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Carnival
By: Skydaemon

The carnival had just arrived in town. It brought with it all the normal and necessary parts of a carnival. The noise, the lights, and worst of all the smell. I’ve always hated carnivals. Even when I was a child, my parents would take me and I would spend the entire night bored or crying. I maintain that it was because something horrible happened there, but my parents would never confirm that suspicion.

So, the newest and latest version of the carnival had arrived. Despite hating it, I always went to visit. Call it morbid curiosity or just plain routine stubbornness but there I was waiting in line for tickets to spend. It never failed. Once a year a carnival came and once a year twenty bucks found their way out of my pocket and into their hands.

This year looked better than last year’s. The ferris wheel appeared to have been repaired, the clowns weren’t all overweight, and the freak show had some new additions. The standards were still there, the bearded lady, the firebreather, the sword swallower. They had added a strong man (still stereotypical, but new for us), a man who was strikingly similar to a penguin, and the one attraction that would be sure to draw a crowd, a three-breasted woman. Now I know anyone who’s seen Total Recall has seen this one, but there’s something about the male mind that can’t resist the impulse. I was no different.

The tent that housed the new freaks was located at the back of the lot. The same lot had been used for 24 years now. You could smell the elephants and horses more clearly at the back, which always made visiting the freak show an additional torture. As I past most of the other attractions, I noticed that they also had a new fortune teller. The same woman had been doing it for about 10 years. I couldn’t even remember the face of the woman before that. But now, there was a man.

As I past, he gave me a look of complete absurdity. The look portrayed a belief that I could not possibly exist. That hippogriffs and unicorns must be directly behind me would have been more believable to his eyes. He motioned for me to come over, but I quickly pressed on. He called to me, begging me to come back, but like I said, carnivals have something horrible in them.

I made it to the freak show without any other occurrences. I paid my five tickets to get in, plus the additional two for the pass to see the modern female marvel. I stopped and watched every performance, having long ago memorized their routines. The new freaks were admirable in their showman-like skills of captivating the eye. They held real promise of one day progressing onto the Jerry Springer show. But, I could hardly wait for the final display.

Now, I must admit that I am a pretty average man. No stunning features and certainly very little abnormal inclinations. But a man I still am, and could not resist the temptation of this. I entered the final tent and there she stood. She was short, maybe only five feet tall, had long blonde hair and was dressed in very tasteful clothing. That was of course a shock, but nevertheless she had a certain beauty that caught you in its grasp and would not let go. As I managed to pry my eyes from her for a second, I noticed that she had the same power over everyone else here. All but one anyway.

There was a very large man on the far side of the tent. He must be almost seven feet tall and muscles everywhere you can think of. His muscles must have had muscles. It was almost disgusting. At first I thought he was security, but after a quick sweep I found where they actually were. This man was a spectator, but he had a different look to him. There was no anticipation, no enjoyment, this was work somehow.

As the tent flap closed and the show started, we all fell into a trance. She danced more beautifully than any butterfly that has graced the wind. The ground seemed to disappear as she began revealing her unique qualities. But just before we could catch a glimpse of her attractions, the tent flap flew open. The light from just outside caused a weird glare on the interior as my eyes adjusted. It was the fortune teller.

He came into the tent, yelling in some foreign language at the woman we had all come to see. She looked at him with a puzzled look at first and then comprehension hit her. Her eyes grew and I could finally see the fullness of the green that was kept there. And just as she turned to run, a large rock flew out of the side and hit her in the back.

It had missed her head by less than an inch. She was lucky that she was so short. The large man was standing and trying to make his way towards her. The fortune teller ran towards her just as I was standing. What compelled me to run to her aid, I have no idea. I hurdled two people who were still sitting in front of me. The fortune teller saw me and screamed for me to stop. I couldn’t hear him, I could only think to get to her.

She fell and said what I thought to be “Father”. I could barely hear her and suspected that the blow was good enough to knock the wind completely out of her. I stepped into the performer’s ring just as the giant had gotten past his last obstacle. What I suspected was her father gave up pleading with me and ran straight into the giant. I would have guessed that the man could have crushed her father with one hand, but he slipped between his legs and spun, knocking the lummox onto the ground. This gave me the time I needed to grab her.

As I went bolting for the tent flap, I heard a crushing sound. I hoped that her father was not the origin of it. I peeked behind me and the giant was lumbering after me. With his stride and me carrying her, he caught me in almost no time. I had made it to the tent flap but not past. He tackled me from behind, pushing us into the bigger tent area where the other freaks were. Two of them made moves immediately.

The firebreather turned and carefully took aim. He managed to catch the back of the giant on fire. However, this didn’t seem to phase the man at all. She had regained her breath and was attempting to get away. I had just had a mammoth land on me and was struggling to not breath in the dirt that lay below me. The sword swallower advanced and started flourishing his weapon as well as any sword fighter in any movie ever has. This man was trained and trained well. But one well-timed punch had sent him flying and the sword clattered to the ground.

I made myself recover and picked up the sword. I had absolutely no training in its use but I knew the fundamentals, stick pointy end in bad guy. Now I was glad that these were real freaks, because this was a real sword. I managed an upward thrust from the ground which surprised the big man, but he managed to avoid it. I took that second to stand and went on the defensive. I figured I could at least give her time to run.

He advanced on me and I felt the handle become slippery from the sweat on my hands. I took a failed swing, which he easily dodged, but it allowed him time to move a step closer. I tried a piercing thrust again and the large, flaming man grabbed my hand and twisted. The sword was beginning to point at me and there was nothing I could do. I had no way out. He finally managed to get the blade entirely in my direction and pushed. I tried the only thing I could think of and dropped to a knee and spun. The blade sang as it passed within an inch of my face but I felt it hit something. As I glanced to my left, I saw that it had impaled the girl. She hadn’t run, she had stayed to help me.

I almost broke out into tears. I concentrated everything and forced the hilt straight up. This connected with the giant’s chin. His eyes glazed and he flew straight down, still on fire. I was terrified as her father came back in holding his head. He ran to be next to her. He had tried to warn her. He had wanted to warn me. But, the funny thing is, fate has a way of not caring.

The sword had actually punctured and been caught in her fake breast. Yes, the third was a fake, but I thank God every day that it was. The vision had been true but not entirely forthcoming. My interference had been the cause of her getting stabbed, but eventually also the cause of our marriage. Somehow, I enjoy visiting carnivals now.

Article Source: http://journal.ilovephilosophy.com

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