Welcome to the Underground Circus

Cups and Swords and Fools

 

As Paul and his friends worked their way through the winding aisle lined with games and treats, drinking their frozen lemonades and headed for the big tent, to Paul it was like parading around inside of Wonderland. If Wonderland were a circus. And also in a cave. He supposed he did technically get here by falling into a hole in the ground, but the circus was way better. Singing flowers and tea parties would have been a terrible way to spend the evening.

As they approached what Paul assumed was the big top, they saw a long, snaking line of people waiting to get in. He knew there had to be at least a hundred people at this “hidden” underground circus.

“Awe, man, that line is ridiculous. It doesn’t even seem like there should be this many people here. Let’s go back and get something else to eat. We completely skipped over one of those tents that looked like it had funnel cakes,” whined Steve, then he gulped the last of his lemonade.

“I don’t have room for any more sweets,” said Doug. As if to prove his point, he belched so obscenely loudly that the people nearest them moved for fear of being puked on.

Paul shook his head too. “Yeah, no. If I have one more bite of something sugary, I’m going to barf.”

Wade tossed his empty cup in a nearby trashcan and adjusted his wig. It had been creeping sideways for the better part of thirty minutes and not one of the boys was going to mention it to him. “So what are we thinking? Do we want to just wait in line like everyone else?”

“No,” said Paul quickly. Waiting in line was the last thing he wanted to do. He didn’t slide down into an underground circus to wait. He searched through the crowd around him, intent on finding a tent they hadn’t gone into yet. Off to one side of the striped big top was a round, black tent. It was tucked behind a few others, almost as if it were hiding. This piqued Paul’s curiosity. A group of girls rushed out of it in a nervous laughing fit.

Paul pointed to it. “What do you think is in there?”

After the girls emerged, no one else was going into it. In fact, it seemed like people were actively ignoring its existence. Even Paul’s friends were shuffling their feet once they got a glimpse of it.

“Come on,” said Paul, “who’s with me?”

“It looks like something different. I don’t think it has games or food.”

Paul blinked at Wade, wondering how on earth he could still be hungry. “They wouldn’t have set it up if there wasn’t something inside of it.”

Steve gave Wade a dejected smile, then sighed and shrugged his bony shoulders. “Might as well. It’s better than just standing here.”

“I’m up for anything,” said Doug, who had pulled out his phone and was tapping the screen like a madman. “I don’t have service down here.”

“Who cares?” said Paul, trying to keep his voice down. “We didn’t come here so you could play on your phone. And we didn’t come here,” he shot an accusatory look at his two best friends, “so you guys could go all bored and lame on me. It’s almost midnight and then the show will start. Let’s go look at this one last thing before they open the… I guess, tent flaps.”

“Yeah, let’s go look into the spooky black tent in the corner. Come on, guys, it’ll be fun,” said Wade with monotone mockery.

Paul shook his head. “There’s the lack of enthusiasm I was looking for.”

“It’s just that I’m tired. And hungry. And we’ve been running around forever.”

Doug, who had been oblivious to everything said around him, finally put his phone in his pocket and looked at Paul. “Are we going or what?”

Steve was yawning, Wade was still complaining about food, and Paul was grinding his teeth, annoyed that they were already giving up on the night. Without saying a word, Paul tugged on his ripped, frayed jacket and spun on his heel, headed right for the black tent. If the guys wanted to be lame, that was their problem. He had come to have fun.

 

 

 

 

 

A slim crack in the tent flaps gave a dim view of a table lit by candlelight. Paul hadn’t gone far to get there but the sounds of the games and the music from the other tents had faded, like Paul had wandered away from the fun. He only hesitated a moment before pulling the opening wide and peering in.  

A woman was bent over a round table covered in a black cloth, her long silver hair spilling over her thin shoulders in a silken waterfall and a black sheath dress that was covered with a thick, black cloak. Fingerless gloves coated her smooth hands. All of it was very goth. She was the first circus performer he’d seen since they arrived and she was muttering to herself like a loon. It looked to Paul like she was reading something intense, something that took all of her concentration. He wondered if she just couldn’t see for lack of light. It was so dark in the little tent that Paul had to squint just to see her. Everywhere else had been so bright Paul wondered why her tent was so gloomy.

Paul cleared his throat and her head shot up, eyes glowing yellow against the darkness. It caused an uncomfortable weight to settle in the pit of Paul’s belly. He couldn’t stop staring at her eyes despite the brilliant smile she gave him. They had to be contacts, he knew. But they were so vivid, so realistic.

“What are you doing? Are those tarot cards?” Steve had walked right past Paul and up to the table and had begun fingering the edges of the deck. They were frayed and yellowed from time and though he knew them to be useless and silly, they still made Paul a touch uncomfortable.

The woman with the silver hair snatched them up quickly, even picking up the ones she had laid out with fingers stained like they had been dipped in an ink well. When she turned to Steve, the spell that had fallen over Paul abruptly fell away. Her stained and limber fingers moved quickly, bending and twisting with a speed he didn’t think was possible, as the cards fluttered between them. Her long black sleeves danced along with the deck making her movement as fluid as running water. After a few flourishes, she held the black deck out to Steve.

“Pick a card. Let me look at your future,” she said, her voice as rich as a chocolate cake.

Her kohl-lined eyes were lit with intensity and her mouth buttoned in a neutral line.

Steve chuckled and didn’t hesitate to grab a card from the center of the deck. When he plopped it down on the stand she said, “The Hierophant, reversed. You’re a rule breaker.”

“Not intentionally,” he muttered as his freckled cheeks turned a slight shade of pink.

“Dude, you get in trouble all the time,” Wade said as he barreled his way between Paul and Steve. “She nailed you, man. I thought this tent was going to be something creepy,” he laughed.

The woman, who Paul noticed was actively ignoring Wade, dangled the card in front of Steve. “You probably broke a few rules coming out here tonight, I bet.” When the pink on his face deepened to red, she smiled, showing off a few gold teeth and a dimple. “If you like rule-breaking, then you’re going to have some fun tonight. Who wants to go next?”

“I will.” Wade even raised his hand like he was in class or something. Paul was fine not having to pick a card.

He looked around for his brother, eager to have an excuse to leave. Something about this girl and her deck made him sweat. Not that he believed in divination. Or demons. Or ghosts. Paul loosened his collar. “Where is Dougie?”

“He’s just outside the tent. I think he’s still trying to find service down here.” Wade was taking his card choice very seriously, letting his hand idle over the offered deck.

Steve rolled his eyes for Paul to see and shoved Wade lightly. “Just pick a card already.”

Wade pulled a card after the woman encouraged him to choose or let someone else have a go, and he stood there looking at it, trying to decipher it himself. “Please tell me this isn’t a bad omen,” he asked, concerned.

The card was strange. A man was hanging from his ankle and his arms were joined behind his back. Paul thought Wade was right to be concerned because it did look pretty ominous.

“The Hanged Man. You’re coming up on a crossroads.”

“That doesn’t sound so bad,” he sighed. Wade scratched his scalp and his heavy wig slid back showing his own matted hair.

“A decision will have to be made and a sacrifice will be required.” She grinned, her metallic teeth glittering under the low lights.

Wade swallowed hard and looked to Paul, who assured him, “It’s not real. It’s a silly card game and it’s Halloween. She’s just trying to scare you.”

Wade seemed to calm after that. Paul looked over to the woman as the deck whirred between her hands and his nerves jolted.

She sniffed, “A silly game? Well, let’s see what the cards have to say about you.”

As she held the deck out to Paul he realized that he didn’t want to play.

“Don’t worry,” she assured him. “They won’t bite.”

Paul didn’t want to, but he also didn’t want to look like a chicken after what he’d said, so he reached out and took the first card that he touched. He flipped it onto the table and on its face was a circle with squiggly lines and three animal hybrids on it. “What is it?”

Her full lips pursed. “It’s the Wheel of Fortune – destiny versus free will.”

He didn’t know exactly what that meant, and she stood there staring hard like there was small writing around the edges she couldn’t decipher. Her head snapped up and she pushed the deck at him. “Pick another.”

“I don’t want to,” he said. “When are they going to open up the big tent?”

“Any moment now,” she purred. Her delicate fingers tapped the top of her deck. “We have time for one last card before you take your seats.”

When Paul didn’t move to take another, she held them even closer. “Please?”

How could he say no to those pouty lips and batting eyelashes? Even though she made him slightly uncomfortable, she was also very pretty. She hadn’t asked the other guys to pull a second card, so that made him feel a bit special. Also, he was the one who had had the bright idea to come into this tent. He needed to play along to save face.

Paul sighed hard and dragged another card from her smelly old deck. He didn’t bother looking at it as he tossed it down but the look on her face, like a shadow had fallen over her, caused his throat to tighten.

“Interesting,” she said more to herself than to Paul.

“What’s this card say?” he croaked.

Her yellow gaze shot through him, searing him, but her mouth curled up at the ends. It was an unwelcome, intimidating smile.

“You told us what ours meant,” said Wade, “so tell him.”

She paused, clutching her cards close to her, forced smile still in place. “You’re a fighter,” she whispered, her hands caressing the edges of the cards. “And when given an ultimatum, you decide quickly and you act. Maybe you don’t always have a plan, but you move your feet. You seem to have a knack for finding a way out.” She said the last bit as though it was some clue Paul needed to hear.

“Okay… and what does that mean?”

The girl with the silver hair stood straight and took in a deep breath, but before she could speak, a voice boomed over the speakers. “Ladies and gentlemen, it is midnight at last. Time for the Underground Circus to begin.”

“Uh, I guess we should be going then,” Paul stuttered.

Steve and Wade were excited to get into the big tent and piled out quickly with Doug right behind, glaring at his bright phone screen again. Paul suddenly felt abandoned as the black flaps closed behind him. It wasn’t helping that the card reader’s eyes began to glow again and her nimble fingers were walking themselves over the cards and across the table toward him.

She winked a mesmerizing eye at him. “While you’re enjoying the circus tonight, don’t forget what I said.”

He just stood there, staring. He would never forget what she said. And he would never forget the glow of those eyes.

“Or would you rather stay here with me?” she asked with a hungry grin.

Paul swallowed hard. His heart pounded against his ribs. What should he do? He felt like he should say something, but what? Paul had never been in this type of situation before. And while he was thinking, she was growing ever closer, her grin widening and her stained fingers just out of reach.

Paul stopped thinking. His feet scurried backward and his mouth decided to shout, “No thanks!” as he fled the tent.

“What was that all about?” he asked himself as he rushed to catch up with his brother. “Dougie!”

There was still a sizable line to get into the now open tent and Doug and Paul’s friends were waiting at the end of it.

Paul couldn’t walk fast enough and nearly began to run, suddenly afraid that the tarot reader was giving chase. He felt that her glowing eyes were watching his every step.

“Dougie!” he shouted again.

“What?” Doug yelled back.

As Paul drew closer, his feet slowed. There was Doug, Steve, and Wade, and not a one of them was afraid. None of them seemed concerned that the silver-haired card reader was going to leave her spooky tent and grab them with blackened fingers. Just him. That realization made him second-guess what had happened. Had she intended to hurt him? Maybe simply scare him since it was, after all, Halloween? Or had he just run away from a pretty woman who thought he was cute?

Paul’s cheeks burned a bright red as he sidled up to his brother.

“What were you yelling for?” asked Doug.

Paul knew that he had to have been wrong about her wanting to hurt him. She was just trying to scare him and had done a great job. He knew that if he told his brother that he had run from her that he would never hear the end of it. Paul shoved his hands in his pockets and was grateful that his zombie makeup was covering the worst of his blush. “Nothing.” He shuffled his foot around and looked at the patrons around them.

Doug shot him a dark look. “Nothing?”

Paul shrugged. “I couldn’t find you guys. I didn’t want to get left behind.”

“What?” To Paul’s surprise, Doug began to laugh. He pointed at Steve and Wade, who were both ogling some older girls farther up in the line, and said, “If you left me with these stooges for the rest of the night I’d have to kill you.”

“What?” Steve pulled his gaze from the tall girl in the milkmaid costume.

Paul chuckled, relieved to be back with his friends and back into the music and chaos of the circus. “Nothing,” he said as he punched Steve lightly on the arm. “Now, who are we talking about?”