Orphan Eleven Page 11

  Grace nodded. “Go check with Bunk,” she said. Then she turned her attention to Pink Cheeks.

  “Your dad worked at Hagenbeck-Wallace?”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Pink Cheeks said.

  Grace nodded. “All right, then. Baby, what do you think?”

  Baby walked forward with her trunk pointed out. But she didn’t stop by Pink Cheeks. She continued around the haystack to Nico and Lucy.

  Lucy grinned, but when Grace came around the haystack, she wasn’t smiling. “No, Lucy. We’ve been through this before. Baby is voice trained. You need to be able—”

  “Jabo said you might be willing to give her a chance,” Nico interrupted.

  “Jabo doesn’t work in the menagerie and he’s not my boss,” Grace snarled.

  Pink Cheeks swaggered up. “If you don’t mind me saying, miss, you have to let them elephants know who’s the boss.”

  “Is that so?” Grace asked.

  “Yes, miss,” Pink Cheeks said.

  “But Baby doesn’t seem to care for you,” Grace said.

  “The way I was taught, that ain’t important. Elephants got to know you mean business. You got to make them pay, if they don’t. That’s the way they did it at Hagenbeck.”

  “Well…that’s not the way we do it here. You’re excused,” Grace said.

  “I’m excused?” Pink Cheeks snorted. “Who thought it was a good idea to put a lady in charge?”

  “Say goodbye, Baby,” Grace commanded, and Baby bent one leg and bowed to Pink Cheeks.

  With Pink Cheeks gone, Grace eyed Lucy. “I’m not taking you on, so don’t go getting your hopes up. I could use some help this morning. That’s all.”

  Thank you! Lucy flashed her page.

  Grace locked eyes with Lucy. “I won’t communicate with you that way. Do you understand?”

  Lucy nodded. She understood. She just didn’t agree.

  Lucy spent the next four days washing buckets, scrubbing stands, shining harnesses, polishing headdresses, and raking up colossal piles of elephant poop. She worked inside the barn when the elephants were outside, and outside the barn when the elephants were inside.

  During that time, Nico worked as Jabo’s right-hand man and Eugene became so important to Nitty-Bitty, it seemed like he had always worked there. Doris, on the other hand, upset the unicyclists, alienated the aerialists, and got banned from the horse barn. Eugene had tried to explain to Doris that the way to get a spot was to know what a boss wanted even before he or she did. Doris shrugged off his advice, but Lucy wanted more.

  Should I get to the elephant barn earlier than Grace? she wrote.

  Eugene nodded. “But don’t get near the elephants until she comes.”

  Should I polish her boots?

  “Ask her first.”

  When should I ask if she’ll take me on?

  Eugene thought about this a long while before answering. “Not until the last day. Let her get used to depending on you,” he said.

  * * *

  —

  Lucy knew Grace adored her elephants, had a soft spot for Bunk, and liked the barn clean as a kitchen. Lucy loved the elephants and Bunk, but keeping the big barn as clean as Grace wanted was challenging. Still, she tried her best to follow Grace’s instructions.

  But by Sunday morning, Grace still hadn’t brought up the apprenticeship. Lucy had written her a letter to make her case, but Grace had refused to read it.

  Lucy was up on the road dumping a wheelbarrow load near a sign that read FARMERS: FREE ELEPHANT DUNG! when she heard the midday meal gong.

  She set the shovel into the wheelbarrow, where it rattled and bumped as she ran back to the barn. When she got inside, Grace was slipping off her coveralls to reveal slim black pants underneath. At the circus some women wore pants like men did. Lucy wondered what Mama would have said about that. “Go on to the cook tent. Be back in half an hour.” Grace hung the overalls on a hook and went out.

  Grace hadn’t noticed that Lucy didn’t go to the cook tent. Nor had she said a word about Diavolo. Was it possible Grace didn’t know Diavolo wanted to red light Lucy?

  Lucy sprayed down the cement. She was winding the hose back onto its wall hook when Nico set the dinner basket on the hay bale.

  “I got it!” he gasped, breathing hard from the run. “I’m outside talker and Jabo is ringmaster!”

  Lucy hugged Nico. Nico hugged her back, rocking her off her heels and swinging her around. He danced her around the small pond, Lucy’s ponytail bobbing, her feet following Nico’s lead. They were sailing past the elephants when Lucy spotted Doris.

  “Lucy likes Nico! Lucy likes Nico,” Doris sang.

  Lucy’s arms dropped to her sides, stiff as broom handles. She grabbed a rake and set to work, her face flushed.

  Nico’s ears were red and his foot shook. “Shut up, Doris,” he muttered.

  “You like her, too. Everyone knows you do,” Doris said.

  Nico turned on the hose and washed his hands. “Are you eating with us?” he asked.

  “I’m going to the cook tent. I’m sitting on the performers’ side. You ought to come and see,” Doris said.

  “You got an apprenticeship?”

  “I did!” Doris beamed.

  Lucy dropped the rake and hugged Doris.

  Nico gave her his best bow. “Where?” he asked.

  “Performer, like I just said!” Doris bragged. “But not a clown!”

  Nico nodded. “You get a route card?”

  “I’m going to. I am!”

  “Who gave you the apprenticeship?”

  “Come to the cook tent and you’ll see.”

  Nico pulled sandwiches out of the basket. “We can’t. You know that.”

  Doris stood watching him, her hands on her hips. “The food’s better at the cook tent.”

  Nico shrugged. “We have an extra sandwich, if you want to join us.”

  “I don’t. Obviously.” Doris scowled. She waited, hoping he would change his mind. When he didn’t, she stomped off.

  Lucy put the rake away and washed her hands.

  “Who do you suppose took her on?” Nico asked.

  Lucy shrugged.

  “If she got a spot, you definitely will. Grace is going to take you on. Eugene said he asked Nitty to talk to her about it.”

  Eugene was a good friend. He and Nico both looked out for her.

  Nico chewed his sandwich, then wiped his mouth. “Jabo is so excited, he can’t stop talking. He’ll be the only dwarf ringmaster in America. ‘Today is a big day for little people,’ ” Nico said, imitating Jabo.

  Lucy laughed.

  Nico polished his apple with his shirt tail. “And”—he stole a quick look at her—“I got a route card! I’m the outside talker. then I change into my costume and stand by Jabo during the performance. I’m his right-hand man!”

  Can I see? Lucy wrote.

  Nico took the card out of his pocket and handed it to Lucy with a grand flourish. On the top it said “Saachi’s Circus Spectacular” with a picture of Diavolo in his white shirt and red silk vest and Seraphina in a jeweled headdress. Below were two columns with dates on one side, cities and railroads on the other.

  Lucy ran her finger over the card. They all had apprenticeships except her.

  “You’ll get yours. You will,” Nico said. Then they heard Grace’s heavy boot steps approaching. Lucy handed back the card.

  Nico left Lucy the extra sandwich, grabbed the empty basket, and slipped away.

  A minute later, Grace appeared wearing a stretchy costume with burgundy beads, her hair braided and pinned on top of her head.

  Lucy helped Grace fit a burgundy beaded headdress on Jenny. Then Grace got Baby out of the pond. “Don’t let her lie down,” Grace barked, handing Lucy a towel.

&
nbsp; How were you supposed to keep nine hundred pounds of willful elephant from lying down?

  Baby liked being dried off. She wiggled her bottom against the towel and lifted one leg for Lucy to wipe behind it. Then she looped her trunk around the towel and waved it in the air.

  Grace tethered Baby and took the towel from her. “Can you keep an eye on Baby until Bunk gets here? Don’t let her back in the pond.”

  Lucy nodded, a thrill traveling through her. This was more responsibility than Grace had given her before. It was a good sign.

  After Grace left, Lucy found the training book and began reading to Baby, but Baby wasn’t in a reading mood. Baby wanted to play.

  Lucy took a handful of apples and began rolling them to the little elephant. Baby seized one and stuck it in her mouth. Lucy rolled another. Then another.

  Baby liked this game, but she wasn’t happy when the apples were all gone.

  Baby stepped forward.

  Lucy stepped backward.

  Forward.

  Backward.

  Forward.

  Backward until Lucy’s back was jammed against the barn wall. Baby’s trunk pushed at her chest insistently.

  Lucy’s heart began to beat too fast. If Baby took another step forward, she’d crush Lucy’s foot.

  But Baby wanted another apple.

  Lucy dug in her pocket and pulled out her vocabulary list and offered that to Baby. While the little elephant was trying to pick it out of Lucy’s hand, Lucy slipped by her.

  Baby stuck the paper in her mouth, then swallowed.

  “Lucy,” Bunk barked, startling Lucy.

  Lucy jumped.

  “Don’t let her get the best of you,” Bunk said.

  Lucy nodded. She was glad Grace hadn’t seen this.

  “What did you give her, anyway?”

  Vocabulary list, Lucy wrote.

  “You don’t think she’s smart enough already?” Bunk asked.

  They were still laughing when Grace appeared. “Nice of you to show up,” she told Bunk.

  “It was nice of me,” Bunk said. “I stay on your good side. You could break me in half like a toothpick.”

  “I could,” Grace agreed, “but then who would load the train?”

  “So I’m safe until the train is loaded? Good to know,” Bunk said.

  “Yes,” Grace agreed with a sly smile. Then she turned to Lucy. “You’re to stay with Bunk and help him with Baby. Fill your pockets with sugar cubes, but never reward her unless she’s followed your command. Baby is the smartest animal I’ve ever worked with. She always has a plan. We have to make sure she puts our plans before her plans.”

  Lucy nodded. Baby had a mind of her own. No doubt about that.

  “Come on, I’ll show you what I mean,” Grace said.

  Grace positioned Lucy with her back to Baby’s trunk. Then she picked up a giant hairbrush and handed it to the elephant. Baby wound her trunk around the brush and began sending the bristles down through Lucy’s ponytail. Lucy giggled. If she closed her eyes, she could almost imagine Dilly brushing her hair.

  “Now give her the sugar cube,” Grace commanded.

  Baby whisked the sugar cube out of Lucy’s hand, stuck it in her mouth, and crunched happily.

  “She’s proud of herself when she does a good job.”

  Grace fit a white felt beret on Baby’s head and elephant-size bloomers on her two front legs. The smock went on last. Parisian Coiffeuse Elephantoff was stitched across the back; on the front: Baby.

  Jenny lowered her head and Grace climbed on her trunk; then Jenny raised her head and Grace slipped onto her back.

  “Time to move out,” Grace called when the bugle trilled. She and Jenny took the lead. Baby walked behind with Lucy and Bunk.

  In the distance, Lucy could see townie kids perched on a fence staring at them the way the girls at the orphanage did when you still had Christmas candy left and they had eaten theirs.

  A week ago she was shoveling sand into bags at the orphanage, and now here she was a circus girl, with kids looking at her enviously.

  Anyway, she had an apprenticeship now. She’d watched Baby all by herself. That was an elephant girl’s job.

  They headed into the big top to a staging area where Seraphina stood with her clipboard. Tiny the Great Dane pranced in the sawdust wearing an elephant costume. A roustabout had to fix his cummerbund when it came undone.

  “Tiny follows Jenny in the spec. The spec is the first act, but don’t call it the first act or you’ll sound like a first-of-May,” Bunk explained.

  Grace found them a spot to stand behind the band pit. She and Bunk got Baby settled; then Lucy turned to watch the backstage action.

  “Where are the aerialists?” Seraphina called.

  A clown bent over his small car, a giant wrench in his hand. Lions paced back and forth in gold cages. A herd of white liberty horses with flowing manes trotted by.

  Grace looked down at Lucy from her perch on Jenny’s back. “I’ll be back as soon as I’m done with the strong-woman act. Bunk will be with you the whole time, right Bunk?”

  “Yes, ma’am,” Bunk said.

  “If Baby gets scared, calm her with your voice,” Grace began, then caught herself. “Oh, Lucy,” she groaned. “What am I going to do with you?”

  Lucy’s stomach began to hurt.

  I can do this. I can do this. I can do this!

  The words circled her head but didn’t go near her mouth.

  Lucy peeked over the musicians’ gold-tasseled hats to the center of the ring, where Nico and Jabo stood on a raised platform wearing matching black top hats, red jackets, and tall black boots. Nico wore his mustache. Jabo held the microphone in his hand.

  The brass section boomed in Lucy’s ears. The spec was just beginning. White horses galloped with riders standing on their backs. Then came camels pulling a carriage, a man with snakes wrapped around his head, and ladies riding zebras. Somehow the staging area sorted itself into a spectacular parade of performances in the ring.

  Baby was transfixed. She watched everything as if she’d paid for a ticket. When the spec was over, Grace tied up Jenny, then ducked into the women’s dressing room. A moment later she came out wearing a flowery dress with a white lace collar and a big straw hat. Three women with the same hats and dresses followed her.

  All four of them ran out to the raised platform in the center of the ring.

  “The strongest woman ever to stand on this earth,” Jabo’s voice thundered across the big top. “How did she get this strong? Ladies, you know the answer…housework! Yes, ordinary housework, everyday chores. There’s no telling the power of you fine females in the audience today. How many of you can carry your man with one arm? Don’t be shy, ladies. Raise your hand.”

  The crowd roared with laughter.

  “Of course you can! And like you, Lady Grace never loses her femininity, her graciousness, her charm. Watch how she serves tea.”

  There was Grace, carrying one woman on her shoulders and another on her left arm. The drum rolled and the third woman hopped on a springboard and sailed through the air onto the shoulders of the woman on Grace’s shoulders.

  Grace staggered, then caught herself as she walked haltingly to the tea table. With two straw-hatted women on her back and another on her left arm, Grace poured tea from a delicate teapot into china cups, each on its own saucer. Her hand shook, but her strong legs were planted as she handed each lady a cup of tea. When all the ladies had their teacups, Grace picked up the last cup and saucer and all four took a sip.

  The crowd cheered.

  * * *

  —

  When Grace returned, her face gleaming with sweat, she slipped into the dressing room and came out a minute later wearing white pants and a smock that matched Baby’s.

&n
bsp; “Next up…Elephantoff,” Seraphina called.

  In the big top, three clowns transformed the center stage into a hair salon with a painted window that read LA COIFFEUSE PARISIENNE, ELEPHANTOFF, HAIR CUTTING AND STYLING. The salon had a hooded hair dryer and a table for the oversize curling iron, comb, and hairbrush.

  In the back of the shop was a mattress and a big pillow next to a small table where a candelabra had been set.

  The shop door opened and Baby and Grace walked into the ring and through the door. Baby’s trunk was stiff and her ears were flapping. Lucy knew that elephants flapped their ears when they were upset. But Grace spoke to Baby, and she relaxed.

  “This,” Jabo said, “is the amazing Elephantoff, Coiffeuse Parisienne. People wait years for an appointment in her shop. Now, Elephantoff, you must do a bit of housekeeping in your hairdresser’s shop and then go to sleep so that you’ll be ready to receive customers tomorrow.”

  Baby took the rag from Grace’s hand and ran it over the table and the hair dryer.

  Grace offered a sugar cube to Baby; then she trudged to the pillow.

  “Now Elephantoff must get comfortable,” Jabo announced.

  Baby’s trunk plumped the pillow then pulled a gigantic balloon painted to look like a bug out from under it. Baby dropped the balloon bug to the ground and stomped it with her foot, making a loud pop.

  Everyone laughed.

  Baby stiffened. Her ears stood straight out.

  Once again, Grace calmed Baby and directed her to get on the bed, lie down, and put her head on the pillow. “Good night, Elephantoff,” Jabo whispered over the loudspeaker.

  The lights on the shop flickered out, then flashed back on.

  “Good morning, Elephantoff,” Jabo said as a clown in a driver’s cap led Dame Catherine, riding a white pony, into the ring. The dwarf was sitting sidesaddle, wearing her fur coat and clutching her handbag.

  “You can’t be late for an appointment with Elephantoff,” Jabo announced, and the clown began to run. When the pony got to the shop door, Dame Catherine hopped down.

  “Your appointment is here, Elephantoff,” Jabo announced.

  Dame Catherine walked into the shop, hung her coat on the coatrack, slipped on an Elephantoff smock, and climbed up in the hairdresser’s chair.