Freaks: Alive, on the Inside!

“Go,” I said. “But be back soon, and tell them to leave her be if she asks.”

“You act as if their game were real,” said Mr. Ginger.

I smiled. He would find out for himself soon.

On my third visit I was dismayed to find Miss Lightfoot perched on a bale of hay next to the trough, a basket of sewing at her feet. I had hoped to have Tauseret to myself.

“I have lived among marvels for a fair number of years now, but I have never come across anything quite as strange,” said Miss Lightfoot. “She is filling out like a soaked bean.”

Tauseret’s eyes were closed, but a smile lingered on her lips. I touched those lips, and her eyes opened.

“Good heavens!” exclaimed Miss Lightfoot.

“This is Ruby Lightfoot,” I said. “It’s all right to speak to her.”

Tauseret stared past me. “Ah, the woman touched by Sobek, the crocodile,” she said in her whispery voice.

Miss Lightfoot pressed her hands to her mouth to cover her astonishment.

“Yes, Minnie’s story was true,” I said.

Miss Lightfoot lowered her hands. She leaned over the trough, and her look of consternation transmuted to one of wonder.

“I believe Miss Lightfoot would enjoy making your acquaintance,” I told Tauseret.

“I have not the strength yet to speak much when Abel is not here,” said Tauseret, “but I would be glad of company. Would you tell me about yourself and the world I am to live in?”

“Why, you darling, I would be delighted,” answered the alligator woman.

“Is Miss Lightfoot talking to herself?” asked Mr. Ginger, frowning with concern. He had been glancing in her direction with more and more agitation. “I thought she was playing with the children at first, but she’s talking into that trough even when they aren’t around.”

“Why don’t you go and ask?” I said, unable to hide a grin.

He protested at first, but it didn’t take much to convince him. As I’d guessed, he welcomed any excuse to talk with her. I watched with amusement as he made his way over. I couldn’t wait for his exclamation of surprise.

Mr. Ginger was addressing Miss Lightfoot, his hands clasped behind his back, when he abruptly stopped. He glanced around, a puzzled expression on his face, and then looked into the trough.

He crumpled to the ground.

25

MISS LIOHTFOOT WAFTED SMELLING salts under Mr. Ginger’s nose while I checked him over for broken bones. The children clustered around us.

“Is he dead?”

“Is it the fits?”

“Dang, did you see him drop like a girl?”

The little twin attached to his forehead sneezed, then Mr. Ginger groaned and opened his eyes. “Oh, my.”

“Now, now, children,” said Miss Lightfoot. “Even the best of us will succumb to shock, and Mr. Ginger truly is the best of us.” She stroked his cheek with a lacy handkerchief, and Mr. Ginger closed his eyes again, but now he had a smile upon his face.

“Are you all right?” I asked Tauseret. It may have been a blow to her pride to make a grown man faint.

She grinned. “Ah, it has been a while since men swooned at the sight of my beauty, but I think I shall enjoy it once more.”

I grinned back. I was seeing more and more of her sense of humor, and I liked it.