Circus Freak - Elephant Boy

1 - Ring and His Outrageous Tail Coat

Zach ran as fast as he could, down the large marble steps of the agency building, down the street, across the field, he lost track. His bag bounced on his shoulder as he did so, all his belongings tucked into it, disorderly and messy, but safe all the same. He had left his room in a rush, grabbing his few items he had. He ran past everyone he saw as important in a teary blur, and out the doors he went. He ran, ran, and ran, finally arriving were he wanted to go. There, he found exactly what he was looking for. The circus was still in town. From the looks of it, they were packing up and were going to head out in a day or two. Perfect, he thought. He was panting hard as he approached, his eyes were dried of previous tears, and he looked behind him amazed that he hadn't been followed.

As Zach approached the circus train, he came across two men loading crates onto one of the train cars. One looked rather ordinary, khaki overalls and a dark corduroy hat. The other wore a hat on a spring, coming straight out of his hair. He had a tail coat, half black and half white, but instead of the usual two tails, it had five. They curled up on the ends, seemed to defy gravity, and alternated between black and white. His slacks were of the same fashion, but with black on the left and white on the right, while the tail coat was the opposite. His shoes were long and somewhat pointed, and were white on the left and black on the right. As he turned to face Zach, his black earring glinted in the sun and Zach was able to see that he had a bow tie/tie, white tie on the right, black bow tie on the left. He had an air of impossibility, and the whole outfit was confusing.

"What do you want, kid?" Zach was startled when the man began to speak. Zach was silent.

"Well?" He was getting impatient. Zach squeaked, and the ordinary man chuckled.

"I, uh..." Zach's cheeks flushed. He couldn't quite find the words he wanted to say,

"Look, kid, the circus is over. We are about to leave for the next town. Better luck next time." After this, he turned back around, his tails swishing as he did so.

"That's not why i'm here," Zach managed to say. The overall man stopped abruptly and the top hat man stood upright. He turned to Zach slowly.

"Then why are you here?" he asked carefully. Zach paused, taking a deep breath.

"I want to come with." It was just now that Zach noticed how pale the man was. He hopped down from the car, and circled around Zach, almost as a vulture would circle its prey. He eventually stopped in front of a perfectly still Zach, and met his eyes.

"You sure, kid? Being in the circus is hard work y'know." Zach nodded. He knew that this was his best, and only, option.

"Alright, fine. I'm Ring." He stepped back, and held out a gloved hand. Zach reluctantly took it, and as they shook hands, the top had bounced. "Head right down there, past the tigers and dancers, and talk to Olly. Tell him Ring sent you. We'll talk later." He clapped Zach on the back and hopped on the car, swinging his long thin legs over the side.

Zach began walking in the direction Ring had pointed. He was admiring a painting on the side of one of the cars when he collided with someone.

"Oh my gosh i'm so sorry-" he was cut off by her scream.

"You're lucky you didn't get my costume all dirty!" she refused the hand Zach had extended, and scrambled up on her own, scooping up her armful of turquoise feathers and fabric. She sashayed away, and Zach was left embarrassed and confused. By now he had a few people staring at him, but what freaked him out the most was a "strong man" sauntering towards him. Luckily, the elephants were away from him, so Zach took off that way.

He finally slowed down and could see that the elephants were close. He sighed in relief, and looked around to make sure he hadn't been chased. His relief turned into a small scream as he turned around to the face of a girl around his age with bouncy brown pigtails. She smiled widely, and started assaulting him with questions.

"Hi there! Who are you? Where did you come from? What are you doing here? Don't you know we are packing up? Have you met Ring yet? Well?" Zach was sweating and backing up. The sun must have come out from behind a cloud or something. She stopped and held out a hand.

"I'm Twist! But you can call me T." She giggled at his confused look. "We all have strange names in this strange place."

"No, it's nice," Zach mumbled. The sun sure was getting hot. Twist must have thought so too, because her face got all red and she said, "Gotta go," and cartwheeled away.

By the time Zach got to the elephants, he had a headache, some sort of heat stroke, and serious doubts about this whole circus thing.