The Final Confession of Mabel Stark: A Novel (An Evergreen book) by Robert Hough

Author:Robert Hough
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2009-05-18T10:17:00+00:00

Then came the aerialists, a picture act pure and simple, intended to please the senses rather than thrill. The bandmaster, Merle Evans, would spur the orchestra into something lush and romantic. Then thirty-six girls, each one dressed like an Andalusian, with red skirts and black net stockings and a rose between her teeth, would invert themselves and hang from a rope crooked through the knee. Then they'd rotate slowly and in syncopation, bathed in red and green and gold, their arms extended and their smiles fluorescent. Was a thing of beauty, seeing all those young women rotate in tandem, particularly if you consider slow precision a form of beauty. Plus a lot of chest area was caught by swirling light, giving the dads in the audience something to remember now that the citizen groups had pretty much railroaded cooch into carnivals and burlesque halls and the lowlier wagon shows. After a few minutes, the music would wind down and the girls would get lowered to the big top floor and Fred Bradna-top hat and monocle in place -would announce, "Ladies and gentlemen, all eyes on the centre ring steel arena ..."

In other words, me. The Ringlings believed the cat trainer should go on soon as possible so they could get the steel arena out of the way early. With an orchestra blare I came in wearing my white leathers, waving and smiling and cracking my whip for effect. Then came the tigers: eight of them, beautiful Bengals all, beef fed and straw bedded and mighty pawed, their coats gleaming from egg baths and visits with a real veterinarian. Then it was Nigger's turn, lurching down the tunnel, looking left and right.

The audience hushed, for Nigger started pacing the arena like a caged animal, which I suppose was fair though it upset me anyway. I followed him at a respectful distance while shouting, "Seat, Nigger! Seat!" When this didn't work I kept trying to cut him off to get him to his pedestal, which is impossible to do in a circular arena, Nigger doubling back and crossing behind the line of Bengals. I finally got him on the pedestal around the seven-minute mark, the time at which the display would normally be over.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.