Orphan Eleven Read online

  As they walked, Lucy wondered how to tell Dilly about the circus. What would Dilly make of Bald Doris, Nico, Eugene, Jabo, Grace, and the roustabouts? What would she think of the elephants?

  Lucy worried there would be no one Dilly’s age for her to be friends with. She fretted about whether Dilly would like the costume shop. She wondered if Dilly would like living in a train car. And she tried to block the one question she couldn’t answer.

  What if Dilly didn’t want to join the circus?

  When Dilly rang the boardinghouse bell, a lady with long dark eyelashes and soft old lady skin stuck her head out. The lady nodded to Dilly, then her eyes traveled to Lucy. “You found her! She’s alive!”

  Dilly beamed.

  “And don’t you two look alike. Two peas in a pod. Oh my, you got me so excited I think I’m going to have to sit myself down.” She backed into the house and collapsed onto a pink chair.

  Dilly and Lucy followed her into the living room, which was full of dolls and porcelain animals. Every surface was covered with a doily, and the lampshades all had fringe.

  The lady shook her head at Dilly. “Aren’t you something,” she said.

  “Would it be okay if I used your phone?” Dilly asked. “I’ll pay you.” Dilly handed the lady money for the phone call and for one more night’s stay. “Do you need any more mending done?”

  The boardinghouse lady scratched one leg with the stockinged foot of the other. “I got an invite to the church women’s luncheon and I don’t have anything to wear. Don’t suppose you could help me with that?”

  “Oh yes, ma’am,” Dilly said, following her up the stairs.

  When Dilly came back down, she was carrying a blue housecoat. Lucy followed her into a bedroom that had a quilted bedspread, a desk, and a sewing machine.

  Dilly unbuckled her suitcase, pulled out Mrs. Three Eyes, and handed her to Lucy.

  How she had longed for Mrs. Three Eyes that first year at the orphanage. Lucy couldn’t believe how good it felt to hold her again.

  Lucy hugged the old doll. Then she pulled the doll’s button nose out of her pocket and set it on the doll’s face.

  Dilly grinned when she saw it. “Shall I sew it back on?” she asked.

  Lucy shook her head. Her pocket didn’t feel right without it. “N-not yet.”

  Dilly understood. Of course she did. She was Dilly.

  Then Lucy took out her baby tooth and handed it to her sister.

  “What’s this? Oh…your tooth. Remember when you lost your first one?”

  Lucy nodded.

  “Mama had to pull it out with a thread. Then she kept it in her pin box. She had mine, too. She said she wanted to keep a piece of us from when we were little.”

  Lucy’s chest welled up. The tooth had been so important to her. Until now she hadn’t remembered why.

  “I’ll keep it for you, okay?” Dilly whispered.

  Lucy nodded, wiping her eyes. Then she climbed into the bed with the doll and sat watching Dilly sketch out a new skirt. But the day had been long and the pillow was fluffy and soft.

  Lucy awoke a few hours later to the sound of the whirring sewing machine. There was Dilly hunched over her work, just like Mama.

  In the morning, Dilly had fashioned a smart blue skirt from the old housecoat.

  “It’s…beautiful,” Lucy said. “If only Ma-Mama could see. She would be proud.”

  “Hush, you’re going to make me start blubbering again,” Dilly said, dabbing at her eyes.

  * * *

  —

  The boardinghouse lady was so happy with the skirt, she flip-flopped over to her neighbor’s in her slippers to show her. When she returned, she gave back the money Dilly had paid her the night before.

  Back in their room, Dilly strapped the Sokoloffs’ suitcase closed. Lucy knew she had to tell Dilly about the circus now, but before she could get the words out, Dilly said, “There’s something else I need to say. Something I feel awful about.”

  Lucy turned toward her.

  “I could have gone with you and Mama. The Sokoloffs offered to lend me money for the train ticket. But I was so mad at Mama I didn’t want to go.” Dilly took a ragged breath. “I could have taken care of you and Mama, but I let my temper get the best of me. The last time Mama saw me I was shouting at her.”

  Lucy hugged her. “You were twelve. Thomas Slater would have…p-put you in the orphanage, too.”

  “I wish I had it to do over again. I’m so sorry, Lucy.”

  “We don’t know what would have happened. It might have been w-worse.”

  Dilly nodded. “Maybe. But I shouldn’t have behaved like that. I just couldn’t understand why Mama chose Thomas Slater.”

  “She l-loved him, Dil,” Lucy said, thinking of what Bunk said once. “You love…who you love,” she whispered.

  “I’m not going to fall in love with anyone like that. And you better not, either.” She wagged her finger at Lucy.

  “I…I won’t,” Lucy said.

  Dilly stood up and buckled the suitcase. “Okay, let’s go home.”

  “Wait…Dilly…,” Lucy said.

  Dilly arched an eyebrow. “What?”

  “I…I…h-have a job. I’m elephant girl…at Saachi’s…Circus Spec-Spectacular.”

  Dilly’s face screwed up. “What?”

  Lucy dug in her pocket for the silk purse with the elephant hairs and handed them to Dilly. Dilly untied the little drawstring and pulled the coiled hairs out.

  “Elephant-t-tail hairs,” Lucy explained. “I’m an apprentice to Lady Grace, the strongest woman in the entire world, and she’s in charge of the menagerie, except—except she spends all her time with the elephants because she loves Baby.”

  On and on Lucy talked about the elephants, the cook tent, the roustabouts, Jabo, the OOFOs, and the Elephantoff act. She told Dilly about Eugene, Bald Doris, Nico, and how they’d all gotten their apprenticeships. And how she had finally convinced Grace to take her on.

  Dilly shifted from foot to foot, her eyes on the door. “It sounds special, but I have a job waiting for me. We can live with the Sokoloffs and you can go to school. I called them last night. They can’t wait to see you!”

  “You can work in the costume shop. Betts, she’s the seamstress and she’s pregnant. She needs help.” Lucy was breathless trying to get it all in. “You should see—see the costumes. They are more beautiful than anything you’ve ever sewn before.”

  Dilly frowned. “People don’t just hand you jobs, Lucy.”

  “I saw…saw what you did with that skirt.”

  Dilly smiled. Her eyes shone.

  “And there’s a schoolroom for circus kids, and, and, and…” Whenever Dilly opened her mouth, Lucy spoke faster.

  Dilly gave up and sat back down.

  Lucy talked and talked until her throat hurt. Then she stared out the window. But she couldn’t see the river, only the brick wall of the house next door.

  A silence fell between them.

  “You’ll love Saachi’s,” Lucy said.

  A crease appeared between Dilly’s brows.

  “I’m an…apprentice. I w-worked hard for this. Come see it with me. Please!”

  Dilly sighed. “When you talk about the circus, you speak more like how you used to. We could never shut you up.”

  Lucy grinned. “Is that a y-yes?”

  Dilly held her hand up. Lucy stopped.

  “Whatever they did to you, those study people…” Dilly’s face hardened and her voice trailed off. “It’s getting better at this circus place?”

  Lucy nodded.

  “What makes you think this Betts person will give me a job?”

  “She needs a seamstress.”

  “Maybe they’ve hired someone already.”

  “Maybe
they…h-haven’t.”

  Dilly crossed her eyes at Lucy. “I forgot how stubborn you are.”

  Lucy smiled. “I forgot how stubborn you—you are.”

  Dilly laughed. “Well, you know what we used to do…ask Mrs. Three Eyes.”

  Lucy dug in the suitcase for the rag doll and handed it to Dilly.

  “What do you think, Mrs. Three Eyes? Shall we go to the circus?” Dilly asked.

  Lucy held her breath.

  Mrs. Three Eyes’s head didn’t move.

  “She’s thinking,” Dilly explained. Then Dilly’s fingers made the rag doll’s head nod once, then twice. “She says so long as you agree we go back to Chicago if it doesn’t work out.”

  “Oh, it’s going to w-work out,” Lucy said. It had to work out. Lucy couldn’t imagine it any other way.

  Dilly said nothing at first; then she whispered in a gentle voice, “How long were you even there, Lucy?”

  “Dilly, p-please, you have to…believe me.” Lucy watched Dilly put on her coat.

  “I do,” Dilly said, “But if I can’t get a job there, we’re going back, right?”

  Lucy took Mrs. Three Eyes from Dilly and made her head nod yes.

  Lucy breathed in the smell of leftover cigarette smoke and egg-salad sandwich. She stared out the train window as they rattled through the farmland. They’d caught an early train and would be in New Brownsville soon.

  Lucy hadn’t said anything to Dilly about Diavolo. She knew she should have. But Dilly had barely agreed to come as it was.

  Dilly was such a sensible person and here Lucy was asking her to do something she thought was completely crazy. Dilly was spending her last dollars to go to the circus, because Lucy wanted her to.

  Sisters were different from friends. They did things for you no one else would.

  * * *

  —

  When they pulled into the town before New Brownsville, Lucy saw the first circus bill pasted on a telephone pole. She jumped out of her seat. “D-Dilly, look! That’s us!”

  But the poster flew by so quickly, Dilly didn’t see it.

  A minute later they passed another and another. Then an entire wall plastered with circus posters. Elephantoff in her hair salon, monkeys riding bicycles, the acrobat family, and Diavolo. Dilly drew an uneasy breath and squeezed Lucy’s hand.

  “Next stop, New Brownsville,” the conductor called.

  Lucy jumped up and ran down the aisle. Dilly followed, the Sokoloffs’ suitcase knocking against her legs.

  Ding, ding, ding, the train rolled through a crossing and into a small brick station. The engines chuffed and hissed as the train came to a stop. Lucy rushed on to the vestibule and dashed down the steps.

  She had hoped they would arrive just in time for the performance. Nico would get Dilly a ticket, and she would sit in the stands and watch the show. Then, once the performance was over and the circus magic had worked its charm on Dilly, Lucy would introduce Dilly to Jabo.

  But it was only nine-thirty. The train trip had been short. The performance wouldn’t start until two.

  Lucy didn’t want Dilly to think about how much work was involved in putting up a circus early in the morning and taking it down in the evening. She wanted Dilly to see the beauty of the circus, not the work. The work wouldn’t matter if Dilly had sawdust in her shoes, but if she didn’t…

  Lucy and Dilly took turns carrying the Sokoloffs’ suitcase down the rutted road. When they crested the hill, they saw the circus. The cook tent was up. The big top. The ticket booth. Lucy ran. Dilly ran after her.

  The first person Lucy saw was a man she didn’t know carrying crates of vegetables. Her stomach clenched when she remembered the roustabout who had forced her into the old blue Ford.

  But the man didn’t give them a second glance. When they got to the parking area, Lucy saw the town kids who came early hoping to earn a free ticket in exchange for helping out.

  Then she spotted a fuzzy blond head.

  Doris charged forward and hugged Lucy. “Did you go back to the orphanage? Did you tell them about me?”

  Lucy nodded.

  “What did they say?”

  “They didn’t believe…wh-what I said.”

  Doris’s shoulders fell. “Why not?”

  “You w-wouldn’t believe it either if you still…if you still lived there.”

  “But you always tell the truth. They know that.”

  Lucy shrugged.

  “Hey”—Doris frowned at Lucy—“It wasn’t my fault. I told Diavolo about Frank, just like Nico said.”

  Lucy scrutinized Doris.

  “Diavolo forgot to tell the roustabouts who work for him not to help Mackinac. You believe me, right?”

  Lucy didn’t know what to say. Sometimes she could tell when Doris was lying and sometimes she couldn’t.

  “Jeez, Lucy,” Doris growled, “what’s the point of being good when everyone thinks it’s always me who messed up?”

  Lucy bit her lip so she wouldn’t smile. Now she knew Doris was telling the truth.

  “Listen,” Doris said, and sighed in a big, important way, “Diavolo had already called Mackinac to come get you because you’d lost your chances. Then he called her back and told her not to come, but she came anyway.”

  Lucy nodded.

  Doris stared at Dilly. “Who are you? Wait…”

  Dilly held out her hand. “I’m Dilly Sauvé.”

  Doris gaped at Lucy. “You found Dilly!”

  Lucy grinned. Then she saw pain shoot through Doris’s face.

  “Well, I could find my mama too, you know. I just haven’t tried,” Doris announced.

  Once at the orphanage a mama had come back to get her little girl. Oh, how Lucy and the other girls had cried when they saw the mama hug her girl. Lucy squeezed Doris’s hand.

  “Let’s find Diavolo,” Doris said. “You’ll need to check in with him. I get to wear the target-girl dress, but I don’t have to be his target. I just hand him his knives. I look pretty and I don’t have to wear clown trousers!”

  Dilly stood awkwardly, holding the suitcase.

  “I’ll explain la-later,” Lucy whispered, grabbing Dilly’s hand and pulling her along behind Doris. They went straight to the ticket booth, where Diavolo was pacing.

  His eyebrows popped up when he saw Lucy.

  Lucy’s heart began to race. She forced her mouth open. “Diavolo, sir…um, sir. This…is Dilly…my sister. She is a s-seamstress. She’s come to…help you with your costume. I know it’s—it’s never fit right.”

  Diavolo peered at Dilly. “A seamstress, you say?”

  “Yes, sir,” Dilly said.

  “Are you fast?”

  “Oh yes, sir.”

  “The vest is too tight across my shoulders. It inhibits my range of motion. But it can’t be too loose. I need support. A steadying firmness.” Diavolo moved his hands when he talked.

  “I’ve got a good eye for fit, sir,” Dilly said. “I’ll get it right if you give me a chance.”

  Lucy felt a surge of pride. If anyone could get that vest to fit the way Diavolo wanted, it would be her big sister.

  Diavolo nodded, then turned his attention to Lucy. “You”—he pointed his finger at her—“have caused me all kinds of trouble.”

  Lucy gulped, her eyes on Doris.

  “Seraphina bit my head off. Bunk threatened to quit. Jabo turned the entire dwarf population against me. Nitty-Bitty burnt my toast!” He glared at Lucy.

  “B-but…,” Lucy started.

  “I called those orphanage women. Mrs. Mackinac and Mrs. Grundy. I told them not to come. But they were bound and determined. I couldn’t change their minds. So why was your disappearing my fault?”

  “I told you,” Doris whispered.

  “Everybo
dy blamed me. Me!” Diavolo said.

  “I’m s-sorry,” Lucy whispered.

  “You were the one who lost her chances.” He pointed at her. “Don’t put me in that kind of a situation again. Do you hear?”

  “Yes, sir,” Lucy said.

  “I’ll make sure Mrs. Mackinac and Mrs. Grundy don’t go near her again,” Dilly said.

  Diavolo nodded to Dilly. “Good. That’s good. Now you, seamstress, come with me. And, Doris, I need my water half-filled with ice.”

  Dilly tilted her head at Lucy, her eyes full of questions. Then she followed Diavolo.

  Diavolo was the last person Lucy wanted to introduce Dilly to Saachi’s. But Dilly had clever fingers. She could sew her way out of any situation. If only Diavolo would be nice.

  Doris headed for the cook tent and Lucy ran to the menagerie. The backyard was set up the same at every stand, so it was easy to find her way around. When Lucy got close, she heard the elephants trumpeting. She ran faster, plowing through the door of the menagerie tent, which smelled of alfalfa and apple and the elephants’ warm, sweet breath.

  She was home.

  Baby saw her first. She made gurgling sounds and stretched her trunk out to Lucy. Jenny stood solemnly while Lucy hugged her, then patted her wrinkled cheeks.

  Grace looked up from raking. “What happened to you?”

  “The orphanage l-ladies forced me to go back.”

  “That’s what Jabo thought.”

  “But I g-got away.”

  “Of course you did. You’re my elephant girl. I want to hear all about it. But right now we have work to do.”

  Lucy had just hooked on coveralls over her dress when Nico came thundering in.

  He ran to her, picked her up, and swung her around. Then he let go, his face pink.

  “I had it all planned. I was going to come get you. We’ve got a stand in Wilbur. That’s the next town over from Riverport. Gonna look for Willy, too,” Nico whispered.

  “I didn’t…see him. I don’t know if he’s—he’s there.”

  Nico nodded.

  “There’s a g-girl…she helped me. Ruby.”

  “We’ll get her too,” Nico said. “Is it true you found Dilly?”