A tale of two orphan girls who find a second chance within a circus that showcases the outcasts of society.
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"Mary, do you ever worry that we made the wrong choice?" Florence asked.
"There's no such thing as a wrong choice, sister, only new les...
"So, where're you and your sister from? Before here, I mean," Ralph asked.
"Well, we've moved around some before, but a few months ago we got an apartment here in New York."
She heard a hum. "What about you?" she asked. When he was about to answer, something caught her foot on the ground and she ended up toppling over and dropping the sandbag.
"Whoa, hey!" She grabbed onto a box with her hand, steadying herself. Standing straight, she looked up and met Ralph's intrigued expression.
"Have a nice trip?" He said with a smirk. Flo stared at him in confusion before her brain connected the dots. Before she could respond, though, he spoke again.
"But to answer your question, I'm from Cincinnati. Worked out on the railroads since I was fourteen, and I found my way here eventually." Florence imagined him in overalls and a wide brim hat and chuckled to herself.
They deposited their bags where Ralph had gestured to, and Florence went back for the second one as a voice she knew all too well filtered in.
"Florence? You back here?"
She was tempted to make a "hide and go seek" game out of it, then she remembered they were both adults. "Over here," she called back, picking up the sandbag.
Mary found her easily enough. Florence gestured for her to follow along as she walked.
"You made yourself useful," Mary noted.
Florence merely exhaled in response. She was already feeling practically worn out from all the social interaction and it hadn't even been but a few hours.
"I got some of our things we can put in our room. I heard some people have places to go back to, but I didn't want to head back to our place every night, so I brought back the essentials. And, if need be, we can always go back in case we forgot something."
Florence didn't respond to anything; she was content to simply listen to her sister. She made sure to step well above the bundle of rope this time around as the two came up to Ralph tying knots and messing with ropes. Florence cleared her throat to get his attention.
"Ah, thanks," he said, taking the bag from her hands. He then turned to the older twin. "And you must be Mary."
She nodded. "And you are?"
"Ralph Krooner," he introduced once more, extending his hand. Mary took it eagerly.
"Are you gonna be performing with us, or just a stagehand?"
He turned his head so she could see his rough patches of skin. "Take a guess." His tone wasn't accusatory in the slightest.
The sisters exchanged a look. Florence could tell what Mary was thinking with her grin and rolled her eyes, biting back a remark.
"Well, I think we should be off, now," Mary stated towards the man, who merely nodded and went back to his work.
"We'll see each other in practice, right?" he asked quietly. Mary continued walking, oblivious. Florence gave him a short nod and turned to follow her sister.
The sisters began transforming their room, and soon enough the things that Mary had brought over were scattered throughout the place, making it resemble the apartment they had left behind.
Barnum had gathered everyone back into the main room, the wax figures now pushed aside and a ring in the middle. Stands were being put around it as he spoke of rehearsals and special acts.
Florence listened to everything carefully. They were going to each have to play their part for this to work. "No slacking off," he had said. Rehearsals would begin first thing in the morning.
"And remember, we're all family here. So I don't want to see backstage looking like a tornado went through here just because some of us may not get along perfectly. Understood?"
Everyone gave quiet responses, except for the girl Flo remembered did trapeze. Her big "loud and clear!" echoed through the room, and a few dancers, including the sisters, laughed.
They were dismissed for the night, save for the people working on the setup. Several people moved backstage again, opting to stay at the museum for the time being. Or perhaps they had nowhere else to go, but Florence wasn't about to question any of them. The twins finished moving into the shared room that evening, had a small dinner with things that didn't need to be cooked, and were curled up in their bed back-to-back when Mary spoke.
"Florence? You asleep?"
The twin let out a small groan. "Yes." She felt her sister elbow her in the back.
"You know what I meant."
"What do you want, Mary?"
"Well, I was gonna say g'night before you decided to be a smart ass."
Flo smiled to herself. "Love you too, idiot."
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A/N: Okay, wow. Thank you guys so much for over 100 reads on this story! When I first saw the numbers I couldn't believe how many people are enjoying this story!
Seriously, thank you guys so so much for over 100 reads. I know that's not really a lot by Wattpad standards, but as small a writer as I am, it means a lot to me.
Also, don't be afraid to vote and/or comment! I'm always open to criticism for this story. Plus, perhaps in the future I can do a lil' q&a with the characters here if I can get enough questions, eh? ,':D How does that sound?
