“I’ll show you something that I can do, though.”
She jumped up off the bench and leaped a few feet from them. She found a spot on the grass. She then did a handstand. Hazel, acting as her intrepid assistant, put a large ball on her feet, which she began to spin.
Some people looked at the ball spinning at quite an extraordinary speed. But many others chose to look at her underwear, or her skirt, which was now up over her head.
She stood back upright. Her face was beet red.
“I know a lot of other tricks that I can show you. Maybe not today, because we have to go, but next time.”
They did not know what on earth to make of this girl. They knew that what she was doing was truly magical, and they felt they could watch her do it for hours and hours and hours. But they also felt she would never make a single penny off it.
She certainly seemed crazy. But she simultaneously made them think that there was nothing in the world wrong with being a crazy girl. And that maybe the world needed a couple more crazy girls.
The other children in the park also loved when Rose showed up. She always made them all laugh. They would gather around if she was talking to her friend the bear, who after all these years was still after her, still seeking her affections.
The peacocks in the park were all white, and they walked with their wedding dresses trailing behind them.
? ? ?
SOMETIMES AFTER HER PERFORMANCES with the imaginary bear, she would find herself feeling quite blue. Because the bear was the only one she kept in touch with from the orphanage. She sometimes thought she would run into Pierrot, but she never did. The other governesses all understood that Rose was the type of girl to easily fall into temptation. They knew this from overhearing her strange conversations with the bear. The invisible bear seemed to be getting more and more aggressive.
Rose brought the children home. They shared a bowl of chocolate-chip ice cream. The chunks of chocolate looked like flotsam from a ship that had just sunk.
? ? ?
SHE BUMPED INTO MCMAHON one night after she had put the children to bed and she was walking down the hall with an atlas on her head. It had been one of her punishments at the orphanage, which she had managed to transform into a fully fledged trick.
“You’re still the governess.”
“Yes.”
“Congratulations. But why the fuck do you have a book on your head?”
“What are you talking about? What book?”
“For the love of God, are you one of those lobotomized kids from the orphanage?”
McMahon was like this great ship that went back and forth to the different worlds. He had in his brain all those marvelous theatrics.
“Tell me about what you saw tonight.”
“There was a Parisian troupe. It was a disaster. The whole troupe had clearly lost its mind somewhere on the road. You would actually be surprised how often that happens. After seven years on the road, they should all be committed.”
“Oh, how lovely! Tell me more, please don’t stop.”
“They were all dressed up as white mice. They had cloth ears stuck up on their heads and long tails stuck to the asses of their leotards. It was called the Opera of the Souris en Pantoufles. So I really don’t know why I was still shocked when they tiptoed out dressed like rodents. But there you go.
“But one girl on pointe didn’t have a shirt on. They all looked so stoned that it’s hard to say whether that was an artistic choice or whether she forgot to put her clothes on before coming out onstage. I really thought she was a boy because she was so flat-chested, but plenty of other people in the audience figured out pretty quickly that she was a girl, given the general amount of hooting and hollering. In any case, the police busted the show because she was only fourteen.”
“What’s it like to be able to watch the most stupendous acts from all over the world every night?”
“You can get used to anything, I suppose.”
“Will you take me one night?”
“Are you out of your mind? This conversation is over. Scurry back to your nursery. I’m putting ideas into your head, I can see that.”
“But I need to see this wonderful world. I used to be a performer too, when I was little. Perhaps you saw one of our famous Christmas performances. At City Hall? The Journey of the Star of David, perhaps?”
“No. I run the Roxy downtown. All the spectacles that are worth seeing are up on that stage. Did you perform at the Roxy? No? I didn’t think so.”
“Everyone used to fall in love with me.”
“Trust me, I’m not in love with you.”
“You’re not my type either.”
“You probably need new chores or something. Go away now. And this will be the last time I speak to you. Do you understand?”
“Yes. I will never speak to you again. I will communicate only in ways that transcend words.”
He wanted to protest again, but he knew that it was useless, so he let her leave. It was best to get her away from him as soon as possible. Before she walked away, she moved the tip of her toe on the floor, like a piece of chalk writing words. He wondered what she spelled.