Skycircus

by Peter Bunzl

  The professor’s eyes widened in alarm. He was obviously rather surprised to be interrupted in full flow. “My dear young lady, it’s common knowledge that hybrids are problematic, which is why we at the guild banned their creation.”

  “Lily!” Anna cried. “It’s so good to see you.” She kissed Lily on both cheeks.

  “And you,” Lily replied. But she was still fuming about the professor’s remarks.

  “Do you know each other?” Anna asked.

  Lily shook her head.

  Anna introduced them. “This is Professor Manceplain – a noted expert on mechanical studies. Professor, this is Miss Lily Hartman, John’s daughter.”

  “A pleasure, young lady.”

  Lily shrugged. It was certainly no pleasure for her to meet such a horrible man. For a moment there was an awkward silence, of the kind grown-ups sometimes fall into at parties when nobody knows what to say.

  “I’m so glad you’re here, Lily,” Anna said at last. “Your father told me it was your birthday, and we’ve a present for you. Only I left it with Tolly, and I can’t seem to see him anywhere… Perhaps we should go find him?”

  She took Lily’s arm and led her away from the tall professor, the pair of them pushing through the sea of bodies.

  “How could that man hold such idiotic views?” Lily asked. “Why were you talking to him? Are you investigating something to do with hybrids?”

  “Thank goodness you came over,” Anna said, not answering any of her questions. “The conversation was getting onto rather shaky ground. I don’t know what I would’ve said if it had continued! But I really need to speak with your father,” she went on, spotting him and pointing him out. “Why don’t you find Tolly? He’s got your gift, and we can catch up later…” And she vanished into the crowd.

  Someone tapped Lily’s shoulder. It was Robert. “You’ll be pleased to know I’ve seen Tolly,” he said. “He’s hiding in the kitchen.”

  The sideboard downstairs was laid out with Mrs Rust’s various replaceable tool-hands. Pre-prepared dishes lined the table, awaiting their delivery to the dining room. There was a large boiled salmon with cucumber and lobster cream perched in a grand blue-and-white serving dish, alongside veal croquettes and a leg of lamb on a bed of blanched spinach and roasted potatoes. Then for pudding there was a gooseberry tart with whipped cream and orange jelly and a lemon cake. And cheese and biscuits. It all smelled amazing and it felt almost a shame to go out and miss such a feast.

  Tolly sat alone among the platters of food, his chair turned towards the hearth. His tanned face with its thatch of chestnut curls looked sad, but then he glanced up and saw Lily and pasted on a smile. “Happy birthday, Lil! Hello, Robert! Are you having a good party?”

  “It’s not really her birthday party,” Malkin said. “More a stuffy event for mechanists.”

  “That’s why we stepped out,” Robert explained.

  “Too right!” Tolly leaned back in his chair. “I didn’t fit in there neither. It’s full of blimmin’ professors – the crème de menthe of the mechanist community, supposedly. Anna was talking to some awful fella about her article, so I decided I’d come in here and sit by the fire on me own for a bit.” Tolly leaned forward in his chair and straightened his jacket. “Oh, I almost forgot, Lil. Me and Anna brought you a gift.”

  He felt about in his pockets and pulled out a leather wallet. When Lily opened it, she discovered it was full of tiny implements – miniature lock picks, each one barely longer than a match.

  “We thought they’d come in handy on your adventures,” Tolly explained. “Might have better luck with them than hairpins.”

  “Thank you.” Lily laughed. “It’s truly what I’ve always wanted.” And it was.

  “I brought some firecrackers an’ all,” Tolly said, pulling a handful from his pocket to show them. “Just to liven things up,” he explained. “But I don’t think it’s that kind of a do.”

  “No, it doesn’t seem to be,” Lily said sadly. Then she perked up. “I know something that might cheer you up, Tolly. And it’s far more fun than this dull party.”

  “Oh, what’s that?”

  Lily and Robert showed Tolly Mama’s red notebook and explained how it had arrived with the bizarre birthday card and circus invite. Tolly flicked through the book as they told the tale, taking in all the wonderful drawings and illustrations of flying creatures.

  “It’s a proper mystery,” he said when they finally finished. “Just how did Angelique and the rest of these circus folk get hold of your ma’s notebook in the first place?” He handed it back to Lily.

  “That’s what we intend to find out,” Robert said.

  “As well as catching the show,” Malkin added. “I’m hoping there’ll be fire-eating, juggling and some hummable tunes. But obviously no mimes – they’re the worst.”

  Lily put the book away and checked her pocket watch. “It’s seven now,” she said. “We should probably get going. Why not come with us?”

  “Spit and sawdust!” Mrs Rust said as she bustled in to pick up trays of food. “Did my metal ears deceive me? Are you off out?”

  “We thought Tolly might like to take a turn around the garden, Rusty,” Lily said. “He hasn’t seen it before.”

  “Dough-hooks and dishcloths! What the tock for? It’ll be dark out.”

  “A bit of fresh air. He’s feeling a little peaky, actually.”

  “I am?” Tolly looked confused. Then, when he saw the frown on Lily’s face, he clutched his stomach and played along. “Ooh, yes, I’m afraid I am.”

  Mrs Rust gave a loud tut. “Well, wear a coat.”

  “Of course, Missus.” Tolly clasped Robert’s arm and hobbled towards the cloakroom that led to the back door.

  “And, Lily,” Mrs Rust added, “before you go wandering off—”

  “We aren’t!”

  “I know you better than that.” Mrs Rust put down her tray. “Make sure you’ve a scarf. It’s cold out. In fact, I wasn’t going to give you this till later, but it seems as if you could use it now.”

  She opened a drawer in the kitchen dresser and took out a rather rumpled-looking package. “Steam-fountains and stockpots! It’s got a bit squashed.” Mrs Rust placed the package in front of Lily on the scrubbed table. “That’s from us mechanicals, my tiger.” She gave a wheezy cough. “Well, that is to say, mostly it’s from me, as I’m the one who made it.”

  Lily’s heart soared. From a day when it seemed everyone had forgotten her, she’d ended up with a whole armful of presents.

  She kissed Rusty on her dented metal cheek and set to opening the package. Inside was an orange-and-black striped scarf. The longest scarf she’d ever seen. She wound it round her neck, but even after she had done so a number of times, the end still trailed on the floor.

  “It’s lovely,” Lily told Mrs Rust. “If a spot on the large side.”

  “Fulcrums and fenders! Sorry about that,” Mrs Rust said. “I’m not the best at knitting. Thing is, I can cast on, but I’ve not quite fathomed how to finish. So I keeps going until the wool runs out. Never mind, I’m sure you’ll grow into it.”

  “If she turns out to be a giraffe,” said Malkin, who’d returned from the cloakroom.

  “Maybe I will, Malkin.” Lily hitched up the end of the scarf and stuffed it into the pocket of her dress. To Mrs Rust she said, “Thank you, Rusty, I shall treasure it for ever, and never take it off, not even indoors!”

  Mrs Rust gave a bolt-filled grin. “Gridirons and girders! I should think not! You be careful out there, don’t step on any of Springer’s begonias, and mind you’re back in time for your father’s big speech at nine!”

  In the cloakroom the back door was open, spilling out heat and letting in the dark and a chilly breeze. Just beyond the last rectangle of light, Malkin and the others stood on the bottom step in the gathering fog, waiting for her.

  Lily took her coat from the rack and thrust her gifts into its pockets, glancing back into the kitchen as she di
d so.

  Mrs Rust stood framed in the doorway, bent over a tray that she was filling with food. Lily’s stomach rumbled. She felt suddenly famished. She wondered if she should go back and steal a croquette or two for later, but then realized they’d only get squashed in her pockets. Anyway, there was sure to be plenty of leftovers when they returned.

  She was glad to be leaving the party. She hoped by the time the four of them got back that dinner would be over and all those stuffy professors would’ve retired to the smoking room or, better still, gone home. Papa probably wouldn’t even notice they were missing.

  In the meantime, she’d had enough of duty for one evening. It was time for her birthday treat…and to get some serious investigating done! They were off to see the circus!

  The air was damp and chilly and through the patches of fog, Robert glimpsed the first stars already out in the night sky. As he followed Lily, Tolly and Malkin along the path that wound round the side of Brackenbridge Manor, a sudden thought struck him.

  “How are we going to get to the circus and back before nine?” he asked. “It’ll take at least forty minutes to the village each way – or more, considering we’ll get lost in this weather – and then the show lasts an hour, and we need to be back in time for your da’s speech at nine. We can’t possibly make it.”

  “We can if we’re not on foot,” Lily replied.

  “What are we going to do, fly?” Malkin sneered.

  “No.” Lily led them onto the front drive. “We’re going to take one of those.” She pointed at the long line of steam-hansoms sitting wheel-deep in the mist and waiting to take Papa’s guests back to the Brackenbridge airstation.

  Robert wondered why he hadn’t thought of that as they clambered aboard the first machine.

  “Budge up!” Tolly said, climbing into the passenger compartment beside Robert and Malkin as Lily negotiated with the driver. When she’d finished, she climbed in as well, slamming the door behind her and settling into a seat. Then she banged on the roof to signal they were ready to depart. In a moment the steam-hansom had chuffed to life and they set off at a rattling pace. Malkin jumped onto her lap and lay down, resting his front paws and snout across her knees. Lily stroked the top of his head.

  They barrelled through the open gates at the end of the drive, the night mizzle thickening and rolling across the fields towards them.

  Robert wedged his cap on straight, his fingers fumbling with its brim. Then he shoved his hands deep in his pockets and wrapped his coat close around him, snuggling into the soft collar.

  The coat had once belonged to his da. Its thick wool felt warm and cosy, and far more comfortable than the smart suit he had on beneath it. A few flakes of old tobacco lined the pockets. They must’ve fallen from Da’s pipe, which he’d kept in there sometimes.

  For years the coat had hung on the rack in the back hall of their old shop, Townsend’s Horologist’s. Da would scoop it on whenever he went out to deliver a clock he’d repaired. He’d been gone almost a year now and Robert still missed him every day. The coat was one of the few things that remained of him.

  “I ain’t never laid eyes on a proper circus before.” Tolly shifted about excitedly in his seat. “I seen a few street arteeestes round Camden Town and some music-hall turns in the penny gaffs, not to mention that spiritualist show of your ma’s, Robert – but none of that’s the same as the whole Big Top number, is it? What do you think this Skycircus is going to be like?”

  Lily cast a glance at Robert. His face looked flush with nervous excitement. She too had a few anticipatory butterflies in her stomach – or was that the lurch of the cab?

  Robert shrugged non-commitally. “I’ve no idea. These kind of shows never normally come to Brackenbridge.”

  “I can’t wait to see the girl with wings,” Tolly chattered on. “I wonder if she’ll fly for real, or whether it’ll be some kind of swing-and-wire trick?”

  Malkin’s ears pricked up and he shifted, his claws digging into Lily’s lap. “Human bone density makes it highly unlikely she’ll actually take off,” he told them.

  “Seems a lot of effort to make mechanical wings if they don’t work,” Robert said.

  “Chickens,” Malkin replied.

  “What about them?” Tolly asked.

  “They have wings but can’t fly.”

  “You think she might be like a chicken?” Robert asked.

  “Chickens are a bit clucking stupid, aren’t they?” Tolly said. “That’d be a rum do if she ran around like one of them.”

  “I disagree with all of you,” Lily interrupted. “This girl’s going to be a marvel!”

  She got out the red notebook, pulled the ticket from beneath its cover, and flipped through some of the strange diagrams and drawings of winged creatures held within its pages.

  Would Angelique turn out to be a real winged hybrid like these drawings? A hybrid like her. And was there some link between Angelique and Mama? Lily couldn’t be entirely sure, but a small part of her felt that the connection wouldn’t just be coincidence. She couldn’t wait to meet Angelique and ask her. In the meantime, she would have to content herself with reading more of the notebook.

  Monday, 9th September 1867,

  Histon College, Cambridge University

  My first day studying Mechanics, specializing in Ornithopters. Histon is the first ladies’ college in the country. They have a Latin motto on their crest, which I recognize as the same one that was above the door at my old school:

  VINCIT OMNIA VERITAS.

  Truth conquers all.

  I feel it’s an auspicious beginning. One should always strive to be authentic, especially to oneself.

  Lily scratched her head. How curious. Truth Conquers All had been the motto of her school too – Miss Scrimshaw’s Finishing Academy. Had she and Mama studied at the same place and she hadn’t even known it?

  Tuesday, 10th September 1867,

  Histon College

  Last night, to celebrate our arrival, I and some of the other girls from the dorm on West Quad decided to visit a circus that was in town.

  Lily pursed her lips and stopped reading again. This was even stranger. She was on her way to the circus, and here was Mama talking about one.

  I saw the most amazing trapeze artist! It was almost as if she was flying through the air on her swing. It made me think about my thesis – to make someone fly with mechanical wings. In all honesty, it will be difficult to bring to fruition.

  That’s not to say it’s an impossibility, and I am willing, above everything, to give it a try.

  That was the end of the entry, but the coincidences were such that Lily could not resist turning the page and reading the next one too.

  Tuesday, 17th September 1867,

  Histon

  I had my first tutorial today. My tutor says we can discover the universal truth of things in science, numbers and equations, just as we can in the fossils of the past, or in the written word. My mother used to say something similar: “What would you do if you weren’t afraid?” Back then I never knew the answer, but now I do: Tell my truth.

  And today my truth lies in the Flyology project.

  The Flyology project… Had Mama really gone on to create a winged person in the years before her death? Lily had never heard tell of such things, not from Papa or anyone, so it seemed unlikely. Then again, before tonight she hadn’t even entertained the idea that a flying hybrid girl could exist. And yet, here they were, perhaps on their way to see one.

  It was possible, she supposed, that there were others, who were kept secret – hadn’t the professor at the party told Anna such experiments were banned?

  Lily wondered whether the rest of the pages would reveal the whole story… If not, Angelique might know more.

  She closed the red notebook and replaced it in her pocket, then glanced over at Robert and Tolly, who were both staring out of the window.

  The interior of the cab had filled with condensation. Robert wiped the window glass with
his handkerchief so they could see better, but outside was only darkness.

  A bump made Tolly jump in his seat.

  “What’s that?” he asked.

  “It’s all right,” Robert said. “We’re crossing the Bracken Bridge.” And, indeed, his words were accompanied by the chatter of water as the river ran beneath them.

  They swept on up Bridge Lane and onto the High Street, where Robert pointed out five small halos hanging in the air which illuminated the clumped silhouettes of buildings, submerged in the mist.

  “Those street lamps mark the edge of the village green,” he explained to Tolly. “And there’s my shop – where I used to live.”

  Tolly stared out at the blackened carcass of Townsend’s Horologist’s, sinking into the fog like a shipwrecked galleon. “You were lucky to get out of a place like that.”

  “It wasn’t so bad before it burnt down,” Robert replied. “Besides, I’ve got plans. Sometime soon, me and John are going to start fixing it up.” Though the reality was that since their meeting with Jack Door there at the start of the summer, he hadn’t had the heart to return to Townsend’s.

  As the hansom left the green and proceeded up Brackenbridge Hill, Robert had second thoughts about this evening’s adventure. But he figured if things looked bad at the other end, he could make Lily turn the cab around and take them home. He was just contemplating how to broach the subject, when they jerked to a stop.

  They’d arrived.

  THUD! The driver leaped down from his seat and crunched around the side of the cab to pull open the door.

  Eerie music and flickering coloured lights drifted through the fog from behind the hedgerow of the nearest field. Pinned to the slatted wooden gate in front of them was a wooden arrow-shaped sign, painted with bright white letters:

  Robert scrunched up his eyes and jumped down from the footplate behind the others. The spectral foggy emptiness of the lane made his belly flutter with anxiety. Where were all the people he’d seen queueing through the telescope? Had they gone in already?