Vandemere: A young man battles prejudice and a vengeful spirit in a 1930s circus. (Circ de Tarot) by Kimberley D. Tait

Author:Kimberley D. Tait [Tait, Kimberley D.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: anonymous
Published: 2023-10-01T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter fifteen

My friendship with Sal Lorenzo had been built on quicksand. He was the boss’s son, and I couldn’t remember a time when he hadn’t been a fixture in my life.

At best, he tolerated me. I could be counted on to charm my way into Cook’s heart and provide snacks when suppertime was still hours away, and I was generous with the candy Shorty gave me as a reward for finishing up my chores. Despite having the dubious honor of being the youngest of all the circus brats, I was game for any challenge Sal might have instigated, so it was no surprise that I felt abandoned and snubbed the day he told me about the rabbit hole and declared I wasn’t welcome there.

“Why can’t I come?” I asked, in a hurt voice.

Sal sat astride his trusty bicycle and rolled it back and forth, testing his newly oiled chain. “You’re such a baby,” he complained.

There were five of us all together, at various stages of growth. Four boys, and one girl, nicknamed Cinnamon, because of her frizzy red hair. Five kids with no sense of the outside world. We lived an insular existence within the world of grown-ups who layered grease paint over quiet desperation and rode elephants around Jimmy’s yard.

Sal, our self-appointed leader, was the decision-maker of the group. The rest of us simply followed along behind.

There was a hierarchy under Sal’s pinnacle role. Surprisingly, Cinnamon had earned top billing. She swore like a sailor, would punch you in the stomach if she even thought you were looking at her the wrong way, and her father was Clyde, The Strong Man, so that automatically elevated her position within the group.

After Cinnamon, there was Jeff, then Miles, then me.

“But I want to see the rabbit hole,” I whined. The way Sal had described it, it sounded like something out of the story Alice in Wonderland that Shorty had read to me last month, with bunnies hopping around the entrance, tame enough to bring home as a pet.

Sal heaved a great sigh and rolled his eyes. I should have picked up on his fakery, but my imagination was too involved with images of white rabbits and comfortable burrows made of sand to suspect his motives. “Fine,” he said, “you can come. It’s a long way though. Don’t start griping about how tired you are.”

My heart swelled. “I won’t.”

The others shifted knowingly, and I completely missed the sidelong glances and secretive grins.

Sal was the only one with a bicycle. He pushed off and teetered on deflated second-hand tires. “Come on. I’ll show you!”

Oh yeah, he’d show me all right.

I was expecting to walk at least a mile or two the way he was going on, but it wasn’t far at all. We hiked out the gate at the edge of Jimmy’s property and down the road toward the almond groves sprawled at the bottom of the hill.

On the way, I pointed out the clump of trees where I’d seen the two deer. I didn’t say how I’d seen them, though.

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