, leaning on the shovel.

"What are you doing?" I asked.

He was startled and almost fell off his lean on the shovel. "I-I, nothing, doing nothing. Just waiting for you to finish doing your girl stuff." He stammered.

I snorted. "I'm not doing any bloody girl stuff. I am simply putting on my armor for what terror will come to me."

Otto laughed. "Funny, and you have that accent."

I looked away to hide my blush. "So where are the masks?"

Otto blinked. "The masks?"

"You know, a face mask to cover the smell."

He sighed. "Oh, a face mask. Pfft, no, we don't have that."

"What? Why not?"

He frowned and leaned against the box car. "The circus is beautiful, no?"

I shrugged. "Yeah, I guess."

"This is a great circus, but a poor one. Most of us willingly cut our own pay to support the circus, feed the animals, buy fuel for the train. With our low budget, we make our own clothes then hand it down. Cook is trying to make new ways to use leftovers for meals, we repair our own equipment which is pretty dangerous, and all of that stuff."

I furrowed my eyebrows. "I see."

"I love this circus, we all do. So please don't think wrong of us, we've been growing a bit of hostile on others outside, we care for ourselves, our circus."

I smiled. "Don't worry, I don't. But do we really have to do in there with no mask? I would even go for a gas mask right now."

Otto grinned. "Try holding your breath. That always works." He slid open the first box car, the foul smell pouring out of it. "The first 20 seconds at least."

"Bloody hell," I muttered before Otto helped me into the box car.

"So the key is to take a deep breath and hold it when scooping a load, then dump it into the bag as you breath out." Otto explained. "I've already finished the last two carrs. So after we finish this car, we'll load out the animals and use the hose to clear the rest."