The Fiery Ring

by Gilbert, Morris

  Giving up, she ran back toward where the activity was the thickest. She had to have help, and her eyes lit on the enormous form of Doak Williams. She raced up to him, shouting, “Doak! Doak!”

  “Yes, Miss Joy, what’s wrong?”

  “It’s Chase.”

  “What’s wrong with him?”

  “He’s drunk, and Pete says he’s going to leave him here. Please, he can’t do that. I’ll have to stay if he does.”

  “What do you want to do?” Doak asked.

  “Help me get him into one of the trucks.”

  “Why, shore, we can do that. Show me where he is.”

  Joy led the big black man to where Chase lay, a shapeless lump on the ground. Without a word Doak stooped over and picked him up as easily as if he were a child. “I’ll put him in the truck I rides in.”

  “Can I ride with him?”

  “That’ll be fine, Miss Joy. Plenty of room.”

  ****

  The space in Doak’s truck was cramped, but Joy had wedged herself in beside Chase. He was lying flat on his back, and she had her own back braced against the side of the truck. The diesel fumes were sickening as the truck rumbled through the night. She felt Chase stir and heard him groan.

  “Are you all right, Chase?”

  “Where am I?”

  “You’re in a truck, and we’re going to Lake Charles, Louisiana.”

  Chase struggled to sit up. By the flashlight, she saw that his face was twisted and contorted. “How’d I get in here?”

  “I had Doak put you in. Pete was going to leave you behind.”

  “He should have, and you should have left me too.”

  “No, remember what Sister Hannah said. God told her you’re supposed to take care of me until Travis gets here.”

  Chase stared at her for a moment, then closed his eyes and lay down flat again. “I can’t even take care of myself,” he muttered, falling once more into a stupor.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  First of May

  Joy took out the pen, removed the cap, and then bent over the table. She had returned to the Delaneys’ trailer after doing the breakfast dishes and had gotten out her journal, as well as the writing paper and envelopes she had purchased at the ten-cent store in Lake Charles. She carefully wrote the date at the top of the paper, April 2, 1927, and then began writing with smooth, easy strokes. She was an expert penman, and her handwriting was as legible as print. Travis’s had always been bad, and he had envied her ability to write so beautifully. Now as she wrote, she found pleasure in watching the words flow out from the pen, and the scene flashed in her mind of the moment she had unwrapped it on her birthday. She also treasured the comb and brush Sister Hannah had given her, and now as she addressed a letter to her she felt a pang of nostalgia for those brief days she and Chase had spent at the older woman’s house.

  Dear Sister Hannah,

  We are now in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. After we left Galveston we went to Lake Charles, Louisiana, for three days, to Lafayette for three more, and then to Baton Rouge. You would not believe how much work it is to move a circus from one place to another. I suppose the old hands, the kinkers as they call themselves, are used to it, but for a day after such a move I am stiff and so sleepy I can barely do my work.

  The work itself is demanding, but it’s so interesting. I cook three meals a day and clean up afterward. I also ride an elephant named Ruth in the specs—those are the parades before and after the shows. Gypsy Dan, who is the elephant man, wants me to be in his act, and I think I probably will. I’m not afraid of Ruth at all. She’s such a sweet thing! I always take her some goodies, and she always puts her trunk around my neck and gives me a very gentle squeeze.

  I am enclosing a copy of the schedule—the towns and dates where the circus will be. I left one at the post office in Galveston for Travis, so when he comes back he can find me no matter where the circus happens to you can write me in care of general delivery at any of these towns.

  I have made so many new friends here. One of my best friends is Doak Williams, a huge black man who saved me a lot of embarrassment. One of the hands was trying to get too familiar, and Doak simply picked him up by the scruff of the neck and in the gentlest voice you can imagine told him that I was his special friend, and that he would hate to have trouble with anybody over me. The word got around because nobody wants trouble with Doak! He’s such a gentle giant and so kind, and the strongest man I’ve ever seen.

  Joy leaned back and read what she had written. The memories ran through her mind like a motion picture, or perhaps more like a kaleidoscope—scenes of the performances, tearing down and setting up, cooking the meals, the voices and faces of the performers. She smiled then and leaned forward to begin writing again.

  I like it so much in the circus. My life has always been so boring that I don’t mind the hard work at all. You would think the people here a little strange. They are cut off from the rest of the world. Their world is the circus. They’re very possessive of their parts in the show. Sometimes they get into terrible arguments when someone feels slighted, but Pete usually settles them. He’s very firm. Colonel House is the owner, but he’s not in good health, so his wife, Stella, does most of the actual operation of the show. Colonel House is the ringmaster, and that’s about all he’s capable of doing right now. He’s a very nice man, and he stopped me today to say that both Chase and I are going to be paid for our work. Up to now we’ve just gotten our room and board. Well, not a room actually but board at least. We’ll get twenty dollars a week, which isn’t much, but we don’t have any expenses. I’ll save my money until Travis gets home, and then we’ll have something to start with.

  Once again she paused and tapped her teeth with the base of the fountain pen. She did not know exactly how much to tell Sister Hannah about Chase’s problem, but she suspected the woman already knew.

  I’m very worried about Chase. He started drinking almost as soon as we got here, and he’s so unhappy. I can understand that, because he was a star here. Everybody applauding him and everybody in the circus admiring him. Now he’s just got the rough job of cleaning up after animals and doing menial work. I know he stays here only because you asked him to take care of me. Everyone says he’ll never get in the cage again with the big cats because of what happened to him, and they’re probably right.

  Well, I must leave now. Dan is going to show me how to do some things with Ruth so I can be in his act. I’m excited about this, Sister Hannah.

  I know you’re praying for Chase. Please keep on. Give Jake a hug for me and Caleb, too, when you see him.

  Yours truly,

  Joy Smith

  She folded the letter and put it in an envelope. She addressed it, put a stamp on it, and left the trailer. She heard the cats roaring and went inside the big tent to watch Karl as he put the felines through their paces. The act was almost finished, and she watched as Chase stood at the gate of the tunnel that led back to the menagerie. The big cats, one by one, leaped from their perches and ran down through the tunnel to their cages.

  When Karl stepped outside, he saw her watching and came right over with a smile on his face. “That was a great breakfast this morning! You’re a better cook than Annie, even if you are a first of May.”

  “But—it’s April!”

  “First of May—that’s what we call newcomers to the circus.”

  “Oh, I see. But I’m not a better cook—and don’t you ever dare say that to her.”

  “No, just to you. Where are you heading now?”

  “I’m going to find the post office.”

  “Mind if I go along?”

  “Why, no, it’d be good to have the company.”

  “I’ll borrow the colonel’s car, and we’ll go in style.”

  The two left and went straight to the colonel’s trailer. He was sitting outside in a folding chair, his legs crossed and watching the people in the backyard. This was the area where the performers congregated and dried clothes on a line and
rehearsed their children in some of their skills. She watched as an acrobat helped a child no more than two learn to do a back flip. Joy smiled and said, “They start very young, don’t they?”

  “They have to in this business,” Karl said, then turned to the colonel. “Colonel, can I borrow the car? Miss Joy and I need to go to the post office.”

  “Yes, of course, Karl. Stella has the key. I think she has some things to be mailed.”

  Karl went to the door and knocked, and when Stella opened it, he repeated his request. She agreed and handed him a handful of letters and the keys. “Don’t wreck it, now,” she said, smiling and batting her eyelashes.

  “Why, I’ve never had a wreck in my life. You can trust me, Miss Stella.”

  The two left and got into the Packard. It was practically a new car, one of the few luxuries the colonel allowed himself. Karl was an expert driver, and instead of going straight to the post office, he simply drove around pointing out the sights. He had been to Baton Rouge before, and although there was little to see, Joy enjoyed it.

  Finally he pulled up in front of the post office, a red brick building on Main Street, and got out, then ran around the car to open the door for Joy. They went inside, and Joy mailed her letters. She wanted to ask if there was any mail for her, but Karl was standing right beside her, and she did not want him to know that her name was Winslow. She hesitated and then said, “Karl, would you please wait for me in the car?”

  Karl looked at her with surprise. “Why, sure.” He turned and left the building. As soon as he was gone, she hurried to the window, and a cheerful-looking woman with bright red hair said, “Can I help you?”

  “Do you have a general delivery letter for Joy Winslow?”

  “I’ll see.” The woman turned to a small desk and shuffled through several letters, then came back and said, “Sorry, miss, nothing today.”

  “Thank you.”

  Joy went outside and found Karl leaning against the fender. “All ready?”

  “Yes. I need to get back fairly soon and help Annie with the dinner.”

  “Oh, we’ve got plenty of time. How about an ice cream?”

  “All right.”

  The two went into the drugstore that was down the street from the post office and took seats at the counter. A round-faced young man came over and said, “What’ll it be?” He was short, and his hair stuck up in several wild cowlicks.

  “I’ll have a chocolate soda. What about you, Joy?”

  “The same for me.”

  While they waited, Karl spoke lightly of the affairs of the circus, and when the sodas arrived, Joy took a straw and plunged it in. “Why, it’s too thick to drink.”

  “That’s what the spoon’s for,” Karl said. “Eat up. It’ll make you fat and pretty.”

  Joy laughed. “I don’t think I’d like that.” She blew her cheeks out and said, “If I keep on eating things like this, I’ll be as big as Mamie.”

  “It’s hard to think of her as a young girl, isn’t it? Some of the older people say she was the prettiest thing around.”

  “She’s still pretty. It’s funny how so many overweight people, women especially, are really pretty.”

  Karl nodded. “I’ll bet your mother is pretty. And I’ll bet you look just like her.”

  Joy said nothing but dropped her eyes, and Karl asked, “Did I say something wrong?”

  “My mother’s not living, Karl.”

  “Oh, I’m sorry. I’m always putting my foot into it.” He reached over and squeezed her arm. “I’m sorry, Joy. I’m just an ill-mannered, uncouth tamer of lions.”

  “No, it was natural enough. I do look like my mother.”

  “No more family? Your father?”

  “He’s gone too. They died in a car wreck together with my younger sister. There’s just my brother, Travis, left. He’s at sea now, but when he comes back, he’ll be at Galveston. That’s why I came to Galveston.”

  The two continued talking, and Joy found herself enjoying Karl’s company. She wasn’t sure why she had so easily shared with him what had happened to her family, since she had not been able to bring herself to tell others, not even Chase. But it felt good to finally tell someone. She decided it was Karl’s easy manner when he wasn’t in the ring. He seemed to be two people: one, the rather gentle person he was now, witty and very charming; the other, the fearsome man he became when he stepped inside the cage. She had been curious about this and asked him now, “Why do you treat those animals so harshly, Karl?”

  Ritter shrugged. “You have to keep them afraid of you. The second they get the idea they’re stronger than you are, they’ll jump you. Didn’t Chase ever tell you that?”

  “He never talks about his days in the cage.”

  “Well, his style was a lot different than mine, and I think that’s why he got jumped. He just didn’t put enough fear into those beasts.”

  This explanation did not seem quite right to Joy, but she said no more about it. Karl began telling her amusing anecdotes, keeping her entertained until she quite forgot the time. Finally he paid for the sodas, and they went back to the car. “This has been very pleasant. I get lonesome, you know.”

  Joy laughed, and he turned to her with astonishment. “What are you laughing for? Don’t you think I could get lonesome?”

  “Lonesome? The way women throw themselves at you?” Joy had indeed noticed that when Karl was not in the cage, he was subject to quite a bit of attention from women in the audience. She knew that he was also popular with the female performers, especially Angel Fontaine, the wire walker. Joy’s eyes sparkled as she said, “I don’t think you get very lonesome, Karl.”

  “Oh, well, you know how it is.” He shrugged and grinned.

  “Yes, indeed, I do know how it is, so don’t try your wiles on me anymore.”

  Karl laughed and took her arm. “All right, I’m guilty as charged. All the same, it’s been fun.”

  “Yes, it has. Thank you for bringing me.”

  ****

  The days turned into weeks and weeks into a month. Joy could not understand where the time had gone. By the time they arrived in Pensacola, she had become part of Gypsy Dan’s act. When he had first invited her to join his act, she’d thought it was impossible. But he had insisted, saying, “Really, it takes less talent to do the elephant act than anything else in the circus. All you have to do is hold on. Ruth will do everything else.”

  Joy had found this to be true. Mostly it consisted of posing in different positions, throwing her hand out and taking the audience’s applause, stretching backward when Ruth rose up on her hind legs. She had learned to hang on tight to the harness, and it was no trouble at all.

  The most difficult part was the spin. This simply meant sitting in the curl of Ruth’s trunk and hanging on to the front of her headdress while Ruth turned rapidly in a circle. All she had to do was hang on with one hand and throw her arm backward, looking as graceful as possible. It was a great deal of fun, and she found she enjoyed the applause, even though she knew there was no great talent involved.

  She stopped one day beside Dan, whose other job besides the elephant was being the human cannonball. It was an act that had frightened Joy when she had first seen it performed. Dan had to slide into the bore of a cannon mounted on a truck. A net was stretched out more than a hundred feet away, and with a tremendous explosion, Dan was thrown through the air, managing to turn in the air and land in the net. As the ringmaster, Colonel House made it sound terribly dangerous and emphasized the number of men who had broken their necks trying this very difficult stunt.

  Now as she stood beside Dan, she asked him, “How dangerous is it really, Dan, this human cannonball stunt?”

  “Safest trick in the circus.”

  “That’s not what the colonel says,” Joy protested. “He says a lot of men have broken their necks trying it.”

  “Oh, a few have been hurt, but it’s their own fault. There’s really nothing to it.”

  “But to be shot out
of a cannon and all that noise . . .”

  “Aw, the noise is nothing.” Dan grinned. “It’s just added to make the act more spectacular. Down at the base of the cannon is a plunger. It’s pulled back by hydraulic pressure, and when I slide down I put my feet against it and block up. When it’s released, the charge goes off, but it has nothing to do with pushing me out of the cannon. The plunger shoots me out the end, then I turn one graceful turn and land in the net. That’s all there is to it.”

  “I don’t believe it’s that easy.”

  “Well, I hope the customers feel the same way. If they ever found out how easy it was, they’d stop watching, and I’d be out of one of my jobs.”

  ****

  Joy loved being in Pensacola, where she could savor the ocean breezes and lush tropical climate. One morning after breakfast Chase came by and said, “Let’s go down to the beach. Have you ever been on the Gulf?”

  “I was close to it in Galveston, but I didn’t actually see it.”

  “It’s beautiful here. Nothing like it. Bring your suit if you want to go swimming.”

  “I haven’t got one, but I’d like to see the beach and maybe find some shells.”

  “Okay. Doak is going into town to run errands. He can drop us off.”

  The two of them made arrangements with Doak, and Joy said, “After we go to the beach, I need to go to the post office. Maybe I’ll have a letter from Travis.”

  “Sure. Nothing easier than that.”

  Doak let them out at the Pensacola beach, and after he drove away, the two took off their shoes and started walking along the white sand. “It’s so beautiful. And the water’s so green.”

  “Look at that!” Chase said excitedly. He turned her around and pointed. “Look right there.”

  “Oh, I see! What are they?”

  “Dolphins. A pretty sight, aren’t they?”

  Joy watched as the sleek creatures rose out of the sea, then arched themselves in the air and slipped back under the waves. There were four of them, one after the other, and Joy was thrilled at the sight. “They’re so beautiful,” she said.