Freakshow

Chapter Four

The day moved slowly as Cairo took me from one area to the next, acquainting me with my coworkers and showing me the ropes. I couldn't shake the gut feeling that there was something more at work, some kind of deep connection between the two of us, but ultimately I wasn't one for believing in the mystical. Then again, the way he made me feel was undeniable.

We toured the storage containers and circled around the big top, the performance tent, and went to the staff dressing rooms and practice area. It was another tent, but of course like all of them, the term 'tent' was misleading. They were more like portable theatres, the canvas was so thick it was almost solid, and the internal structure looked like it could withstand a fairly strong hurricane.

They were probably put together better than my apartment back in Richmond, and definitely more solid than the ram shackle farmhouse I'd grown up in.

"Here's where you'd get ready if you were a performer. We're like a big family back here, we ask for advice on routines, share information, basically give each other as much support as possible. It's a tough job, and sometimes it can get you down," Cairo turned to tell me.

"Especially when you're one of the freaks like me," a female voice said from behind me. I turned and had to suppress my gasp of surprise.

I was face-to-face, well, face to waist with the largest woman I'd ever seen. I was acutely aware of Cairo watching me, judging my response, which only added to the awkward sensations flooding my brain at that moment.

I'd never encountered somebody so different from the norm, even during all my trips to the Children's Hospital growing up. At the hospital, most of the injuries or diseases had disfigured people in ways that were expected but in this case nature had created something that set off alarms of, "Different! Different!" in my head.

But, as my mom always told me, "You can think it, just don't say it." I mentally checked my alarm at the door, held out my hand and said, "Hey, I'm Liv. I just got hired."

Cairo approved, I saw his small smile out of the corner of my eye. I did a mental fist pump at having passed another one of his tests.

"Hi Liv, I'm Lara, the Giantess in case you didn't notice," Lara said, her voice was deep and melodic and kind. I liked her immediately.

"Oh I'm sure she took note of your lovely largeness," Cai said, his own deep, smooth, voice full of mirth, "but Liv here is at expert level of non-reaction. Not bad for a normal on her first day."

I understood he meant that as a compliment, but for some reason it really rubbed me the wrong way. I wanted to yell at him and tell him that I was just as freaky as the weirdest freak they had performing. I had lived a life as an outsider, and I totally got the whole detached, aloof act, I had lived that fucking act every damn day of my life.

But of course I didn't, the other thing I had perfected over the years was to force myself to think before I spoke. Blurting out embarrassing information wasn't part of my condition though, I was certain I'd inherited that particular trait from dear old Dad. He'd been the king of awkward moments, and although it made me laugh now, I was grateful I'd managed to overcome it.

I also knew the knee-jerk reaction to his assumption that I was normal came from my own deep-seated issues surrounding the idea of what was normal. From the years I'd been teased at school and the years my sister had snarled at me, blaming me for the death of our parents, I'd struggled with my normalcy.

I took a deep breath, straightened my shoulders, mentally shook off my anxiety, and said, "I'm seriously okay with it all. I mean I'm not going to pretend that you're not like, what, ten feet tall? But it ain't no big thing, as long as you're a decent human being."