Moses rolled his eyes, sauntered toward the dog boy, and patted him on the back as if there were spines there. The frog boy’s reluctant gesture undid Apollo, and he roared with laughter along with the rest of them.
Mr. Ginger shook his top-heavy head and dropped the curtain.
“Could you look in on Mr. Bopp, honey bun?” Miss Lightfoot asked me. “I do fret for his comfort.”
I didn’t know what I might do for him, but I nodded and slipped away.
Bonfiglio had left the crate unguarded while he showed off his muscles to the country girls. I heard crunching as I pulled myself into the back of the wagon.
“You all right, Mr. Bopp?” I asked, kneeling in front of the crate.
He spat. “Ain’t shat myself yet, if that’s what you want to know.”
I examined the wooden box. “Something flat could slide through these slats. I’ll suggest skillet cakes for supper, Mr. Bopp, if that suits you?”
“Bonfiglio will be back soon to fart over me head,” said the human torso. “I’d as soon have me one of them knives of yours to goose him good.”
I smiled. “If I leave with the children,” I said, “are you with us?”
He snorted. “Got nothing left here,” he said, “but I wants to kill the fake he-she first.”
I understood, but I couldn’t promise him that. “Just be ready,” I said.
“I’ll cancel me dancing lesson,” he answered.
I hurried back to my post before Mink missed me. Tauseret hadn’t moved an iota. Perhaps she only came alive at night.
In the lull between the last full performance and Ceecee’s late-night show Apollo came to see me. I was packing up the jars, ready for our move.
“I want to leave,” he said. “Now.”
He’d finally come to his senses. “It’s not that easy,” I told him. “We have to take the others.”
“I’ll load the children on the wagon,” he answered. “We can go tonight.”
“What about Mr. Bopp?” I asked. “We can’t leave him. I’d like to ask Miss Lightfoot and Mr. Ginger to come too.”
“You’re crazy, Abel!” the dog boy exclaimed. “It’ll be hard enough to sneak us and the kids out.”
“And there’s someone else,” I said.
Apollo groaned. “Earle? He’s huge! We wouldn’t get far at all.”
“Not Earle. He doesn’t want to come,” I answered. I paused to consider how to go on. He might think me truly crazy when I told him. Perhaps I was. I took a deep breath and guided him over to where Tauseret lay. Apollo had not spared the mummy a glance when he came for me that morning; consequently he hadn’t seen her eyes wide open and intelligent, but I knew once he did, he would understand.
“This is Tauseret,” I said.
“You want to take a body? You’ve given it a name?”
“She’s not a body,” I told him. “She’s alive.”
Apollo stared at me slack jawed, as if I’d announced I was the king of England. “Don’t be mean, Abel,” he said. He headed for the door.
“Devil take it, Apollo. You know I don’t lie to you.” My strong language shocked the boy motionless. “Wait with me awhile. If she doesn’t open her eyes and talk before Ceecee’s show, we’ll leave tonight, I promise.”
Apollo rejoined me cautiously. “You better be telling the truth,” he said. “’Cause if not, I’ll leave anyway, whether you or anyone else comes with me.”
Tauseret lay in tatters, her face dun and cracked with the centuries. No wonder Apollo thought I’d lost my senses.