Freakshow

Chapter Eight

The entire move from Vancouver to Seattle took much longer than I'd anticipated. I hadn't really comprehended how much there was on the Cirque's grounds until it was all packed, lined up and ready to go.

Hundreds of big rigs with flat decks were the first to leave, one by one. They carried things like the tents, the infrastructure, ticket booths, furniture and such.

After this was Alexi driving a smaller truck and trailer housing the tigers. I was jumpy just thinking about Lucille's giant teeth riding on the back of the truck. I'd given my roommates a glossed over version of events, downplaying the seriousness of the bite. I hadn't mentioned a thing about Orion's offer.

Last but not least were the performer's trailers and RVs. Our trailer was hooked to a pickup truck, Cara and Rose took turns driving. I sat in the back seat, but wasn't left out of the conversation.

The entire three hour drive was spent gossiping, giggling, and singing road trip songs. It was, by far, one of the best days I had ever had. I loved Cara and Rose, and happily they totally got my weird sense of humour.

I supposed you had to be a little off center to travel with something like Cirque des Curiosités.

Once we arrived, I was told to stay in our trailer until things were set up. I cringed at the special treatment, but it was a direct command from Orion himself. The girls didn't seem to resent me though, they understood it was because of my injury. I just hoped they wouldn't treat me differently once I was a performer.

I was lounging on the couch again, watching shitty television from the trailer's satellite dish, when Carl popped in to check on me.

"How are you feeling, girlfriend?" he asked and motioned for me to show him my arm. "Oh my god, you could have had that torn right off."

He was dressed in casual clothing, and once again I found it a little unsettling to see him out of costume.

"It's not that bad," I said and laughed, "Lucille just got surprised when I took a photo. I should have had the flash off, it was all my fault."

"Lucille? Lucille did this?" Carl asked, his eyes widening.

"Uh yeah, why?"

"Lucille is the dangerous one. Desi is the sweetheart, but Lucille's been a bitch from day one. She's had quite the rep. What the fuck was Alexi thinking?"

"He was probably just a little distracted with everything that was going on, I'm sure he didn't mean anything by it," I replied. Still, it did bother me that I'd been sent to the tigers in the first place, so why had Alexi left me with a dangerous animal?

"I heard you might get a performer's slot," Carl said, changing the subject. I loved him for it, he was very perceptive for a man.

"It's a possibility."

"What's your talent? Or are you a closet freak? Tell me," he said and leaned in. "Do you have a tail? Or two pussies? Or a tail and two pussies? Oh my god, don't keep me guessing."

I was laughing so hard, and his words spilled out so rapidly that I couldn't squeeze in an answer. I waited until he ran out of ideas and I grinned at the anticipation on his face. "I'm sorry to disappoint," I told him, "but I just have a genetic condition. I can't feel pain. And one boring pussy."

"Oh," he said. His face dropped as he processed the information. "Can't feel pain? That's it?"

"Sorry," I said, "I know, double vaginas would have been so much better."

He smiled and said, "It's not that bad. Oh, I'm sure dear old Orry will come up with something spectacular. If there's one thing that man does well, it's exploit his performers."