By Kelly Gombert
Kelly is a local author from Sagamore Hills.
This is a recurring story that was originally publisher in our newspaper last week.
The next chapter comes out next week in our newspaper and on this website a week later.
Chapter 1
“Do you know why I pulled you over?” the police officer asked her.
“Not entirely sure, sir.” Sheila was trying to hedge her bets. She had been going about 5 miles above the speed limit but if that wasn’t why she was being pulled over, she didn’t want to add to the possible charges against her. She was hoping he would not ask her to get out of the car as she only had on her jungle print bathing suit and a pair of flip flops.
“One of your headlights is out. You want to tell me how that happened?” He indicated the damage on the hood of her lemon-yellow Volkswagen Beetle.
“You’re not going to believe it.”
“Try me.”
“OK, well, I ran away and joined the circus sideshow…” she began.
Sheila had answered the want ad in the newspaper earlier that summer. The important part was gaining summer employment. The bonus was that there would be travel involved and get her out of Northfield. Sheila was so nervous for the job interview. Her hands were slick with sweat and heart was thumping so hard Sheila was sure her shirt was moving.
The classified advertisement in the paper was small, two lines: travelling sideshow performer wanted. June – Aug. And the telephone number for Cramer productions. The interview was held in a magic store not far from where Sheila lived. The storefront might have been small, but Scott Cramer was a large man, intimidating to look at. He shook Sheila’s sweaty hand and offered her a seat. The interior was dark, black walls with gadgets and gizmos displayed on various shelves. Sheila had had a passing interest in magic as a 10-year-old, same as many kids, but never graduated past card tricks. This was on a whole different level.
Scott provided a job description, as it were. Sheila only ever called him Scott; he never gave off that air of authority. He had a relaxed demeanor; the intimidating part dissipated when he started talking. Receding hairline, close haircut, paunch. He was a magician, his first and last love. The storefront was how he kept busy when he wasn’t travelling during the summer months or going to Las Vegas for conventions during the off season. He must have hired someone to run the place when he wasn’t there. Sheila don’t know; she never stepped foot in the store again.
The job itself was not arduous. Sheila was to perform two characters in the side show, switching with another performer. During the week, she’d do some magical illusions, something about a gorilla and a mermaid. Sheila didn’t quite understand but he said she would learn quickly. When the caravan arrived at the fairgrounds, whatever time it arrived, 1pm or 3am, the crew needed to set up the circus tents, stages, banners, booths. Scott had hired young strong men who’d do the heavy lifting but everyone was expected to share the workload. Hours were whenever the faire was open and of course, the setup and takedown. He would provide a trailer for the girls and pay was once a week, in cash. He didn’t ask Sheila about skills or experience, did not ask her a whole lot of anything, just looked her over to see if she was pretty enough and asked if she could leave in 2 days. The interview was over in 10 minutes. Sheila was in.
The crew were to meet in a parking lot on that Saturday. Five large trailers were in the space, each hooked up to a 4×4 truck or large passenger van. There were two RVs, one all tricked out, one vanilla. There were two standard gray trailers, the smaller one was non-descript but the much larger one displayed “Scott Cramer Productions” along the side with colorful graphics. The final trailer had an overlarge painting of a female sea creature with “Aqueena the Mermaid” advertising the show.
Look for our next (February 18th) issue of our newspaper for the next chapter.
Click here for more info about our newspaper and where you can pick one up.
