Page 5 of Tiger's Curse
I didn’t see any elephants and breathed a sigh of relief.If there had been elephants here, I probably would have smelled them already.
A torn poster fluttered in the breeze. I caught the edge and smoothed it out against the post. It was a picture of a white tiger.Well, hello there!I thought.I hope they have just one of you . . . and that you don’t particularly enjoy eating teenage girls.
Opening the door to the main building, I walked inside. The central hub had been converted into a one-ring circus. Tiers of faded red stadium chairs were stacked against the walls.
Chatting in the corner was a couple of people. A tall man, who looked like he was in charge, was off to the side, writing on a clipboard and inspecting boxes. I made a beeline for him across the black springy floor and introduced myself, “Hi, my name’s Kelsey, your two-week temp.”
He looked me up and down while chewing on something, and then spat on the floor. “Go around back, out those doors, and turn to your left. A black and silver motor home is parked out there.”
“Thanks!” The tobacco spit disgusted me, but I managed to smile at him anyway. I made my way to the motor home and knocked on the door.
“Jus’ a minute,” a man’s voice yelled. The door opened unexpectedly fast, and I jumped back in surprise. A man in a dress robe towered over me, laughing heartily at my reaction. He was very tall, dwarfing my five-foot, seven-inch frame, and he had a rotund potbelly. Black, curly hair covered his scalp, but the hairline ended just a little bit past where it should be. Smiling at me, he reached up to shift his hairpiece back into place. A thin black mustache with both ends waxed to thin points stuck straight out from either side of his upper lip. He also had a tiny square goatee patch on his chin.
“Don’t be-a intimadated at my appearance,” he insisted.
I dropped my eyes and flushed. “I’m not intimidated. It just seems I caught you by surprise. I’m sorry if I woke you.”
He laughed. “I like de surprises. It keeps me-a young and a most handsome man.”
I giggled but stopped quickly after remembering this was probably my new boss. Crow’s feet surrounded his twinkling blue eyes. His skin was tan, which showed off his toothy, white smile. He seemed like the kind of man who’s always laughing at a private joke.
In a booming theatrical voice, with a strong Italian accent, he asked, “And who might you be, young lady?”
I smiled nervously. “Hi. My name’s Kelsey. I was hired to work here for a couple of weeks.”
He leaned over to grasp my hand. His completely enfolded mine and he shook it up and down enthusiastically enough to make my teeth rattle. “Ah,Fantastico! How propitious! Welcome to the Circus Maurizio! We are a little, how you say, short-handed, and need someassistenzawhile we are in yourmagnifica città, eh?Splendidoto have you! Let us get a startedimmediatamente.”
He glanced over at a cute young blonde girl about fourteen years old who was walking by. “Cathleen, take thisgiovane donnato Matt andinformarehim Idesideri—that I wish him to work with her together. He’sincaricatoto teach her today.” He turned again to me. “Nice to meet you, Kelsey. I hope youpiacere, ah,enjoy, working here at ourpiccola tenda di circo!”
I said, “Thanks, it was nice to meet you too.”
He winked at me, then turned around, went back inside his motor home, and closed the door.
Cathleen smiled and led me around the back of the building to the circus’s sleeping quarters. “Welcome to the big—er, well, small top! Come on, follow me. You can sleep in my tent if you want. There are a couple of extra cots in there. My mom, my aunt, and I all share a tent. We travel with the circus. My mom’s an acrobat and my aunt is, too. Our tent’s nice, if you can ignore all the costumes.”
She led me into her tent and to a vacant cot. The tent was spacious. I stowed my backpack under an empty cot and looked around. She was right about the costumes. They were hanging everywhere—racks and racks of them. Lace, sparkles, feathers, and spandex covered every corner of the tent. There was also a lit mirrored table with makeup, hairbrushes, pins, and curlers strewn haphazardly over every square inch of the surface.
We then found Matt, who looked to be about fourteen or fifteen. He had brown hair, an average short haircut, brown eyes, and a happy-go-lucky grin. He was trying to set up a ticket stand by himself—and failing miserably.
“Hey, Matt,” Cathleen said as we grabbed the bottom of the booth to help him.
She was blushing. How cute.
Cathleen continued, “Um, this is Kelsey. She’s here for two weeks. You’re supposed to show her the ropes.”
“No problem,” he replied. “See ya around, Cath.”
“See ya.” She smiled and flounced away.
“So, Kelsey, I guess you get to be my sidekick today, huh? Well, you’ll love it,” he said, teasing me. “I run the tickets and souvenir booths, and I’m the trash collector and stock boy. I basically do everything around here that needs to get done. My dad’s the circus animal trainer.”
“That’s a cool job.” I replied and joked, “It’s sounds better than a trash collector anyway.”
Matt laughed. “Let’s get going then,” he said.
We spent the next few hours hauling boxes, stocking the concession stand, and preparing for the public.
Ugh, I’m out of shape, I thought as my biceps protested and tried to unionize against me.
