Freaks: Alive, on the Inside!

Every time Violet edged toward her beau, Rose tugged the other way. Joined irrevocably to a stronger soul, Violet had no choice but to follow. Both girls appeared ready to burst into one of their famous spats. I felt a little sorry for Rose, even if she tended to bully her sister. After all, Violet was the one who had found love, and it must be hard to ignore one’s sister’s beau when one was joined to her at the rump. I had heard some cruel speculation about what married life would mean to the maiden twin.

“That’s my final word,” proclaimed Signor Giovanni, his stormy temperament finally getting the better of him. “The offer is too good to pass up.”

More than once my mother had shaken her head over Colonel Kingston’s informal business practices. “A contract is better than a handshake,” she had warned. Lately she had often been proved right.

“Where are they going?” I asked Jolly Dolly, the fat lady.

“Europe,” Dolly said, and wiped the eternally present sweat from her brow.

“They are going on tour with Fortuna’s Circus,” said her younger sister, Baby Betty, in a voice too hushed and tiny to come from a woman of her bulk. Together the sisters were billed as One Ton of Fun.

Dolly warbled with laughter. “And Violet thinks she and her fancy man may have a chance to be wed there,” she said.

Violet and her beau had been turned down for a marriage license in at least five states. There was some question as to propriety, as well as whether Violet and Rose legally constituted one person or two.

I supposed the twins couldn’t be blamed for their decision to join Fortuna’s. A considerable amount of money could be made on tour by an act like theirs, but what about those left behind?

I went to say my farewells, and Violet raised her arms to welcome me. Rose elbowed Violet aside and took my hands. “Good-bye, my dear,” she said. “I shall miss you most awfully.”

“Not as much as I,” declared Violet. She elbowed Rose back and claimed one of my hands for her own.

I blushed. Why did they always have to make a fuss of me?

“Why should you miss anyone, hussy?” spat Rose. “You have your slimy lothario to comfort you.”

“Jealous.”

“Deluded.”

I squeezed their hands to get their attention. “Please don’t go,” I said. “What will we do without you?”

“Have some peace and quiet,” Archie Crum said from behind me.

I ignored the hurtful words of the dwarf strong man. “Who will I talk about our books with?” The twins and I shared a passion for the novels of Mr. Kipling and Mr. Haggard.

“Oh, darling, you will find someone else to read to,” said Violet, wiping a tear from her eye with a gloved finger. “Someone younger and prettier—”

“And unattached,” inserted her sister.

At that moment their carriage to the train station arrived and ended the impending squabble. Trunks and cases were carried through the front door, and the twins were bundled into the coach, despite the coachman, who fell over his own feet several times, too busy looking over his shoulder at the assembled oddities to watch where he went.

“Go on, kiss ’em good-bye, Tall Dark and Handsome,” Archie Crum said, and slapped me on the rear.

I glared at him before I poked my head through the window to give each young woman a peck on the cheek. They were argumentative, it was true, but they were witty and bright when not fighting, and made me feel important.

“You’re a sweet boy, Abel Dandy,” said Violet. “I swan, if you were older, I wouldn’t be going. Wear this to remember me by.” She pressed something small and hard into my hand.

I found a gold ring in my palm, fashioned in the Egyptian style with a turquoise stone carved into the likeness of a scarab beetle, the details of which were etched in a darker green.

“Not the rubbish from that half-wit professor,” said Rose. “The one he said a goddess in a dream told him to give to you.”

Violet knit her brow. “No, hon,” she said. “I think that was my dream. She told me to give it to Abel.”

“Whatever you say, you mixed-up hussy,” said Rose. “I thought you were going to treasure it forever.”

“I was, wasn’t I?” Violet said. “But I now want to give it to him.”

The ring was thrilling. It spoke of far-off places and exotic lives. I wasn’t sure if it was quite my style, but I was honored to receive such an intimate gift from a grown woman. “It shall be my good-luck charm,” I said, and slipped it on my finger. What were the odds? It fit perfectly.