We Are All His Creatures by Deborah Noyes

Author:Deborah Noyes [Noyes, Deborah]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781536206616
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Published: 2020-04-14T16:00:00+00:00

After an attendant removed the bride’s train, Father led the couple to the sofa, lifting the General up and placing him at his left side while Mother did the same for Mrs. Stratton, placing her at her right, so the little couple sat squarely between them with legs extended. Father watched with a twinkle in his eye as statesmen and warriors came forward to shake the newlyweds’ hands.

When someone asked the groom how he found married life, with so many curious fans in tow, his voice dropped suggestively. “Nothing short of a double lock and a pair of patent bolls has proved sufficiently powerful to preserve the sanctity of our bedchamber.”

“And Washington?”

“Most congenial,” said Tom Thumb, smiling at his wife. “Tomorrow we’ll tour an army encampment on Arlington Heights across the Potomac with Lavinia’s brother Benjamin, of the Fortieth Massachusetts Regiment.” There was a scattering of applause. Was her brother also a dwarf? Robert wondered. He had never imagined sideshow performers with brothers or wives or fathers. A dwarf could serve the Union, it seemed, but not the president’s own son.

Hanging on Mother’s sleeve, Tad made a study of the bride. “Mother,” he said, “if you were a little woman like Mrs. Stratton, you would look just like her.”

Robert smiled at that, as did many who had inched close enough to hear. Tad’s guilelessness had its uses, and for a moment, Robert felt almost guilty standing outside the family circle, lurking back here in the crowd like an onlooker. He smiled again as Tad in his loud voice compared the newlyweds to their father. “Isn’t it funny that Father is so tall and Mr. and Mrs. Stratton are so little?”

“My boy,” Father replied, “Dame Nature sometimes delights in doing funny things. You need not seek for any other reason” — he gestured from himself to the General — “for here you have the long and short of it.”

The space under the chandelier erupted in laughter, and as the distinguished men formed a welcoming circle around the tiny dignitaries, Robert felt more and more sidelined. It was a simple fix, of course — just a few short steps. He could take his place beside his family, kiss Mother’s cheek, and all would be forgiven.

But there he stood, two layers back in the crowd.

Making small talk, Father asked the General how he ought to conduct the war against the Rebels. Tom Thumb leaned in, puffing on a very fine-smelling cigar. “My friend Barnum,” he said, “would settle the whole affair in a month.”

What an American idea, Robert mused: a Prince of Humbug running the war. The showman had come through bankruptcy in one piece, and a great many other obstacles, too, including the loss of his Moorish mansion in Bridgeport, which had burned to the ground back in 1857.

“Have you never been called to active duty, General?” a man asked, and Robert winced. He couldn’t place the man’s face, but the question cut like a blade, though the star took it in

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