Jimmy,
The Glue Factory and Mad Mr Viscous,chapter
four
Chapter Four
The Circus of Grotesques
The Circus of Grotesques was not your usual, run of the mill type of circus, no; it was more akin to an exhibition than a circus, but to the two boys, Jimmy and Eric, as they sat there in their seats, waiting patiently for the performance to begin, it was everything they had imagined – and then some. Looking around the huge marquee, at all the other people, also waiting patiently for the show to begin, the boys could hardly contain their excitement. The air was alive – electric with anticipation.
“Eric,” Jimmy whispered. “Look!” He pointed to an opening to the rear of the circus ring. “I think someone’s coming!” He was right; in the shadows there was definitely something happening. Then they saw him; they saw the ringmaster, a small, rotund individual, wearing a garishly coloured tailed jacket, an even gaudier pair of trousers and the biggest top hat they had ever seen, making his way out.
“It’s the ringmaster, “Eric yelled.
“Shush,” Jimmy chided.
In silence, Eric watched, his eyes never leaving the ringmaster, as he made his way out to the ring. When he arrived, at the very centre, the ringmaster, cracking his whip, stared up at everyone waiting patiently looking down at him, in anticipation for what he was about to say. After what seemed like an eternity, he raised his hands high into the air, calling for quiet. The audience fell silent. He began speaking. “Ladies and geeentlemen,” he said, “Welcome to the Circus of Grotesques – perhaps the Greeeatest Show on Earth!” With that, the audience erupted into applause, so loud the boys’ eardrums hurt.
Raising his hands, the little man beckoned for silence. “Thank you, thank you,” he said modestly. “I can see that you are looking forward to our little show.” Another round of applause, almost as load as the first, erupted across the huge marquee.
Scratching his chin, eyeballing his audience, the ringmaster said, “Can I take it that you – none of you – have seen the show before?”
No one answered. An eerie calm fell across the huge marquee.
Scratching his chin, seeking further clarification, the ringmaster said, “Let me put it another way… has anyone here been to this circus, before?”
No one spoke, no one said yes.
Apparently satisfied, smiling capriciously, the ringmaster said, “Excellent! Let the performance begin.” Cracking his whip, he signalled for the first act to come on.
From out of the shadows, a man and a boy with heads lowered made their way slowly, tentatively, across to the centre of the ring. After whispering a few words into the man’s ear, the ringmaster departed, disappearing into the shadows from whence he had come.
There had been no applause, this time, when the man and boy had entered the ring. The plain, nondescript, low-key appearance of this the first act, left them far too unimpressed to offer any.
“What are they supposed to be?” a boy who was sitting not far from Jimmy and Eric, shouted.
Another child that Jimmy presumed was the brother, said, “Laurel and Hardy, by the look of them, HAH, HAH!” The first boy joined in with his brother’s rude laughing.
The man in the circus ring, lifting his head, stared up at the rude boys, with eyes so red, so piercing they became decidedly uncomfortable.
“Mum, tell him to stop,” said the first boy, in fright.
“Yeh, mum, tell him, tell him!” the second one implored, squirming in his seat.
The mother said nothing, not a word, for she too was decidedly uncomfortable with the man’s staring red eyes. She tried to ignore them, but it was impossible, for his piercing red eyes kept drawing hers, to his.
“What’s happening?” Eric whispered.
Shrugging, Jimmy replied, “Dunno – but whatever it is, it’s good!”
Finally speaking, the red-eyed man whispered something into the ear of the boy accompanying him. Having received his instructions, the boy walked away from the man and into the audience, towards two particularly bad mannered children. As he made his way up the steps, there were terrified gasps as his full, true appearance became manifest. You see, the boy, the child, was so white, so very, very white; in truth he had the appearance of a corpse.
Whimpering, watching the corpse-child getting closer and closer, the rude boys begged their mother to stop him, but what could she do, short of shouting, telling him (and his father?) to leave them be, that they were there for the show, not for a scaring.
As if he had heard her very thoughts, the man said, “I thought that was what you came here for – a fright?”
Whimpering almost as much as her unruly children, the woman said, “No, not this…” and with that, she whisked her two boys down the steps, past the corpse-child, and out of the marquee. Everybody was stunned, shocked by what they had just witnessed.
In silence, the corpse-child returned to the circus ring, to the plain looking man, apart from his piercing red eyes, that is. Then without as much as a by your leave, man and boy exiting the circus ring disappeared into the shadows –they were gone.
“WOW! WOW!” said Jimmy, ecstatic with excitement, “That’s what I call real spooky!”
Eric, getting goosepimply all over, wishing that he had stuck to his guns, when he had said that he was having second thoughts about going to the circus, made no reply.
“That was good!” Jimmy continued, oblivious to how Eric was feeling. “It was really, really good!”
As with their appearance, the audience offered the man and child no applause when they left; they were far too scared by what they had seen to chance doing that.
Thirteen other acts, performances, followed the man and corpse-child, all of them appearing from deep within the shadows, all personally introduced by the ringmaster and all of them as strange and bizarre as the first. After each one was finished, having frightened, scared, sickened, tormented or tortured the hapless audience, they also returned to the shadows from which they had come.
Finally, the ringmaster returned for the very last time. Cracking his whip, he said, “Ladies and geeentlemen…” The audience, feeling it was now safe to applause, exploded into spontaneous, rapturous clapping and cheering, shouting their approval at what they had seen. Eric and Jimmy’s eardrums ached all over again.
Raising his hands, the ringmaster called for calm. “Ladies and geeentlemen,” he said, “I am so happy to see that you have enjoyed our little show! The Circus of Grotesques – It will change your life forever!” The audience, all of them, applauding like mad, stood up, cheering the fat little man as he left the circus ring for the very last time.
