The Curator (Flash Fiction)

The Curator

"Hey Mike; duck!" Mike ducked down but it was too late; a heavy clod of dirt struck him, hard, in the side of the head. He sprung up and spun around on his heels to face his attacker. He spotted three of the O'Johnsons; they were a family of bullies, who caused a lot of problems in the small village of FallCliff, where they lived. The O'Johnson family were a large family; there were seven boys, their parents and an uncle that lived with them.

Mike regretfully shook his head. He didn't have time to fight them, he was already late for school, and he'd been told by his Head Teacher that if he was late again this week he'd have to stay in after school had finished. He turned and jogged towards the school, with the jeering taunts of the bullies behind him.

As he came through the main street of FallCliff, he noticed several of his friends gathered around the community bulletin board, chattering animatedly. He wandered over to see what all the fuss was about. Mike greeted his friends with a cheerful "hey guys!" before asking "Hey, what's going on? Are aliens taking over the town? Has Principal Arte been transferred?"

His mates laughed and shoved him good-naturedly, before scrunching closer to let him see the sign that had them all excited: "Mac's Travelling Fair of Wonders", was emblazoned in fancy gold lettering across a sky-black background. Pictured in the middle of the poster was a scarlet circus-like tent, proudly bearing the lettering "Featuring Mr Maxwell's Olde-Worlde Curios". Followed by the times, dates, and location of the show.

FallCliff was a sleepy country village in the middle of Nowhere, or at least that was how it felt to Mike. There was a lot to keep him, and his friends, occupied; but visiting Fairs were a rare treat. Mike was just as excited as his mates, and he hoped his parent's could afford to take him.

Checking the poster again, Mike saw that "Mac's Travelling Fair of Wonders" would be situated on the Village Green, and that it would be opening that very night. His excitement level rose. There was every likelihood that The Fair would already be setting up, THIS VERY MINUTE. Checking the time once more, MIke realised that they might not make it to school in time for First Bell, but if they ran they'd make it by Second Bell (even "Mac's Travelling Fair of Wonders" featuring "Mr Maxwell's Olde Worlde Curios" was not worth Mike staying back behind after school was over). "Run! he yelled. "We don't want to be late!" With cheers and huge grins the friends all raced off towards FallCliff Public School.

***********

"Mac's Travelling Fair of Wonders" was the talk of the day at school. Mike and his mates were discussing, amongst themselves, the chance that they would be going to The Fair that night. They knew that money was tight for everyone, right now; well everyone that is, except for the O'Johnson family. Most of the crops had failed this year, after being wiped out by a mysterious blight. Only the O'Johnsons crops were spared. This had made the O'Johnsons even harder to be around as they shoved their good fortune in their friends and neighbours' faces. Mike secretly believed that the O'Johnson family were behind the mysterious blight he had no proof.

Mike had hoped to take a detour past the Village Green after school let out to have a peek at The Fair, but his hopes were dashed when he spotted his parent's old beat-up, orange Dodge pick-up parked out the front of the school. "We were in the neighbourhood and we thought we'd spare you the long walk home, especially since we know that you have a lot of homework to do and your chores to finish before ...." and here they paused, grinning like Cheshire cats, " ...you can go to The Fair with us tonight." They laughed when they saw the impact of their words on Mike. He threw back his head and laughed like a mad-man. Jumping into the back of the truck, he yelled goodbye to his mates.

That night, Mike lined up with his parents to enter The Fair. The Fair was shrouded by a mysterious fog. Once they entered the fair Mike gasped. He didn't know what he had expected as the only fair that he had seen before, was a drab worn affair; the tents were patched and mouldering; the amusements were out-dated, and the rides creaked along threatening to collapse at any minute, but "Mac's Travelling Fair of Wonders" was bright, and shiny. Mike didn't know where to look first; it was all so dazzling. Clowns, jugglers, magicians, unicorns, fire eaters, fortune tellers and more. The Fair seemed to stretch for miles, but that had to be a special effect as the Village Green wasn't that large.

Mike's parents gave him some money for the attractions and he went off in search of the others. He quickly found them outside the largest, brightest tent there; "Mr Maxwell's Olde Worlde Curios". Mike was again amazed. He had expected a dingy old tent, smelling of mothballs and mould. Mike and his mates approached the tent in awe; staring at the images painted into the scarlet canvas. Mythical beasts, scary monsters, hideous animals and more. The painted figures were moving, and screaming, but that had to be another special effect.

Mike and his mates stepped inside the tent and were instantly transported into an amazing world, or Worlde, of wonders. Shrunken heads of all shapes and sizes, shark's teeth and bear claws, crystal skulls and full human skeletons and much more were spread out before them; it was a veritable Alladin's cave of curios. The inside of the tent seemed to hold far more than was humanely possible.

But the most amazing part of the exhibition was yet to be discovered. When they stumbled upon the Rogues' Gallery of Wax Figurines, they were startled. The figurines were amazing; each figure was convincingly lifelike.The eyes in particular seemed very realistic; full of expression, they seemed to follow him around the room. He shivered. He expected them to start to move at any second. There were figurines of all shapes and sizes; men, women and children. Some were dressed as pirates, some were dressed as murderous looking villians. Even the child-like figures were unpleasant to look at.

As they looked closer at the Rogues' Gallery, they were once more startled as one of the figurines started to move. Short and bespectacled, his hair was thinning on top of his head. He glared at them fiercely, and shouted "Boo!" at them before bursting into laughter. The figure stepped away from the Rogues' Gallery, and produced a bag of sweets from his pocket; offering them to Mike and his friends; he introduced himself. "I'm Mr Maxwell and this is my Olde World of Curios".

Mr Maxwell was a kindly old man, full of interesting tales, but it was hard for Mike to keep his attention on Mr Maxwell as he swore that the wax figurines kept looking at him. Every time he turned back to the figurines they were in a different position. He then heard a muffled laughter coming from behind the Rogues' Gallery; it was one of the O'Johnsons; Ben, the youngest son. Ben laughed at Mike; 'You should have seen your face. You looked like you were going to crap your pants." With that Ben was joined by his brothers and they ran around the tent, teasing Mr Maxwell, knocking into the display shelves and behaving as badly as they always did. A curious expression flickered in Mr Maxwell's pale eyes, and Mike was scared.

"Boys, would you kindly stop that!" Mr Maxwell begged the O'Johnsons to stop, but they continued to destroy his tent. He tried again, "I'll have to speak with your parents about your behaviour," but again they just laughed, and they ran out of the tent, bumping into the crowd as they went. Mike spoke up, "I'm sorry about the O'Johnsons; they always cause trouble around here. And I think their parents are proud of their behaviour."

Again that strange look appeared in Mr Maxwell's eyes briefly, then he shook his head, offered Mike and his friends another sweet and started the job of tidying up. The boys assisted, chatting to Mr Maxwell as they did. Mike had to keep rubbing his eyes, as the Wax Figurines still seemed to be following him with their eyes. Mike and his friends soon left to explore the rest of The Fair. They didn't see any more of the O'Johnsons but they did hear that the boys had caused a lot of damage to their various attractions. Mr Maxwell had thanked them for their assistance and had told them that they could come back every night as his guests.

"Mac's Travelling Fair of Wonders" stayed for a few more nights. Each night Mike and his friends dropped by Mr Maxwell's tent, and each night there were new sights to see. The Wax Figurines continued to scare Mike, but he felt silly. On the last night of The Fair, Mr Maxwell thanked them again for their kindness. "We are packing up tonight, so this is Goodbye". He offered them all a sweet, and paused to add, "There will not be anymore trouble from the O'Johnsons either", and on that night he retreated back into his tent.

The next morning The Fair was gone, and so was the O'Johnson family. The house looked as if they had just stepped out for a few minutes; food was still on the plates and the animals were wandering around looking to be fed. No one could explain their strange disappearance.

***********

Mr Maxwell smiled, a strange gleam in his eye, as he adjusted the clothes on his new Wax Figurines; they were a fine looking family and these ten figurines would take pride of place in his Rogues' Gallery.