Naturally Freaky

Laughing, Lola said, "I think that suits us… quite..."

Lola's voice and her gaze trailed off simultaneously as she suddenly fixated all her attention on the entrance from which Gallant had come. Gallant turned around to see two people entering the freaks' camp. One of them was Mr. Reinier, the circus ringmaster, and the other was a woman. She was dressed in a dull blue cloak whose hood concealed most of her face. Her slow movements, steadied by the wooden cane in her left hand, were a clear indication of her old age. Mr. Reinier stood well over a foot above her, making extravagant gestures with his hands and talking excitedly. The woman's mouth—the only part of her face not hidden by her cloak—remained closed the entire time, and she responded to Mr. Reinier's words only with an occasional nod.

As the pair approached the trailers, those who had come outside to chat with Gallant stepped forward. Several other freaks wandered out of their tents to see what the fuss was about.

"...And these are some of the other performers," Mr. Reinier told the woman. "Lola, Job, Kit, and the rest of you—meet Madame Ilise, your newest member!"

Lola and Pete eyed the woman skeptically, but Job and Kit were quick to break the tension. "Welcome, Madame Ilise!" they said in unison. "We are Job—" "—and Kit—" "—the Siamese—" "—twins!" "What will—" "—your act be?"

Madame Ilise stood still for several seconds until finally Mr. Reinier interjected. "Madame Ilise is a fortune teller," he cheerily explained to the boys. Then he looked to the old woman, who still had not moved. "Go ahead, Madame, show them."

After several more seconds, the woman stepped back, shaking her head. Mr. Reinier put his hand on her shoulder and said to the freaks, "You'll have to forgive her. She is very shy." Then he guided Madame Ilise away from the others, saying, "Come, Madame, I will show you to your trailer."

As soon as the pair had disappeared behind one of the trailers, one of the onlooking freaks spoke up. "A fortune teller?" he mused. Gallant turned around—and then up—to see a look of dismay on Clairvoyant Claude’s expressive face. He was around seven feet tall with dark skin and large, differently-colored eyes, which sometimes appeared to also be looking in separate directions. His unique physicalities would certainly be easy to pick out of your average crowd, but in this crowd, his appearance was fairly unimpressive. Of course, if Mr. Reinier had been keeping him around because of his appearance, his stage name probably wouldn’t be Clairvoyant Claude. "Fortune-telling is already a big part of my act. What the hell do we need another fortune teller for?"

"Yeah," another freak—Pearl, a multi-talented escape artist with no arms who instead ate her way through her restraints—added. "And she's 'shy'? Well, if she's too shy to give her fellow performers a little demonstration, how is she going to do it in front of an audience?"

"I just don't see why Mr. Reinier would hire her," Claude said, his brown eye fixed on Pearl while the blue-grey one seemed to look off into the distance. "Frankly, I don't think we have the space to be hiring anybody. And if he's thinking about kicking me out on the street for that old broad, he had better have a damn good reason. You know what, I'm gonna march into her trailer and find out what's so special—"

"Hey," Gallant interrupted. "Let's not get so worked up, you guys. I'm sure that if anyone was going to be let go, we'd have heard something about it by now. As for Madame Ilise, well, we'll see her routine at the show on Saturday, right? No need to be intrusive or aggressive her first week here, okay?" Claude sighed and shook his head. Many of the other freaks looked at each other with worry. Only Job and Kit continued looking up at Gallant with beaming smiles. He flashed the twins a smile and went on. "Tell you what, I will go back to the grounds and see what the others know. You guys just hang tight until Saturday, and if you say anything to Madame Ilise, try to be polite."

"Alright," Claude said with a nod. As he headed back towards his tent, the freaks could hear him muttering to himself, "Saturday. Just five days. Then I'll show Mr. Reinier who the only fortune teller around here ought to be."

For a moment, Gallant thought about trying to console Claude, but he decided it would be easier to let him have his private rage instead. Looking to Lola, he said, "Keep an eye on him, will you?"

"I'll keep all eighty-six eyes on him," Lola giggled. Her hair, which had been frozen still since the Madame's arrival, were now bouncing playfully. She hugged Gallant for the second time. "Thank you for everything, Frog. Sometimes I wonder how we survive down here without you."

With a grunt, Pete stood up from his crouch. He had been cleaning his boots, something he often did to distance himself when things got tense at the trailers. He acted like a pirate, but his close friends knew that Pete was a lover, not a fighter. He shook Gallant's hand and patted him on the back at the same time. "Good ta see ya, Frog. It'll be a pleasure ta have ye performin' on stage with us after so many years."

"Well, I'll just be in the audience," Gallant corrected him. "I haven't performed in years, and I barely remember my act. Plus, Mr. Reinier would never allow it."

"I think this week, my act'll call fer an audience participant," Pete chuckled and pulled Gallant into a hug—this time gentler than the last. "Oughta be our best show yet!"

Gallant smiled and hugged Pete back. "I'm looking forward to it."

"I'll see you guys soon," he said abruptly, giving the group a quick wave before walking briskly back to his tent. The sun was up now, and he only hoped that Siobhan wasn't so that he wouldn't have to tell her where he'd gone.