The Fiery Ring (18 page)

March 26, 1927

Well, I’m a part of the circus now. I don’t know how it will work out. Chase doesn’t seem happy, but at least we found a place to work until Travis gets back. Somehow I think it is Sister Hannah’s prayers that are helping us, and although I feel about a million miles from God myself, it gives me a good feeling to know that she’s still on our side.

Joy read what she had written, then added:

I try to forget what Albert Tatum did to Travis and me—but I just can’t! I’ll always believe he stole my daddy’s farm, though I can’t prove it. And I know he stole all of Mama’s furniture! I don’t know how, but someday I’ll make him pay for all he’s done to us!

Hearing sounds in the bedroom of the trailer, Joy capped the pen and closed the book, then put both back into her suitcase. By the time Annie stepped outside fully dressed, Joy was ready to greet her. “Good morning, Annie.”

“You sleep all right?”

“Oh, just fine.”

“We don’t fix any breakfast here at the trailer. We go over and cook for everybody else, and then have a late breakfast ourselves.”

“That suits me fine.”

As the two women left the trailer, dawn was just beginning to break, lightening up the eastern sky. When they reached the cook tent, Annie said, “Why don’t you start the fire, and I’ll make the batter. It’s pancake morning.”

Joy nodded and built up a fire in the stove, then asked, “What else can I do?”

“Why don’t you cook the pancakes, and I’ll fry the ham.”

No sooner had Joy flipped the first batch of pancakes than she heard the murmur of voices outside as the circus people gathered around the tables. The griddle was sizzling hot by now, and soon the pancakes were being sent to the tables in a steady stream. She got into the rhythm of it, pouring out a dozen pancakes at a time on the large griddle, serving those that were ready, then coming back in time to flip the others. It was not hard work for her, and she threw herself into it with gusto.

While setting down a platter of pancakes on one table, she stopped to speak to Chase, and he asked her, “How are you making out with Annie?”

“Oh, just fine. What about you?”

“Yes, I’m okay. It was good talking with Oz again.”

There was no time for more conversation. The circus people ate fast and worked fast. Soon everyone had eaten, and Annie said to Joy, “Now, let’s sit down and have a bite. I think we deserve it.”

They dug into tall stacks of their own pancakes with cane
syrup and thick slices of ham. Both women ate as though they hadn’t had a decent meal in a month. Annie did most of the talking while they ate. She finished her last bite, took a sip of coffee, and nodded. “You’re a hard worker, Joy. I’m glad you’re here.”

“It’s good for me and Chase too.”

“I guess everybody’s curious about you and Chase.”

Joy shook her head. “I know they are. Everyone has managed to ask me if we’re sleeping together.”

“Well, it’s a natural enough assumption.”

“That may be, but honestly, we’re not.”

Annie smiled at the intensity of the young woman’s reply. “How old are you, Joy?”

“Just turned seventeen.”

Joy liked Annie very much and felt grateful for her hospitality. At Annie’s questions about her past, she opened up a little, but her answers were still guarded and evasive. She said nothing about losing her family, only that she had been unhappy at home and had been forced to go out on her own. She spoke of the incident on the train when Chase had come to her assistance and been badly beaten.

Annie listened with interest, then asked, “If Chase was down, what kept those guys from turning on you?”

Joy smiled and said demurely, “I discouraged them.”

“How’d you do that?”

Joy laughed out loud. “I shot one of them.”

Annie’s eyes flew open. “You didn’t!”

“Yes, I did. My father gave me a thirty-eight. It’s an old family treasure. I had no doubt that creep on the train was going to hurt me, so I just pinked him a little. I’m a very good shot. And then I made them jump off the train.”

“Good for you!” Annie exclaimed. She liked the girl’s spunk. “And so you stayed with the woman you told me about until Chase was able to move again?”

“Yes. Sister Hannah Smith. She’s no relation of mine,” Joy added hurriedly.

Annie sipped her coffee again and said, “I’ve always liked Chase.”

“Have you known him for a long time?”

“Oh yes. We were both performers before I had my accident.”

“What was he like then?”

“Not like he is now. He’s been beat down so bad now that the hurt shows in his face. Back then he was on top of the world. He was a star of the circus world, Joy, and he could make those tigers do anything—and I mean anything!” She went on describing a younger Chase and concluded, “He’s changed so much, I hardly know him.”

“I’d like to have known him then. Do you think he’ll ever get over it?”

“I don’t know. It doesn’t seem likely. Once someone in the circus loses his nerve, it’s usually for good.” Annie rose to her feet and said, “Help me clean up, and then you can have the rest of the morning off.”

“All right. I’d like to look around.”

****

The circus world fascinated Joy. She discovered an area called Clown Alley, where the clowns practiced. She stood watching them for a long time with great amusement. With Oz shouting directions, they were working on an act that simulated a burning building and involved throwing a baby off the top of it. Joy could not help laughing as the clowns ran around wildly.

She moved on into the big top itself and was enthralled by the sight of an aerialist troop practicing their act at a dizzying height above the floor. She had never seen anything like it! There were four of them: a man and woman perhaps in their late thirties and a boy and girl probably in their teens. The man caught the boy and the girl as they sailed through the air after turning somersaults, and the woman stood beside the man, seeing that the trapeze got back in place to catch
them as the flyers returned. Joy was so immersed in watching that she was startled when a voice said, “Hi. Watching the Martinos, are you?”

Joy turned to see a girl perhaps no older than she was. The girl had blond hair and large green eyes, and was dressed in tights and a body suit.

“I’ve never seen anything like this.”

“They’re good, aren’t they? You must be Chase’s friend.” Without waiting for an answer, she said, “I’m Angel Fontaine.”

“My name’s Joy Smith. What do you do in the circus, Angel? Are you a flyer like them?”

“No, a wire walker. My mother and dad and my brother Bert and I.”

Joy suddenly said, “Well, go ahead and ask.”

Angel blinked with surprise. “Ask what?”

“Ask about me and Chase. Everybody else has.”

Angel noted the rather sharp tone and laughed. “Well, it’s only natural. Chase stays gone for two years without a word and then shows up with a girl. Naturally we’re curious.”

“We’re just good friends.” Joy pronounced the words slowly and carefully so there would be no mistake.

“I’ll take your word for it. I saw you over in the cook tent this morning at breakfast. You’re not a performer?”

“Me? No, nothing like that.” She looked up at the aerialists and shook her head. “I think you’d have to start when you were just a baby to do a thing like that.”

“That’s right,” Angel said. “The circus works that way. Most of us have circus backgrounds. My grandparents were wire walkers, and Dad and Mom just took over. I’ve never known anything else.”

“Did you know Chase when he was here before?”

“I sure did.” Angel smiled broadly and then laughed aloud. She seemed like a happy girl and very outgoing. “As a matter of fact, I had the world’s biggest crush on him. I was only
fourteen when he was with the show. I made a real pest of myself, but he was always nice.”

The two girls stood talking for a few minutes. When Angel turned to leave, she said, “Too bad about Chase. He was the best.”

Joy said good-bye to Angel, and then wandered around until she found the animal cages, which Annie had already informed her was called the menagerie. Chase was cleaning one of the cages with a garden hose. She immediately went up to him and greeted him.

Chase shut off the hose and said, “Hi. Taking a tour of the circus world?”

“Yes. I met Angel.”

“She’s a nice girl. Her whole family’s very fine. Been in show business forever, I think.”

“She said she had a crush on you when she was younger.”

Chase smiled slightly and shrugged. “That happens a lot. Who did you have a crush on when you were just a kid?”

“The quarterback of the football team, I guess.”

“Did you ever go out with him?”

“No, he never even saw me.” She looked over at the tiger that had come to press its head against the cage. “Why is it doing that?”

“She wants to have her head scratched.” Chase went over and scratched the big cat’s furry head.

“Can I do that?” Joy asked. “Sure. Why not. This is Mabel, a good friend of mine.”

“She was here when you left?”

“Oh yes. She was always my favorite. Mabel, I want you to meet Miss Joy Smith.”

Joy reached in and ran her hand over the tiger’s head. The animal made a rumbling noise deep down in her throat, and Chase said, “That means she’s happy.” Joy continued to rub the tiger’s head. “She’s so beautiful!” she whispered. “And she’s just like a big kitten.”

“No, she’s not,” Chase said firmly. “She’s a wild animal.”

“But she’s so tame.”

“Don’t ever make that mistake. Animals like Mabel here can be very well behaved and seem to be affectionate, but in a flash that wildness can leap out, and suddenly they’re not pussycats anymore. They’re killing machines. Look at those teeth.” He pulled the tiger’s head up, and Mabel opened her mouth. “See those teeth? You wouldn’t want her to bite you with those pearly whites! And get a load of these claws. Sit up, Mabel.”

Mabel sat up and waved her paws in the air, making Joy laugh with delight. Chase grabbed her paws and said, “Once these get into you, she doesn’t have any way to get them out easily. She just pulls back, and whatever they’re in rips wide open. If that’s your face, then good-bye face.”

Joy was struck with Chase’s affection for the animal as he continued to talk about Mabel. At one point she interrupted him. “You really love her, don’t you, Chase?”

“I guess so.” The admission embarrassed him for some reason, and he changed the subject. “Well, stand back. I gotta wash out these cages.” He turned the hose on and aimed the spray at Butch, who plunged his head into the water and turned around with obvious pleasure. “Some tigers are scared to death of water, but some love it—like Butch here. And elephants, now, they love water of any kind. They’d love to have a bath every day, but then they love to get out and roll in the dirt, and then they have to be washed off again.”

Joy listened attentively, soaking up everything he said as they went from cage to cage. When she stepped close to one particular cage, Chase grabbed her arm and pulled her back. “Don’t get too close. That’s Sultan.”

“Is he bad?”

“Yes, very bad. They should have gotten rid of him after he—”

“After he what?”

“This is the one that—” He broke off and shook his head. “He’s just a bad tiger.”

Joy swept his face with a quick glance and saw pain in his eyes.
This must be the one that mauled him so badly.
She did not ask Chase then but determined to find out later exactly what had happened.

They were almost to the last cage when a voice rang out. “Hello! How are they this morning, Chase?”

“All right, Karl. They all look healthy.”

“How are you this morning, Joy?”

“Just fine, thanks.” She smiled broadly at Ritter, for he had a winning way about him.

“Looking over the cats?” he asked.

“Yes. Chase was just telling me some things about them. I don’t really know anything about tigers.”

Ritter slapped Chase on the back. “Well, he’s the man who can tell you. He wrote the book on them.”

Chase shook off the praise and said, “Princess has got a touch of asthma, I think.”

“Do tigers get asthma?” Joy asked with surprise. “I thought that was just humans.”

“No,” Karl said. “They’re strong, but they’re delicate. That’s why the cages have to be washed out every day. If they’re not, the urine fumes aggravate asthma in cats. Are you just looking around?”

“Yes. I’ve never seen anything like this.”

“Well, if you’re through here, why don’t you come with me and I’ll introduce you to some more folks.”

Joy liked the trainer and said, “All right. I’ll see you later, Chase.”

“All right, Joy.”

Ritter said to Chase, “I’ll be back pretty soon. I’ll have them set up the cage, and we’ll have a practice session and get you back into the old routine.”

“All right, Karl, I’ll be ready.”

Joy walked alongside Ritter, and when they were out of earshot, the trainer shook his head sadly. “Too bad about
Chase. He was the best there was, and he hadn’t even reached his peak when the trouble came.”

“Were you with the circus then?”

“Not with this one, but everyone in the circus world knew about it. It really tore him up. I guess that would hurt any man.”

“It must be hard on him, Karl.”

“I expect it is. I’m surprised he came back.”

“Why is that?”

“Well, he was a star. Now he’s cleaning out cages. That’s bound to hurt.”

Joy did not answer. She spent a pleasant hour with Karl Ritter. He was witty and outgoing, and when he left her, he said, “Those were good pancakes this morning. You made them, I guess.”

“Oh, I just helped Annie.”

“I’m glad you’re here. Annie needed some help. I told the colonel she was being worked to death in that cook tent, and so was I with the animals. So you and Chase are like a gift from heaven.” He smiled and said, “Welcome to the circus.”

“Thank you. This is going to be much more exciting than working back on the old farm.”

“Come around later on, and you can watch how tigers and lions get trained.”

“I will. Thanks for showing me around.”