James Simon strolled through the pitch-black darkness of his big top. He wore his top hat cocked to the side of his bald head and held his silver cane tightly clutched in a gloved fist. Muffled chatter of circus goers could be heard all around him. Up in their seats where they belonged.
Upon reaching the center of the big top he looked up and smiled his jolly smile. The spotlight blared over his figure and the crowd applauded. “Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls,” he said. Words he had repeated so many times before. A citation of his station. “What you are about to see before you today will amaze you, it will spark a light of awe into your very eyes!” The audience ate it up. Their cheering was rampant, and it was music to James’ ears. “Behold! Ever since Jules Leotard hung bars over his father’s pool, many an acrobat has dreamed to be the best.
“Those who dared would add somersaults to their plunges through the air,” he continued. James waved his hands for affect. “To perform such a feat, you must travel fast… The Italians refer to the triple somersault as ‘solto mortale’… The deadly leap. The body travels so fast, that the brain simply loses track of where it is.” The crowd quieted down in anticipation for what he was to say next. “You may have seen this triple somersault before, maybe you have even seen a quadruple somersault, if you were lucky enough… No, my girls, my Darlings can do you not just one better than that, but three times as good. Here at the Simons Brothers Circus, my girls can do something nobody else can. A nonuple somersault!”
The audience cheered once again, spitting their excitement into the dusty air. “Without further ado, I give you the Simons Brothers Trapeze Darlings!”
Behind the curtain in the on-deck room, Jessica, the senior member and leader of the Trapeze Darlings readied her show. She looked upon her crew of younger, riper Darlings. “Alright girls let’s have a good show this afternoon. Angela, I want you to do the music alright? Taissa, you help her out. If all goes well girls, I think I might just have a surprise for you after the show.” The girls all smiled, and a few clapped in excitement. “Alright, here we go.”
Jessica and the girls stood in a straight line and held each other’s hands. Together they closed their eyes and when they opened them, they were standing together in the spotlight. The crowd which James had warmed up were already cheering for them and the cheering only grew louder.
Angela and Taissa broke off from the line. Angela was distinguished from the other Darlings by her short hair. She was almost bald. Taissa had longer hair, which was pulled up into a bun. The two were often quite the pair. Taissa was probably the least gifted of the Darlings, but she could do her part for the performance. Even Tabetha who had a reputation for screwing up tended to be more skilled than Taissa—albeit less popular. Angela by contrast could weave a spell so delightfully together that by this point the performance was a waste for her.
The two began to dance. Taissa and Angela waved their arms in a slithering motion and moved their hips much the same. As they danced the music grew louder and more and more instruments chimed in. At first it was just the sound of a beating drum, but after they danced, the trumpets and violins gushed through the big top. The more they moved their bodies the more music they conjured. If only the customers knew that there was no band, but of course, they never questioned where the music came from. They just knew that it was playing.
Soon the rest of the Darlings were dancing in a circular motion around Jessica, who stood in the middle. Jessica swung her hips, and slowly caressed her own body with her hands. She raised her arms. Per her command the rest of the girls raised their hands into the air and began to rise. Their feet were lifted off the earth.
As they lifted into the air, they all let their hair down. To the audience it looked like they were floating upwards toward the giant net which was above them. Like always, the audience shook it off as some neat circus trick—misunderstanding the magical abilities that her Darlings performed for them. Jessica continued to swing her hips. She looked up to see that her girls were all above waiting for her on the trapezes.
Now it was her turn. Jessica floated upwards and moved her arms to her chest. Then she quickly flung her hands outwards shooting a ball of fire from each hand. It flared into the net above her and burned away as she rose through the ashes it made. The audience gasped.
Every girl was in her place. There were three trapezes in total, one on either side that faced each other, and one large in the middle where Jessica stood with two other girls. Everyone continued their dancing, but the crowd paid the side trapezes no mind. All eyes were on Jessica.
She swayed and slowly knelt down and stood back up. Jessica stroked her body and legs as she moved, maintaining an impressive balance. Her hands never once grabbed the wires on the trapeze to hold herself up.
A girl was on either side of her, but they weren’t dancing. Instead they were holding onto the bar of the trapeze with the sockets behind their knees.
They hung upside down and performed a free-spirited belly dance. Taissa grabbed Angela’s hands and was released from her grip on the trapeze. She was now hanging by the grasp of Sarah. Using only her abdominal muscles, Sarah began to swing Taissa in her hands. She was then thrust upwards and she performed a single somersault before impressively landing feet first in Jessica’s outstretched hands. Jessica held her above her head and the crowd applauded, but the show had just begun.
Darlings flew left and right. They would swing from their swing, perform three somersaults, and then grab onto the other trapeze. Their synchronicity was always a crowd pleaser. All the while Jessica continued to dance.
At one-point, Tabetha and Monica linked hands midair. They collided and held on together while they then spun in a circle. They were like ballerinas on the dance floor, pirouetting through the heavens. After the spin was over each girl would then be thrust back toward the trapeze they started from.
Soon came the part that James had announced—but the Darlings were not to let the audience have it all at once. They would build it up for them. Their act was all foreplay for the nonuple somersault. Darlings would start by doing a quadruple somersault through the air, then a quintuple, and a sextuple. Followed by Oohs and Aahs of course. Until finally they were doing eight somersaults in a row. But Jessica was the one to do it. She was the one who would do the famous nonuple somersault. She was the only one that could.
She jumped from her center trapeze and landed on a tight wire below her. The wire bent downwards upon her impact and then flung her back up into the air where she was caught by one of her swinging Darlings. Jessica bided her time on the side trapeze. She waited for the rest of the girls to finish, they each did a triple somersault and then landed on the tight wire beneath. Slowly they formed a human pyramid on the wire. But the pyramid lacked a crown, and Jessica was going to give it one. She swung from her trapeze and spun herself in the air.
With each consecutive somersault she did, the audience cheered louder. Upon reaching nine somersaults she took a deep breath. Leaning forward, Jessica gave her motion a budge and brought it up to fifteen total somersaults. Fifteen. It felt as if she was just floating in a single spot in the air continuously rolling. Jessica finished her spin and landed at the top of the pyramid. Arms above her, ready to accept the praise from the audience who gladly gave it to her.
“Wasn’t that something folks!” James shouted to the crowd. “For those of you who were too entranced to count, that was fifteen somersaults! A world record for sure, and before your very eyes!”
Jessica smiled at her fans as did the rest of the Darlings. The music slowly died down, and the spotlight turned off. The clapping never turned off though. It could be heard throughout the whole circus forevermore. It shined as a the faint muzak which backgrounded the Darling’s personal tent. For Jessica’s girls the applause lasted forever.
Their tent was magnificent. It had pink and purple ribbons reaching all across the ceiling, cushions and pillows galore, and brilliant tapestry that served as separating walls so that each girl could have her own quarters.
The show was over, and they gathered in the center area of their tent hugging each other and giving one another praise. Jessica arrived from her own quarters and the girls all gave her an applause. “Way to go Jess!” Taissa said, “That was amazing” Sarah said.
“Oh, hush girls,” Jessica responded. “You all know that it was nothing, any of you could do exactly the same.”
“Yes, but James said you probably broke a world record!” Sarah said. Sarah was as blonde as it comes, Jessica thought, and a spitting image of herself ten years ago. They could almost be related except for Sarah’s brown eyes.
“Can it really be considered a world record though?” Taissa said. Her question jutted into the room much as the record scratch to Jessica’s applause.
“How do you mean?” Jessica asked. She furrowed her brow.
Taissa timidly rubbed her elbow. “You—We sort of cheat, yeah?”
Jessica tapped her fingers against her lips and frowned at the girl.
Angela cut in, “I don’t think that matters right? It was nevertheless impressive!” She followed her statement with a pitiful chuckle and appeasing eyes toward Jessica.
Jessica removed her fingers from her mouth. “Nevertheless, impressive yes, and nevertheless we all had a great show, not just me. Angela your dancing was simply tantalizing, and Sarah, my god I would have almost thought you weren’t using magic at all.” Sarah blushed. “And as happenstance I have procured a gift for you girls.”
The Darlings hopped in excitement. Jessica went into her quarters and came back holding something in her hands. It was concealed under a small black blanket. “Here you go!” she exclaimed. With that she snapped, and the blanket flew upwards as if a large gust of wind had blown it away. In Jessica’s hand was a small white puppy who sat panting happily.
“For studies or for us?” Angela asked timidly, stopping herself from petting the dog.
“No, no, this one is for keeping,” Jessica replied. They jumped and shrieked with excitement. Her Darlings gushed over their new friend. They pet him and kissed his tiny forehead. She noticed Taissa still clutching her elbow. Jessica looked back between Taissa and the puppy. “Unless something changes my mind.”
Over the sight of the girls clapping and pouncing towards the puppy, Jessica could see her husband entering the tent. Roland peeked over the coven from the tent flap door. He was tall and handsome, the epitome of normalcy, something abnormal in this setting. He wore blue slacks accompanied by a pink vest over a white dress shirt, with a dark purple tie as the cherry on top. Roland smiled at her and opened his arms to offer a hug from across the room. He held his arms open like that until Jessica reached him, and they finally embraced. “Nice show tonight honey, I heard all about it!”
“You didn’t see it?”
“No, I didn’t know you were going to do anything special tonight, otherwise I probably would have shown up.”
“Well I didn’t really know I was going to do it either,” she admitted. “Still you could have divined that something was great and showed up.”
“You’re the witch not me,” he chuckled nervously, “But uh, the girls look excited.”
She perused their happiness as if she were their mother plucking out smiles to offer anyone who asked. “Yeah, I gave them a puppy.”
He paused. “For uh, keeping?”
“We’ll see.” Jessica held his hand and led him out of the tent for a walk. She hugged Roland tight. He returned with a smile that didn’t quite seem genuine. It appeared and faltered simultaneously.
They walked together holding hands and not really saying anything. Customers could see Jessica and instantly recognize her even though she wasn’t in her Trapeze Darling garb. Most of them were too intimidated to say anything to her. They would stare from afar, some of them swooned. Some of the more awkward patrons wouldn’t even know how to react upon being in Jessica’s presence. They would clap all alone until they realized that the sound of a single person clapping wasn’t quite right.
“You were amazing! And such beauty too!” Some would say. The men who were confident enough would try to hit on Jessica even though her husband was right there. Roland would just sort of stare at them until they left. Passive.
The circus was almost always filled with people. Most of them were locals from whatever area the circus had set up in. Today was no exception. They were scattered throughout the many miscellaneous tents and attractions of the circus. For the children, the circus offered many carnival games and a few rides. The rusty carousel was always popular. The games were the biggest money maker next to the Trapeze Darlings. Parents basically shoveled cash into the circus coffers so their kids could play the games.
“Have you given the project anymore thought?” Roland asked.
Jessica paused. “Yes. Well. I don’t know, honey. Even if it draws more people we aren’t really going to be seeing much more money. It’ll likely go to the tamer if anyone… and James.”
“No, no. I spoke with James again. He said he’d give us 35% from the extra revenue for each show.”
“Look I have always wanted to see if it could be done… This is dark. Like, really dark magics. Even if I could do it, would it really draw that many more people in? I mean the Darling’s act is still a seat-filler. I don’t really see how this benefits us, honey.”
“I promised James that we’d do it.”
“Well I’m not scared of him,” Jessica retorted with a smile. She faced him and wrapped her arms around his shoulders.
“He’s my friend,” he said firmly.
She stepped back. “And I’m your wife.”
Roland and Jessica passed a gathering all huddled around something and cheering. They were mostly men (and smelly ones at that). Jessica couldn’t quite make out what they were all looking at. She clenched Roland’s hands and closed her eyes. Jessica looked through the abyss of bodies with her mind. Psychically, she traveled through a blue mental ether so that she could view what appeared to be a picnic table with two guys facing each other. “What is it dear?” Roland asked.
Jessica opened her eyes and blinked. “Looks like a bunch of men challenging some clown to arm wrestling matches.”
“A clown?”
“I know, just like them to be engaging the sweaty customers as such. Almost as if they aren’t even on the clock. They might as well be customers.” Jessica shook her head. “I should tell James to nix the clowns altogether.” In the distance, they could see the big top. It had giant stripes down the side of it that were either red or orange. “And while we’re at it get better coloring for the big top too. Everything is some sort of reddish color scheme. Boring.”
“I think that is just the circus style, people like the stuff they expect. Right?”
“What do you mean?” Jessica said.
“Reddish colors, shady carnies, even clowns. And James always does that ‘Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls’ line just cause he knows I like hearing it.”
“That’s true. Hey, speaking of…” Jessica looked off diagonally causing Roland to do the same. Walking toward them from a distance was James Simon, the ringmaster. Though to most he was simply Mr. Simon. He still wore his top hat, but he no longer had his cane with him. James was dressed in a nicely pressed black suit. The jacket ran long on him in the back with two triangular points at the bottom. He had a groomed white beard to make up for his bald head.
James didn’t speak to them until he got closer. “Jess, congratulations on the show this afternoon, riveting!” Jessica broke her grip on Roland’s hand to return the hug that James offered her. James then turned to Roland, “You sure got yourself a good one eh?” He gave him a hug as well.
“Yes, I’m a very lucky guy,” Roland looked at James for a few seconds before turning to smile at his wife.
“Not too lucky huh Roland,” she winked at him then turned her attention to James. Jessica put up one of her hands as if to shield her mouth from Roland. “He missed my big performance.”
“You’re never going to let me live that down are you?” Roland said.
James smiled. “Well I was there, it was stupendous. And rather risky wouldn’t you think Jess?” Jessica looked unamused. “You were probably free floating in the air for 10-20 seconds. I’m amazed nobody has called a witch hunt.”
“Relax James,” Jessica crossed her arms and furled her brow. “You know just as much as I that no matter what they see, they will chalk it all up to circus hocus pocus.”
“You better hope that its circus hocus pocus and not witchcraft hocus pocus they suspect. Even so we don’t want people thinking we are trying to pull one off on them anyways.”
“Well,” Roland interjected. “We are, aren’t we?” He looked at James and smiled.
James placed a tender hand on Roland’s back and chuckled. “Heh, you’re not wrong.” He paused and looked Roland up and down. “Where are you two off to anyways on this fine evening?”
“Just out for a stroll,” Jessica answered. “Come on Roland, we should—”
Just then a crew man ran up out of the crowd. He was a young man, on the short side. The man wore dirt brown overalls and a rolled up white shirt. He had a grey ivy cap on his head. “Boss, sir, Mr. Simon,” he spat out before stopping to pant. “There’s a situation, in the uh,” he pointed to the clown tent.
“What kind of situation?” James asked.
“I don’t know exactly except I think a customer got hurt, one of the clowns told me to come get you. The head clown I think? They all look the same.”
“Those fucking clowns… alright we’ll see to it,” James turned to Jess and Roland. “You want to tag along?”
Jessica was about to say no when Roland said, “Sure.”
“Oh, uh, beg your pardon sir,” the crewman said. “The clown said there was a lot of blood. I don’t know if’—”
“Trust me, whatever it is, she has seen far worse,” Roland said. “Let’s go.”
James had this swagger to his walk when he needed to be somewhere. Nobody dared get in his way. For Jessica and Roland, it was if they had a police escort down a busy highway. Customers basically cleared a path for him.
The clown tent smelt rank. It had moldy looking crates stacked all over each other. Their bunk beds appeared as if they hadn’t been cleaned in months. Not even between locations.
About five or so clowns were in the tent, a few standing near the mess, but most sat on their bunks and looked at the situation from there. One clown greeted James as he entered. That clown had white makeup like the rest, he was balding but had hair on the side of his head. He must have put some kind of product in it because it stuck out unnaturally and it was crimson red. His build could have been muscular, but there was no good way to tell. Probably fat. The clothes he wore were comically oversized. “Sir, you should know, it’s a customer,” the clown said.
He turned toward the body that laid on the floor. The customer was face in the ground, back to the sky. Blood was pooling all around him. It looked to be a boy, perhaps 16 to 19 years old. “What happened?” James asked nobody in particular. He scowled at the body.
“We dunno sir,” said the clown that greeted them. “My brother Rufus was the first to find him.” He motioned to one of the clowns on the bunks. Rufus was sitting with his leg sort of gyrating up and down.
James walked over to him and kneeled to be at the same face level. “Son, was he like this when you found him?” Rufus responded with a nod. “Was this you?” Rufus shook his head.
“I just walked in here,” he choked out. “He was on the floor. Face down. I poked him.”
“You poked him?”
“Yes sir. I poked him and said ‘hey buddy you okay?’ Thought maybe he was drunk. I didn’t know why anyone would just be laying on the floor like that.” James looked back at Jessica and Roland and made a quizzical face, he also shrugged slightly at them before turning his attention back to the clown.
James rubbed his face. “Okay, thank you, clown.” James stood up and looked back at Roland and Jessica again. Jessica silently walked over to the corpse laying on the ground and studied it. She placed her hand on the boy’s back. He felt cold, but not too cold, clearly it happened in the last hour or so.
She grabbed the boy’s shoulder and flipped him over so that he was on his back. Upon hitting the floor his arm splashed in a puddle of his own blood. Some of it got on Jessica’s dress. She wanted so badly to simply wave her hands over it and make it disappear so that it wouldn’t set, but noticed the clowns were all looking at her. Instead she simply tried to put the blood out of her mind. What was most interesting about the corpse was the neck. It appeared to have been slashed open by something, perhaps a knife, or a sharp piece of metal? It was curious.
Jessica gave the room a quick glance, but there didn’t seem to be anything that looked like it was used for this. James walked quickly over to where Jessica was and grabbed her arm. He hoisted her up and marched her over to where Roland was standing and leaned in closely to her. “This wasn’t you or your coven’s work was it?” he whispered angrily. Roland put his hand over his eyes and rubbed his forehead slightly; then he walked away while waving his hand as if to signify his acknowledgement for not being relevant to the conversation.
“Don’t call us a coven,” Jessica whispered back in a shrill jab. “And no, this wasn’t me, nor do I believe it was any of my girls. I mean look at that,” she glanced at the body. “All that blood gone to waste; my girls are better than that.”
“Good.”
James had answered her, but he didn’t seem satisfied. His morose glare still judged her as if she were guilty. Behind him she could see Roland standing by the tent flap. He was looking to leave it seemed. “Besides,” Jessica spat out suddenly. “This is exactly what we need.”
“How so?” James said. Roland meanwhile had crossed his arms and was angling his ear towards them.
“For your idea. The,” she paused. “Project,” she said enunciating every syllable.
Jessica nodded, and smiled at her husband, who looked relieved. James turned around and looked at the clowns who awaited his word. “It’s such a pity isn’t it gents,” he looked at the slit throat. “How one of our elephants got in here I have no idea.” The clowns looked confused. “This man must have provoked it somehow, to be squished to death, what a way to go,” James turned and looked at the clown who greeted them at the entrance. “Isn’t it?”
“Yes, what a shame, those elephants are unpredictable I suppose,” the head clown said.
James nodded, “I’ll get a crew to clean this up, in the meantime you’ll need to relocate your… posse.”
“But we don’t have anywhere else to go! This is our tent.”
“It was an elephant that did this, maybe you’ll keep watch on it tonight,” James peered at Jasper. “You know, for safety, there is plenty of space in the animal pens.”
“Yes sir,” he muttered.
Adam McDonald 