Black Mouth by Ronald Malfi

Author:Ronald Malfi
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: , &#160
Publisher: Titan
Published: 2022-07-27T04:30:35.175486+00:00

FOOD RIDES GAMES FUN

COME ONE, COME ALL…

…FOR THE YOUNG, FOR THE OLD…

…AND SING THE SONG OF THE PURPLE HIPPO!

JULY 1—12

4 PM—12 AM!

PENANCE, KY FAIRGROUNDS

*$10 all-you-can-ride wristbands available!

At the bottom of the flyer was a cartoon hippopotamus clutching a squadron of balloons.

Something cold and hard turned over in my stomach. I thought I might be sick again.

“Hey.” It was Clay, his silhouette blocking out the daylight at the entrance of the cave. His voice had startled me. “The hell are you doing in there?”

I tucked the stuffed rabbit under one arm, picked up the flyer, then backed out of the cave. The top of my head thumped against the craggy ceiling the entire way, which didn’t help my headache any. And despite the cooler temperatures in there, by the time I was back outside, my shirt was soaked with perspiration.

Dennis was sitting cross-legged on the ground in a spangle of sunlight. His broad shoulders were dusted with leaves. Mia stood by his side, her fingers raking back his mop of curly black hair. When my brother saw me, he broke into an easy smile. Returned to the Land of the Living, I thought.

“He came out of it just as you went in there,” Mia said.

“You okay, bud?” I asked him.

Dennis gave me a thumbs up.

“Mia, you said you saw the Magician at a carnival in Lexington.”

“That’s right.”

“Was it this carnival?” I handed her the flyer.

She studied it, looked up at me, then looked back down at the flyer again. “Jesus Christ, it might be. I don’t know.” She shook her head, still staring at the carnival flyer. “I mean, all carnivals look the same, don’t they?”

“What is it?” Clay went over to her, peered down at the crinkled sheet of paper in Mia’s hand.

“Yeah,” I said. “All carnivals pretty much look the same. But I’d remember that purple hippopotamus motherfucker anywhere.”

“Me too.” Clay’s eyes turned in my direction, and I was taken aback by the stark look of fear I saw in them. He suddenly looked the way I felt. “I remember that stupid Happy Horace jingle playing as Tony Tillman kept hitting me in the face. You guys remember that? It’s seared into my memory. I’ll never forget it.”

“Wait a minute,” Mia said. “You’re saying this was also the same carnival that came to the Quay that summer?”

I looked back at Clay’s haunted eyes and knew he was thinking the exact same thing as me.

“He travels with the carnival,” we both said at the same time.

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