Foraine ( Eng)

Chapter 6 : The Juggler

The camp woke up early in the morning, the vast majority of us trying to dissolve our hangover in coffee while the pain and sadness lingered around like hungry ghosts. Broken jaws, lame legs, burned hands, more than ever deserved our "freak show" name. I was, myself, stranger than ever because the fire took away my eyebrows which gave to my lunar face the frozen look of wax doll. I watched as Emilie patiently bandaged Josh's injured leg while Carol sighed applying rice powder to her swollen eye with a very relative success.

The boss demanded our attention as Leaf, folding his cane, sat noiselessly next to me. I pushed a cup of coffee in front of him before turning my attention to the Boss.

- Save all that can be saved and throw away the rest. We're leaving tomorrow.

Loud mutterings and resigned sighs swept through the room before everyone got up, slowly, to fulfill their tasks as best as they passed by the Siamese who starred with disarray their destroyed performance swing. I approached slowly and put a sympathetic hand on the arm of each of them.

- Why can't we be left alone ? Why all this fury, all this anger? We just want to live in peace, Leah whispered.

I laid a kiss on her cheek and then on her sister's before continuing my way. From the stable, there was nothing left but a few iron frames and bits of burnt cloth. Here and there we still found leather saddle that had not fully burned or some snaffles. The smell of smoke and burnt straw jumped at me again and I stopped for a few moments, my breath short and my heart tighten in a metal vise. Without Leaf and Eliot, I would never have survived the flames. I was startled when Eliot put a firm hand on my shoulder. His beard had disappeared in places, eaten by the fire and his brown eyes express an infinite weariness.

- We must try to find them kid. They couldn't have gone very far.

I nodded.

- Josh can't walk so it will be you, Nina, Leo and me. We will cover more distance separatly.

Then he took a gun from his coat and handed it to me, saying:

- If you meet one of these scrapes, shoot at sight!

I had a dry joy-less laugh and said:

- You know I'm just gonna blow my foot with this thing. No Eliot ... no.

Eliot held the gun toward me a few more seconds before putting it back in his pocket, grunting:

- As you please.

- Shame on you ! SHAME ON YOU ! Elaine's voice boomed in my back.

- You will talk to me otherwise negress, or you'll get to discover our cells

"Elaine, it's not worth it," Pete said softly, pulling her by the arm.

Elaine sparkled with palpable anger and all the air around her seemed to vibrate. The fury in the woman's eyes seemed to heat up all that gazed upon. She spat at the policeman's feet and spun around before hissing:

- Ou ké wè !

The guy took off his hat to mop his forehead as she walked away. Pete stayed for a few seconds, his arms dangling before following his wife under the vigilant scrutiny of Nathaniel.

The boss spoke with the two police officers and the conclusion was: "consider yourselves lucky for not thrown in jail for assault". Nathaniel had not lost a word of the exchange, eyes strangely fix, so fix that the big policeman ended up feeling uncomfortable again and barked:
- What do you want ? My picture ?
Nathaniel just returned a worrying, frozen smile, still staring at him, thrusting his blued-fists into his pockets.
"Go back home to kiss your kids," he grunted suddenly. All of you, return to your children and kiss them.
Then he left, his shoulders low, nodding his head.
- He's a complete lunatic this guy, hissed the tallest policeman, hammering his temple with his index finger.
Then talking to the boss:
- Take off quick, before we change our minds.
They left the camp followed by the eyes full of anger of all the carnies, then everyone went back to work, folding, dismantling, tidying up.
Eliot handed us two halters and each of us chose a direction. I took the North.
The southern winter, under the influence of the Gulf of Mexico, could be both mild and suddenly strangely rough with unpredictable snowfall. The presence of the bayou a few kilometers away from the camp testified to our proximity to the Mississippi and made the air humid whatever the season. I shrugged my jacket around my shoulders and walked through the wild grass, clicking softly my tongue. A good hour later a snorting finally answered my calls. I came up slowly and found Cherry frightened, lost, covered in soot and dry thistles. She was the last mare I managed to release and the fire had obviously time to reach her.
- There, my dear. There ...
I held my hand close to her muzzle and let her sniff me before caressing her with a thousand precautions. Without any sudden movement I removed the thistles stitched in her hair and some of the soot by rubbing it with a handful of dry grass before passing carefully the halter around her neck. To my great relief she didn't fight back. On the way back we came across Tornado who didn't stray as far as she did and who, reassured by the familiar smell of Cherry, had joined us. He didn't even need the halter: accustomed to my voice he had followed us slowly.
Back at the camp, most of the stands had been more than half dismantled. Nina had found Precious, Eliot Charriot and Coffee, Leo hadn't come back yet. The second Nina saw Tornado she let out a shout of joy before hugging the neck of the horse, laughing. We still lacked a mare. Hoping that Leo would come back with her, I led the others into their transport box and cleaned, brushed and dressed what was supposed to be. Leo came back empty-handed 3 hours later.
"I'm going back," Eliot said. If we don't find her tonight we'll have to leave her there. I can't abandon her.
"I'll go," I interceded. The horses know me better.
"We're all going," said Nina. We've already lost enough .... We've already lost enough.
Leo nodded and Josh, resting on his crutch said:
- I take care of the ones we've got back. Go.
We all left as night fell slowly. It worried me a little because at night the snakes were more likely to come out and I tried to walk as loudly as possible, tapping my feet to frighten them. Younger I was bitten by one of these critters and I kept a rather traumatic memory of the encounter.

I had convinced Leaf to come play with me. Despite being 14 years old, he never said no when I begged him to come have fun with me. He probably knew that he was my only friend. So once again, he had agree to a game of hide-and-seek when he probably had only one desire: to carry on the exploration of the world that dwelled under the skirt of the farm girl next door. I had surprised them, a few days earlier, lying in the grass, Leaf's hands gently moving up under her petticoats as she sighed softly before stealing a kiss from him. I had ran away giggling, a little disgusted at the idea that anyone might want to do such things. When I had told him, laughing, that I had seen him doing silly things and that frankly even if the farmer's daughter was really pretty, it was a bit disgusting, he had smirked a bit before replying: