“Come on, Lilly,” Glory said. “We can’t be late.”
Lilly gripped the sides of her skirt in her fists and concentrated on walking without tripping. It was all she could do to put one foot in front of the other, and not just because of the high shoes. Momma said she was a monster and people would be afraid of her, and now Merrick was putting her onstage for the entire world to see. What if Glory and everyone else were lying to her? What if Momma was right and she really was an abomination?
On quivering legs, she followed Glory into the back entrance of the freak-show tent and along a narrow, dimly lit walkway behind a row of canvas curtains. Glory called it the “backstage.” The inside of the tent felt hot and musty, and smelled like mold, wet grass, and a strange, smoky perfume. Squinting in the shadowy passageway, Lilly fought the urge to turn and run. She didn’t want to do this. Not now, not ever. The heels of her shoes sunk in the soft earth and she had to lift the hem of her dress so she wouldn’t step on it. Then Glory stopped and pulled aside one of the first canvas curtains, revealing a raised stage covered with a flowered rug. In the center of the stage, a woman with a black beard sat on a chair in a zebra-patterned skirt and a jeweled brassiere, her hem pulled up to reveal her hairy thighs. Her eyebrows were dark and bushy, and a thick layer of hair covered her arms and back.
“This is my friend, Hester,” Glory said. “Otherwise known as The Monkey Girl.”
Hester waved a hairy hand.
Lilly nodded and tried to smile.
Behind the next curtain, a curly-haired woman with no legs sat on a round, one-legged pedestal. She was wearing a string of pearls and a pink blouse, and the bottom of her torso filled the entire tabletop, like an oversized vase or lamp. Using her arms, she turned herself around to say hello, the pedestal shaking back and forth beneath her. Lilly worried it would topple over.
“This is Dina the Living Half Girl,” Glory said.
“Nice to meet you,” Dina said.
Lilly swallowed. “You too.”
Behind the next curtain, Aldo the Alligator-Skinned Man stood wearing nothing but a pair of silver shorts that looked two sizes too small. Brown scales covered his hairless head and thin body. He smiled and gave Lilly a two-fingered salute.
Next, a woman in a long skirt and green brassiere stood with a white veil over her head. When she turned and lifted the veil to say hello, Lilly gasped and stepped back. A naked baby hung from her middle, it arms and legs limp, its head buried deep in her stomach.
“Don’t worry, it’s not real,” Glory whispered. “The baby is made out of rubber and glued to her skin. This is Belinda the Woman with Two Bodies and One Head.”
Lilly nodded once and tried to look friendly, but she couldn’t help staring. Why would Belinda make herself into a monster on purpose? Did she want people to be afraid of her? What if someone tried to lock her up or slit her throat? What if they wanted to put her body parts on display? After they left Belinda, she asked Glory what would happen if the townies found out the baby was fake.
“Shhh . . .” Glory said, and lowered her voice again. “All sideshows have fake acts. We just don’t say it out loud. Ever. We call it a gaff, or pulling a Margarite Clark.”
“A Margarite Clark?”
“Never mind,” Glory said. “You’ll learn soon enough. Just don’t talk about it. Not until the lingo comes natural to you anyway.”
“But what if the fake baby scares someone?” Lilly whispered. “What if they don’t want to see it?”
Glory chuckled. “If they didn’t want to see things like that, they wouldn’t pay money to come inside the freak show.”
Lilly shook her head, a question on her face.
“In the freak show it’s okay for the townies to stare at something they think they shouldn’t,” Glory said. “They don’t have to, and actually aren’t supposed to, look away. But thank God that’s the case, or we’d be out of a job.”
Lilly had to think about that. She still didn’t understand, but it didn’t matter. Right now she had more important things to worry about, like trying to keep her breakfast down.
One by one, Glory introduced her to other attractions in the freak show—Zurie the Turtle Boy, Dolly the World’s Most Beautiful Fat Woman, Mabel the Four-Legged Woman, Magnus the World’s Ugliest Man, Spear the Living Skeleton, Stubs the Smallest Man in the World, Brutus the Texas Giant, and Miles the Armless Wonder. Behind the third to the last flap, Ruby and Rosy stood back-to-back wearing blond wigs and matching lavender dresses joined at the hip, as if the skirts had been sewn together to make one garment.
“You already met Ruby and Rosy,” Glory said. “Today they’re The Siamese Twins.”
The twins waved. “Hey, Lilly,” they said at the same time. “Go get ’em, sweetie!”
Lilly wasn’t sure what she was supposed to get, but she forced a smile and waved anyway. Glory let the curtain drop and kept going.
“What are Siamese twins?” Lilly said.
“They’re twins connected from birth on one part of their body, like the hip or shoulder or head.”
“But Ruby and Rosy aren’t connected,” Lilly whispered.
“Siamese twins are hard to find.”
“So it’s another Margarite Clark?”
Glory smiled. “That’s right. You’re a quick learner.” She stopped in front of the second to the last curtain. “Well, this is your spot. Don’t forget, I’m right next door.”
“Where’s Viktor?” Lilly said. “I thought he was in the freak show.”
“Viktor is the star attraction over at the ten-in-one. And in The Barlow Brothers’ Circus that means the acts not for the weak of heart.” She lowered her voice to a whisper again. “You should see the gaffs Merrick’s got going over there. He’s got pickled punks, a fake mermaid, and a mummified devil baby in a tiny coffin with horns and tail. The female rubes nearly faint when they see it.”
Lilly thought about asking what pickled punks were, but changed her mind. She couldn’t imagine acts more shocking than the ones she’d just met. And right now, she didn’t care. In a few minutes, crowds of people would be entering the tent to see the freak show and stare at her. She was about to find out the truth. Was she a monster? Or had her parents had been lying to her after all? The only thing she knew for sure was that she had no idea what was going to happen next. Glory pulled aside the canvas and held her hand while she climbed the steps to the stage. At the top, Lilly turned to look back at Glory, her stomach doing flip-flops.
“What am I supposed to do now?” she said.
“Make a game of it. You’re from another planet, remember? Stare at the rubes like you’ve never seen anything like them in your life.”