Circus Summer (Circus of Curiosities Book 1) (2 page)

            She shrugged. “The crowd got their entertainment. We made money. What more do you want, Dex?”

            A lot more than that, but it wasn’t something to talk about.

“Maybe things will go better in the next place,” Tia tried.

“I suppose the show
does
go on,” Dex said, trying to sound upbeat.

“The show goes on,” Tia echoed, with the kind of fervor everyone had in the circus for that mantra.

The show went on. The show
always
went on. What else was there? And who knew, maybe there would be someone better than Prima Thornsby. Dex shook his head, putting her from his mind. He didn’t focus on the ones who had failed. There were far too many of them to think about.

“Get ready to leave soon,” Dex instructed, even though he needn’t have bothered. Everyone in the circus knew not to outstay their welcome. “There’s nothing else for us here. It’s time to move on.”

“Yes, boss.”

“And Tia,” Dex said with his trademark smile, “remind me, which tiny town are we dragging ourselves over to next?”

“You were talking about Sea Cliff, weren’t you?”

Dex nodded. Sea Cliff could work. His hometown. So many memories there. Maybe they’d find what they needed, and maybe not, but either way Tia was right. They’d would entertain the crowd, make some money, and perhaps find what he was looking for. He’s searched so long, he couldn’t give up. Maybe Sea Cliff had what he seek. The show had to go on, after all.

Chapter
1

Leela

Sea Cliff

L
ife in Sea Cliff sucks. Well, what else can I say? That I, Leela Sinclair, think it’s the greatest place on Earth a seventeen year old girl like me could live? That life is easy, and the whole place is some kind of paradise? It isn’t. It
so
isn’t. About the only thing you can say for it is that the war hasn’t really hit it yet, and even that isn’t completely true. I mean, if I were another year older, I’d probably be in the middle of being drafted, like so many others are when they hit eighteen. Like my brother, Caleb.

            The ones who aren’t drafted quickly find other places to go. The big cities, the towns. Anywhere that isn’t Sea Cliff, in most cases. I guess I’m not being fair but who’s fair about the place where they live? Yes, there are plenty of places much worse than Sea Cliff, thanks to the war. Places that don’t have food or running water anymore. Places where the Invaders have wrecked everything, and even the most basic technology doesn’t exist anymore.

            Sometimes though, I almost feel like I want the Invaders to show up, if only because it would mean something happening. Sea Cliff’s that kind of town. They say it used to be some kind of vacation resort back in the distant past. Mrs. Abernathy showed us photographs of it hundreds of years ago back in history class. I can kind of see why people would have liked it. There’s the view out over the ocean, and the beaches at the bottom of the cliffs are beautiful. It’s probably a nice place to visit, but it’s a boring place to live.

            Take my life, for example. Better yet, take just today. Out of bed early to make it to the restaurant before school and get some work in. Going back to see my mom before I head to school. Making sure my little brother Mason gets to his school okay, before I go to my classes. Coming back and then going straight out to work in the
Cliff View
pub and restaurant, where the same patrons will probably ogle me in the same way they did the day before, despite my age.

            I’m there now. The place is a bit like Sea Cliff. It was probably great once, but it has seen better days. The wood panels of the walls are scuffed and re-painted, the tables are mostly balanced out with bits of old beermat. Frank, the owner, tries to keep it all in shape, and he has me cleaning almost every minute I’m not serving food, but it doesn’t make much of a difference. With some things, they’re just spiraling down into nothing. That’s what Mom says about the war. “Spiraling down into nothing.” Like Sea Cliff. Like her health.

            I pause, looking at myself in the mirrored bar of the
Cliff View
until I stop thinking about that. I try to work out why so many of the restaurant’s patrons spend their time staring at me while I’m doing it. Is it just that I have long chestnut hair and big green eyes, with a heart shaped face and a nice enough smile? Is it that I have an athletic body, currently covered by the mostly black t-shirt and slacks uniform Frank has me wear while I’m here? I don’t know, but I put up with it. I can’t afford to lose this job. Someone has to provide for the rest of my family.

            “Hey kid, can I get another drink here?” That’s from Bob, one of Frank’s regulars. He must be in his fifties, with hair that has more silver than brown in it these days, and a weathered face with old scars. Sometimes, when he gets drunk, he talks about the war. Not many have returned from it, and when they do, their stories about the war seems too unbelievable to be true. Bob’s drunken way of telling it doesn’t hurt, either.

            “Sure,” I reply with my best smile, “but won’t Cleo be missing you at home by now?” Cleo is Bob’s wife. “You wouldn’t want her chasing you around the house again.”

            Bob smiles and stands. “You’re right, I should… what’s that?”

            I hear the sound too, a large vehicle, moving through the town. For a second, I wonder if maybe it’s Invaders, and I mentally run through all the drills they make us practice at school, but then I hear the loudspeakers. The Invaders don’t play music as they come, and the things they shout aren’t like this.

            “Come up! Come up! Be part of the greatest show on Earth! Join the show and win big prizes if you make it to the national stages! Earn hard currency!”

            A truck rolls slowly past. I could hear the whimsical circus melody play through the speakers…playful yet sad at the same time, with the promise of sights to be seen. We don’t see that many motor vehicles in Sea Cliff; they’re one of the things the Invaders destroy when they find them, mostly. This one is a lot more impressive than the old tractor they have up on the Wilkins’ farm. It’s a massive thing, with brightly painted sides and lights that are every color of the rainbow. Frank steps out of the back room at the sound, holding an old shotgun until he realizes what’s happening. Frank’s a big man in his forties, not fat, because there isn’t enough food around Sea Cliff to be fat, but just
big
. Everything about him is big, from his arms to his barrel chest, to the big mane of dark hair that doesn’t quite suit him. Thankfully, that extends to his heart too. He gave me this job because he knew my family needed help, and he gives me spare food sometimes.

            He sees me looking at the truck, and when I look over at him, he nods. “Be quick though,” he says. “There are customers waiting.”

            I rush out, watching the truck. It rolls to a stop in the center of the town, not far from the
Cliff View
, and a couple of people jump out. Literally jump, like acrobats, with one performing a forward flip as she does it. They’re both dressed in clothes that seem to be pieced together from scraps and squares of other things, so that there is a patch of denim next to a leather square, or a clear patch of plastic beside what looks like wool. The overall effect seems to shift and change with every movement they make.

            One of them is holding a sign, which he plants in the ground by the road so that it’s clearly visible. It says
Circus Signups
in large letters, while below, there’s a clipboard with a list. They stand by their sign while I approach, but they don’t say anything while I read it.

            Below the heading on the sign, there are plenty of other words.
Are you looking for a chance at excitement?
It reads.
A chance to represent your town in our national finals? A chance to earn good money for just a few days’ work? If so The Circus of Curiosities is looking for local talent to compete in its games. Young men and women between the ages of twelve and twenty-one may apply. Performers chosen for the show will be paid by the day, and will also have all meals supplied by the Circus while they perform. Those competing in our national games will earn big prizes and stardom.

           
The sign doesn’t mention how much the pay will be, but I know that whatever it is, it will be tempting for a lot of the kids in Sea Cliff. In small towns like this, even a little money can go a long way. It can help to buy scarce resources for a family, or start to build a way out to one of the cities. And if they were to get through to a national final…

            It isn’t just about the money though. Everyone has heard about the Circus.
Everyone.
There are stories about people from other towns, other counties, who have competed in it and gone on to become famous. Who earned enough money that they didn’t have to worry. If I got through, and got that kind of money, what would it mean for my family? Better medicine for Mom, maybe. More chances for Mason. And if I got through to their national games… I don’t think about that part, because it seems too much like empty daydreaming.

            Maybe it’s because I’m daydreaming that I don’t notice the crowd of kids from Sea Cliff’s high school coming to see what’s going on. There are plenty of them, some of them even from my class, and they push towards the sign, obviously as caught by the excitement of the Circus of Curiosities arriving as I am. They rush up to the sign and the truck, eager to be close to them, wanting to find out what’s going on. They rush up so fast that the sheer number of them brushes me aside, sending me stumbling.

            Strong hands catch me, setting me back on my feet again. I turn around to say thank you, and find myself staring into the intense eyes of Zachary Niles, who’s a year older than me. They’re very nice eyes. Well… no,
nice
isn’t the right word. Not when it comes to Zachary. I’ve heard the stories of how he is with a lot of the girls in his class and around the town, so nice doesn’t work. But his eyes are beautiful. They’re steel grey, like a sky before a storm, and they look like they can see right into me. Sexy, too, with long dark lashes any girl would wish to have. His hair is medium length and black, cut back from a square jawed face that I think I could stare at all day easily. He’s wearing a simple t-shirt and jeans, and they do a lot to show off the well-defined muscles under them. This is the closest I’ve been to him, but I’ve seen him around school. Seen him, and spent plenty of time watching him. It’s hard not to, when he looks like that.

            “Are you okay?” he asks. I see his eyes flicker over me, and he gives me a slightly surprised smile, like he wasn’t expecting me to look so good.

            “I’m fine, thanks,” I say. “Thank you for catching me.”

            “Trust me, it was my pleasure.” He moves off then to read the notice, just like that. Apparently, in Zachary Niles’ world, I don’t matter that much. But then, if that were true, why catch me in the first place? Why not just let me fall over in the street?

            I think about that while I try to decide what I’m going to do about the Circus of Curiosities. Until that moment, I don’t think I’d realized that there was even a decision to make, but there is. Do I want to sign up and try to get the prizes that could do so much for my family and me? I shake my head. I have a job, and it doesn’t involve anything more dangerous than having to get people’s coffee exactly right.

            Plenty of other people are signing up though. There’s a crush around the board as people try to sign their names. I notice that the assistants standing by it don’t do anything to stop that. Maybe they’ve seen it too many times, in too many small towns, to care. Maybe they just think anyone who can’t deal with that won’t do well in their circus.

            The surprising thing is that Zachary doesn’t sign up. I’d have thought that it would have been perfect for an all action guy like him. Yet he just reads the board, turns around, and walks away. I guess he and I at least have that in common.

            “Leela,” Frank calls, from the restaurant. “Come on. There are customers waiting.” I stop thinking about Zachary for a moment and the circus and head on inside. If it was meant to be, the signup sheet will still be there tomorrow.

Chapter
2

T
he next morning, I’m down in the sea beyond the cliffs, enjoying the feel of the sun on me as I swim and dive in my white two piece swimsuit. I’m not alone. It would be stupid to go out into the water like this alone, given some of the things that can be in it. Even just swimming can be dangerous. That’s why Thomas is with me.

            Thomas. I’ve known him practically forever. Since we were both little kids, and he was a friend of my brother’s. He’s only a year older than me, but it seems like his body has become that of a man almost overnight. He has the powerful, tanned, lean muscles of a regular swimmer, in fact he’s the captain of our school’s swim team, not that it gets to compete against other schools much, what with the war and the difficulties of travelling when there are so few motor vehicles. I guess schools just want their students to be fit and strong.