Today's work!

[opheliassister]

I backed out of the tent slowly, feeling silly for intruding on their perfect family portrait. Everyone was waiting for me at breakfast. I saw Jamie stumbling out of our wagon, and he saw me coming from the healer’s tent. He grunted a greeting, his eyes not really open and his mind not really awake, or was it the other way around? I sat near Ricky, who sort of turned and smiled at me. He was the closest thing I had to a friend here, the only one who treated me like an equal. Uncle Seamus always said if we found a deaf person, we’d be like the three monkey statues on his nightstand. See no evil, speak no evil, hear no evil. If that person ever came along, I’d give them the biggest hug in the world. Too bad Miss Senga wasn’t deaf; I’d like to hug her.
“I saw you at the healer’s tent, Jasper. Did you go see the pretty lady and the baby?” Jamie said, nudging me in the shoulder, hard. “I think you like her.” He winked at me, acting like the slimy greaseball. Emerson winked as well, and put an arm around Louise’s tiny waist, pulling her close to nibble on her ear. That was so disgusting, ears were weird. They curled like sea shells, and ear wax smelled like rotten seaweed. I didn’t like the ocean. And I wish I knew why. Uncle Seamus and Aunt Ellie came from the sea shore, as did my mother. Or so they told me. Everything I knew about my mother; I learned from them. I learned that I looked more like her than my brother did. And that she liked to sing and glue sea shells to mirror frames, and sometimes she combined the two. Every so often, I’d get flashes of memories. Visions of glue guns and broken mirror pieces laying on a table, and a little hand, as small as Louise’s reaching up for something. Then the monsters come and everything turns red. I try to scream, but as usual , nothing but noiseless air comes out. When the monsters go away, I’m on the floor or the ground or curled up in a ball in the corner with Ricky or Uncle Seamus petting my hair, and wiping the corners of my mouth, and I can taste blood. Aunt Ellie calls it epilepsy; I call it a nightmare.
“Oy, Jas, back to earth please. The roster’s posted for today. You have the day off again; but don’t worry, tomorrow I’m putting you to work with the animals.” Uncle Seamus said, pouring me a glass of juice. “Today, just keep an eye on the newcomers, see what they’re capable of. They seem to like you well enough. Auntie will be by later with things for the new baby.”
I liked that assignment well enough. The baby didn’t seem to fuss much. I didn’t like that about children, how they always cried and screamed and threw tantrums that made my eardrums feel like they were going to bleed. Jamie said it was because I was jealous I couldn’t make noise too; he liked that about me, how I was always quiet and didn’t talk his ear off. That’s what he had girlfriends for. Jamie had a girlfriend in every state we stopped in. So when he brought one to the wagon for the night, he didn’t have to worry about me yelling at him in protest. Most of the time, I ended up sleeping in Ricky’s tent.
Ricky got up from the table carefully. “I want to go visit the newcomers. I’m feeling something hidden, something in the shadows.” That was odd. All I could see when I looked at them was light and clouds and sweetness. Ricky looked down at me and shrugged. Somehow, he always knew what I was thinking. I was always left wondering whether or not he was my brother instead of Jamie. I gulped my juice down as quickly as I could, just wanting to see Miss Senga and Indiana again. I followed close behind Ricky, making a game of jumping in the shadow he cast on the ground behind him, trying to hold it down. I had read that in a story once, about a boy losing his shadow and having to sew it back on. Shadows couldn’t do that though. They were always with you.
I heard Ricky laugh, and he reached behind his back to try and swat at me. He missed. R came out of the tent before us, and laughed when he saw Ricky and I playing.
“You have a sister.” I heard Ricky say softly, stopping in his tracks. “You miss her, don’t you? The little bundle in Senga’s arms makes the pain go away for awhile. Because they look alike.”
Tucker stared at Ricky, a momentary look of confusion and sadness crossing his face. “Her name is Rion. And yes, her and Indiana look the same, especially when Rion was newborn.” He said, his voice barely a whisper. “How did you know?”
“When one sense doesn’t work, the others become stronger. For many here, it’s that sixth sense.” Ricky explained, tapping the sides of his Ray-Ban sunglasses. He’d splurged on those, saying that they made him look cooler than the rest of us carnies. They kept his eyes from becoming more damaged than they already were. And they also suited him. I could see myself in them, the reflection was so shiny.
Tucker shook his head, smiling to himself. “If you see anything about Indy, please don’t tell Senga. She’s been under a great deal of stress lately, and anymore wouldn’t be good for her recovery.” I heard Ricky agree to that, but I had already heard that voice singing softly to the baby. It was like the silkiest of ribbons of sounds wrapping themselves around my head, and burying themselves in my eardrums. And I could just smell the ocean, and the smell of hot glue. Everything else just melted away.
I felt Ricky put his hand on my shoulder. It felt so far away. “I got a good read on him. I’ll surprise him later with more.” He whispered, pushing past me into the tent.
“Miss Senga, it’s good to finally meet you.” He said softly. “And the baby, you named her Indiana. What an interesting name. Why did you name her that?”
Miss Senga smiled at him, and me. “We were watching a movie at home, one of the Indiana Jones ones, and I went into labor. Tucker and I were having trouble with names, so we felt that one was appropriate. ”
“But, if you were at home, how did you end up here? Why didn’t you just go to the hospital?” I finally said. Miss Senga shook her head.
“We were so rushed, and nervous and excited, we totally forgot at first. We were on our way to the hospital when our car broke down, and I panicked. Really bad. It felt like… someone was after me and the baby. So I got out of the car and ran.” She said softly, adjusting the baby in her arms.
“But something was after the baby.” Ricky said, in a whisper so soft, I could barely hear him, even though I was standing right next to him. Then his words sunk in. Something was after the child? What if it had followed them to our carnival? Ricky’s head turned towards me, and smiled what I thought was a reassuring smile. “Don’t worry, Jas. I would have sensed the presence before I felt Senga and Tucker.”
Miss Senga, however, looked pale and scared. She was clutching the baby, like we were demons of the night who were going to snatch the little girl for our sacrifices. Her knuckles had gone white, with the little creases of skin that stayed pink starting to fade in color. The baby cried out; she must have been pinched a little by her mother. The poor little girl’s face went all pink, and the screaming continued. I clapped my hands over my ears; I hated that sound. How could something so little make a sound so big? Senga let her grip on the child loosen, and started the long process of quieting the baby down. When she started singing to the child, I saw Ricky’s face go slack for a moment, as if he were under a spell. My head felt all foggy, like the clouds were rolling into my brain. All I could hear was her sweet voice and her promises that were equally as sweet. I felt like I was the baby, being held in her arms and cooing softly. I thought I heard someone come into the tent from behind me, but I didn’t acknowledge it. I was wrapped up in a soft blanket, listening to my mother sing to me. The singing abruptly stopped, and all at once, the fog lifted and dried up. I heard Ricky fall on his knees with a loud thump, and he was sniffling, as if he was crying. I opened my own eyes, wondering when they had closed, and saw I had slumped to the floor as well. I was looking down at the dirt floor, and I was crying as well. The little drops of salt water were quickly absorbed into the dirt. When I looked up, I saw Tucker and Senga both looking horrified.
“Oh, Jasper, Ricky, I’m so sorry! It just slipped…” Miss Senga said, looking like she was going to start crying as well.
Ricky looked up at Senga, looking horrified as well. “What are you?” he asked, “No, don’t. It’s coming to me… A Siren? A Siren.” He had taken his sunglasses off, and was staring at the family, his blank, pale eyes seeming to flash with emotion. I was trying to remember what a siren was exactly. But I couldn’t. I didn’t really pay attention in school when I went. There was a tutor in the carnival, Harris was his name, for us kids. But he was only with us for the winter time. We couldn’t afford him year round, which was fine by me. I liked the traveling in the summer time. He’d try and give us a reading list every year, but it didn’t stick. Though one year I did read The Odyssey, written by a guy named Homer. I don’t remember much of what happened in it, but they were on the ocean for a very long time, always traveling to one strange island or the next, encountering a stranger monster than the next. I don’t remember the sirens though. I made a mental note to look them up before I went to bed.