Pegasus: A Novel

by Danielle Steel

  When the train finally stopped in the Sarasota station, they felt as though they’d been traveling for weeks or months, not a mere six days on the ship and twenty hours on the train. There were roustabouts from the circus removing the boxcar, when Nick got off the train with the boys, and two porters carrying their trunks. He had no idea what to do next, when a man in a shiny blue suit, a lavender shirt, and a red tie came up to them, wearing a fedora pushed back on his head, and brandishing a foul-smelling cigar like a magic wand.

  “Mr. von Bingen?” he asked, and the two boys stared at the man, silently echoing their father’s unspoken thoughts. They had never seen anyone like him. The man smiled broadly the moment Nick acknowledged who he was. It was obvious that the man in the shiny blue suit was from the circus, and had come to meet them. And he confirmed that the moment he spoke.

  “Welcome to Florida and the Greatest Show on Earth,” he said grandly, waving the cigar in Lucas’s face. The boy scrunched up his nose at the evil smell and turned away, while his father shook the man’s hand.

  “Thank you for coming to meet us,” Nick said sincerely, grateful for the help.

  “Of course. Joe Herlihy,” he said, pumping Nick’s hand until Nick thought his arm would fall off. Joe instructed the handlers to load the boxcar onto the flatbed truck he had brought with him. The logo of the circus was emblazoned on the door of the panel truck he was driving, and it was strange to see it now. It made everything suddenly seem more real. “How did the horses do on the trip?”

  “Surprisingly well,” Nick said in the clipped British accent he had when he spoke English, because that was where he had learned it, in boarding school. The man with the cigar spoke in a Southern drawl that was hard for Nick to understand.

  “Do the boys speak English?” Joe asked with interest and a friendly glance over his shoulder at the boys in the backseat of the truck. The boxcar was following on the flatbed.

  “A little. They’re learning. We came over on a German boat, so they really haven’t had to speak it yet,” Nick explained.

  “They can go for years without ever learning it here,” Joe said with a grin. “We have thirty-two nationalities at the circus, and over thirteen hundred performers and workers. It’s a small village, or actually not so small, maybe more like a small city.” When he spoke, he did so with obvious pride. “I’ve been with them for twelve years. I’m usually a scout, in the States anyway. Mr. North does the scouting and hiring himself in Europe. And they use me to meet and greet sometimes, for people like you. We have a lot of Germans, as well as Czechs, Poles, and Hungarians—they all speak German too. You should feel right at home there.” Nick knew it was going to take more than a common language for him to adjust to his new colleagues and surroundings, but if many of them spoke German, it would be nice for the boys, and he knew Lucas would be relieved. He wanted to make friends quickly, he always did. Toby wanted to practice his English, and so did Nick. There were a lot of American expressions he didn’t understand. “There are many French, Italian, and Spanish too. We have a group of Japanese acrobats, and a family of Chinese gymnasts and jugglers. They speak English, although I can hardly understand them. And almost all of the big cat acts are German. It must be very popular in your country.” Nick smiled as he said it. If it was, Nick had never heard about it. He had never known any lion tamers at home, nor acrobats or jugglers. He couldn’t even remotely imagine what they would be like. But he was about to find out.

  Both boys were wide-eyed as they drove through Sarasota. It was a pretty little town, and Joe pointed out minor landmarks to them. As it turned out, it was a short drive to the winter headquarters at the fairground, and when they got there, Nick saw a huge spread of land of many acres that was teeming with activity. There was a gigantic tent, a big top, where their performances would be while they were there. There were menageries, tents, practice rings, workshops, railroad yards, and what looked like a sea of trailers in several vast parking lots. There were hundreds of them. And they rolled past the gates of an enormous structure that looked like a house, only bigger, which Joe said was Ca’ d’Zan, and appeared to be a Venetian palace sitting on the bay.

  “The Ringlings live there,” he explained. Nick already knew that they owned the circus, and that John Ringling North had become president the year before, after his uncle John Ringling died. It was entirely a family-run business, with six of the actual Ringling brothers presiding. They had bought the Barnum & Bailey Circus many years before, in 1907, and the Ringlings were now in full control. They had merged two powerful, successful circuses and turned them into an astounding whole, with more than thirteen hundred employees, more than eight hundred animals, a hundred and fifty-two wagons, and a fifty-nine-car train. And everywhere Nick looked were people in odd costumes, women and young girls in tutus and ballet clothes, and men and women in gymnastic clothes. There had been a rehearsal for the clowns that day, and Lucas stared at them as they walked by. They were talking animatedly with each other, followed by dogs in varying shapes and sizes, in funny outfits, that were part of their act.

  “We have more horses than any other animal. But yours are the only Lipizzaners in the country,” Joe explained to him. Nick looked around when they got out of the car—it seemed more like ten or twelve circuses banded together in one location. It was more circus and everything that went with it than any of them could have dreamed.

  “Wow! It’s so big!” Toby whistled softly, and his father was thinking the same thing. It looked as though one could easily get lost there. Lucas was jumping up and down, wanting to meet the clowns.

  “You’ll meet everyone eventually,” Joe reassured both boys. “And there are lots of kids for you to play with. You’ll all be tutored together once we’re on the road. When we’re in Sarasota, all the performers’ children go to the local schools. There are too many of them for just one school. And you two boys will be going to school too.” It suddenly appeared to be a real community, with families, not just all the odd characters in the circus.

  “We’re actually here for the winter early this year. We had an actors’ strike that shut us down till almost July. So we came down to our winter quarters earlier than usual, although we did a few extra shows in the Midwest.” It had turned out to be a blessing for Nick, since they were already there and not still on tour when they arrived. “And I think we’re going to leave later this spring, which will give you plenty of time to rehearse and settle in before we tour. We usually start in February or March. We’re planning on early April now. We open in New York.”

  Joe checked a note he had in his pocket, and looked up the number of their trailer, and consulted a map in order to find it. It was in the third enormous parking lot, and when the truck pulled up next to it, Nick noticed that it was particularly long, although not very wide. And when they stepped into it, it looked like an inexpensive hotel room, but it had everything they would need.

  His breath caught as they walked into the trailer. This was their new home, and he had never seen anything like it, with two tiny bedrooms and a miniature kitchen. His parking space for the Duesenberg had been bigger than this, and he tried not to let what he was feeling show on his face. The boys peeked into the bedrooms, exploring. Lucas seemed satisfied, and was anxious to go outside and meet the children he’d just seen wandering around. They had just come home from school on several school buses. Toby collapsed on the trailer’s only couch with an exhausted, dazed expression. Everything was simple and clean, but none of them had ever realized that people actually lived like this. Nick reminded himself that if they had been sent to a labor camp, it would have been far worse. Or if they had been forced to leave their estate, as Jews. Where would they have gone?

  “We have a tent set up on the fairgrounds for your horses. We got it as close to your trailer as we could. It’s warm, so they’ll be fine in a tent. We’ll use a trailer for them when they’re on the road. We can store your boxcar here, or put it on one of the trains,” he informed Nick, who n
odded. He was feeling overwhelmed by all the information and the tiny trailer they’d be living in, which was generous by circus standards. The two bedrooms were the size of the beds. It was all so vastly different from anything they’d ever known, and Toby looked like he was about to burst into tears, which Nick hoped he wouldn’t. It would upset Lucas if he saw his older brother distraught. And Nick had to worry about both of them now. He tried to put a good face on it for their sake. He then asked Joe to show him to the tent where their horses were, so he could tend to them. He suggested that Toby and Lucas come with him, to keep them busy.

  “Mr. North wants to see you at four this afternoon,” Joe told Nick. “I’ll pick you up and take you to meet him. And you have rehearsal at ten tomorrow morning. He’ll be attending that as well. You’re an important act for us,” he said generously. “He likes to see all the acts when they come in. He particularly likes horses, so I’m sure he’ll enjoy yours. He’s a very accomplished horseman himself. And he wants to see your Lipizzaners.”

  “I hope he likes our performance,” Nick said vaguely. He couldn’t imagine being able to find his way around the maze of trailers, tents, workers, performers, and roving bands of people who swarmed the area like ants. He had never seen so many people in one place in his life. The boys were fascinated by it. Nick saw Toby watching a group of girls in ballet costumes with sparkles on them. They were pretty girls with good figures, and he hoped that would cheer them up a little. And Nick suddenly found himself missing Monique, who was at least familiar with his world. He felt as though he had been dropped on another planet, nothing looked like anything he’d ever seen before. Even the tropical landscape was strange and different, and it was warm.

  Joe pointed out the cookhouse in another huge tent, where they could get their meals, or they could cook their own in the trailer if they preferred, but none of them knew how. Nick had never cooked in his life, and he’d have to learn that, too, if he was going to feed the boys. Going to the mess tent with hundreds of people for every meal sounded exhausting to him. And he realized quickly that the one thing they would lack here was privacy. There were so many people, living so close, seemingly on top of each other. He could touch with his hand the next trailer from his own. It would be hard to get away for a quiet moment alone, or have a family life that hundreds of people weren’t encroaching on.

  After Joe left, they walked a short distance to the tent where their horses had been put in stalls and safely tethered. They turned their heads when Nick and the boys entered, and Pluto shook his fiercely the moment he saw Nick, as though to say hello to him, and Nick smiled. Here was something familiar at last. He went quickly to the big stallion and stroked him, deriving more comfort from touching him than he was giving. He needed to see Pluto at that moment, and Nina, and the others. They were the final gift from his lost life, a last piece of Alex, a tiny remnant of the world they had known that had disappeared so quickly and so totally, on the other side of an ocean, in a country where they weren’t welcome anymore. This was all that was left. Eight horses, and his two children.

  They decided to stay and curry the horses before they went back to the trailer. He put a bridle on Pluto that someone had taken out of the boxcar and hung on a hook near his stall. There was a makeshift tack room in the tent, and their feed had been put in it.

  A moment later Nick slipped onto the stallion’s back, and suddenly as he sat there, life felt real to him again. Whatever else happened, or wherever they went, they had this. Each other and the horses Alex had given him. He had Pluto who had come back to life for him, and as he leaned down close to the horse’s head, he whispered “thank you,” and knew that for now, the Lipizzaner was his only friend in this frighteningly unfamiliar world. The Lipizzaner stallion would carry them through. He already had, when he decided to get back up on his feet again. And for that, and for this opportunity, Nick was infinitely grateful, no matter how strange it all seemed.

  Chapter 8

  Although he made every effort not to let it show, Nick was nervous before his meeting with John Ringling North, “Mr. John,” as Joe called him. He had no idea what to expect, any more than he knew what life in the circus would be like. He felt like he’d been dropped onto a different planet, as he watched hundreds of circus performers and employees milling around, talking to each other in groups, or heading for rehearsals in costumes or workout clothes. He had heard the tigers roaring that afternoon, and a string of elephants had walked by when he and the boys went back to the trailer. Everything they saw was unusual, new, and different.

  Joe Herlihy came to meet Nick at the horses’ tent later that afternoon to pick him up for the meeting. And he looked admiringly at the beautiful white stallion.

  “The two Lipizzaners are incredible,” he said, as he watched Toby brush Pluto. The stallion tossed his head back with a loud whinny, as though saying thank you. “They do a liberty act, don’t they?” he inquired, which meant they responded to voice commands and signals.

  “Yes, but I also ride them,” Nick answered. Nina was easier to ride, she was older and calmer and had had more training. But Pluto was more exciting.

  “That must be a sight to see. Your older boy too?” Nick nodded. Alex had worked with Toby before they left. He was no circus performer, but he rode very well, and had all his life. And he had taught Lucas a few simple tricks so he could join the act if the circus wanted him to.

  “The Arabians are all liberty trained too.” Nick smiled at Joe, who, if possible, was wearing an even louder suit than the one he had worn that morning. It was gray with a silver sheen to it. He was portly, and there was a lot of it, and he was wearing a bright blue tie and a pink shirt. But it looked almost normal against the backdrop of the circus and the oddly clad people all around them, many of them in bright colors and costumes. Nick was wearing an impeccable suit from his tailor in Berlin for his meeting with John Ringling North. He had no idea what to expect or why the president, who was the owner of the circus, wanted to meet him.

  Before they left, Nick told Toby he’d meet him at their trailer afterward, and to keep an eye on Lucas. He had been exuberant all day and said he wanted to meet all the clowns. To Nick it felt surreal that he now lived among them, and they were about to become part of his everyday life. Lucas, of course, was thrilled, and Toby didn’t know what to think. He had barely spoken since they’d arrived. He seemed to still be on some kind of emotional overload from the trip, and the strange place where they’d landed.

  Nick rode in Joe’s panel truck with the circus logo on it, and a few minutes later they got out and walked into a building on the fairgrounds. Joe led him to North’s office, where two secretaries looked as sober and respectable as they would have in any lawyer’s office or bank. And a moment later, when John Ringling North came out, he was wearing a dark pinstriped suit, similar to Nick’s although not as well tailored, a white shirt, a dark blue tie, and impeccably shined shoes. He had a good haircut and wavy black hair and a wide smile as he greeted Nick pleasantly and shook his hand and invited him in. At least here Nick felt as though he were in a familiar world. John Ringling North was serious and well spoken, and looked like an intelligent man. He invited Nick to sit down across the desk from him. Joe had vanished when they walked in.

  “Welcome to Florida, and to Ringling Brothers,” the president of the circus said kindly. “I hope you had a good trip, and your horses traveled well.”

  “They did,” Nick assured him, trying not to think of Pluto’s nearly dying during the storm. But he was fine now, and in good health. “I wanted to thank you,” Nick said quickly. “I am very grateful to you for sponsoring me and my sons. You saved our lives, literally. Germany is not a safe place to be these days. For us, anyway. It all happened very quickly for me and my family, and we were warned to leave as soon as we could. You helped us do that.”

  “I understood that from your letter,” John North said carefully. “I have to admit, I was a little confused though. People with a last name
like yours, with a ‘von,’ are not usually subject to religious persecution. What’s going on now in Germany? Were there some political issues I don’t know about? Were you vocally opposed to the current government?” He knew that some were, with potentially disastrous results.

  “I only discovered a few weeks ago that my mother, who I’ve never met, was half Jewish. It changed everything for us overnight. We were at great risk. We received a private warning from the Wehrmacht, the army, from a friend of my father’s, to leave. He’s a general and he did us a great favor by alerting us to the impending danger. He said things are going to get much worse. And if you are a Jew they’re already pretty bad.” He had begun to learn that firsthand. “And with my ancestry, that I never knew about, my boys and I were suddenly at great risk. You can’t predict how far that kind of hatred and prejudice will go. They might have wanted to make an example of me and my boys, and show that even aristocrats who turn out to be Jews won’t be tolerated and aren’t welcome in Hitler’s Germany.” John Ringling North looked distressed by what he said, but not surprised. He had heard similar stories recently, and they had hired other Jewish performers who had left Germany in the past few years. Despite all they had left behind, after 1935, they thought it was safer and wiser to get out.