Evelyn sat in deep contemplation. Francine was dazed. Rose still clutched at Harold’s arm. The boys looked at each other and grinned at their own seriousness.
“Boy,” Harold exhaled, “they really put on a show.”
“How did they do that?” Billy Sullivan squeaked. “There was no way they could do that!”
“I don’t know,” Harold said, shifting on the bench. “It must have been mass hypnotism.”
“I almost wet my drawers when he set Angel on fire.” Rose shivered deliciously.
“Do we stay and see Henry-etta?” Sonny asked with a grin. “Or are you girls too refined for this delicate biological exhibition?”
“If it’s as good as the rest,” Rose said flatly, “I wouldn’t miss it for the world.”
“Evie?” Sonny asked.
“Huh?” She looked up, coming out of her reverie. “Oh. Yeah. We might as well.”
Louis stepped from between the curtains and waited impatiently for the remaining audience to settle down.
“Because we have no desire to embarrass anyone,” he said over the noise, “we must ask that all the ladies move to this side of the auditorium.” He gestured to his right. “And all the gentlemen move to the other side. Thank you.” He once more left the stage.
“Henry-etta must be a dilly,” Rose grimaced as she stood up.
“Are you sure you girls want to stay for this?” Harold asked, wrinkling his forehead.
“Sure,” Rose said. “Sounds like it might be the closest I’ll ever get to a smoker at the Grange Hall.”
“Okay.” He grinned and waved his hand. “Good-bye, ladies.”
The girls moved to the other side, as did the other women. The men already on that side shifted, creating a lot of confusion and conversation in the aisle. A few more people, unnerved by this latest request, left the tent.
A roustabout, the same one who had been collecting tickets, came from the stage and loosened the curtain bunched by the exit. He pulled it, stretching it down the aisle, closing off each sex from the sight of the other. He caught Rose’s eye as he passed and winked at her.
“Well, really!” she huffed and then grinned behind her hand. “Isn’t he the cutest thing?” she whispered to Evelyn. “Have you noticed? This place is absolutely crawling with gorgeous men. The ticket-taker, that Latin hot tamale…”
“He’s not quite as gorgeous as he thinks he is,” Evelyn said wryly.
“… Angel, all those stage hands.” She leered at Francine. “The Minotaur. Hotcha!” But Francine didn’t rise to the bait. Rose frowned at her and then smiled wistfully. “I wonder if I could get a job with this outfit.”
“If you did, you wouldn’t have any competition,” Evelyn said. “There don’t seem to be any women with the show.”
“That woman selling tickets.”
“Oh, yeah,” Evelyn said frowning. “I forgot about her.”
Louis stepped onto the stage so he could be seen by those on both sides of the curtain.
“Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. Now, I would like to introduce Henry-etta, as strange in his… I mean, her…” He grinned. “You know what I mean, its own way as anything you’ve seen tonight. Henry-etta!”
The curtain opened and the houselights went down. The fat lady in the poisonous green dress stepped coquettishly onto the stage.
Harold looked at Sonny and Billy and groaned.
Rose snickered. “Well, you were half right when you said there were no women with the show,” she whispered to Evelyn.
“Thank you, Louis, you darling boy,” Henry-etta said in a thin, reedy voice, pursing her lips and simpering. “Ladies and gentlemen, your master of ceremonies was Louis Ortiz. Isn’t he the handsomest thing you ever saw, ladies?” Her mouth twisted into a provocative smile, but her eyes remained flat. “Give him a big hand for doing a wonderful job.”
Henry-etta applauded and the audience half-heartedly joined in, feeling uncomfortable but not wanting to appear unsophisticated. Louis smiled and bowed and left the stage. Henry-etta watched him leave, then turned to the audience.
“Ladies and gentlemen, my real name is Claude Duvier. I was born in Tours, France, in 1887. My parents moved to America when I was four years old. We lived in New Orleans until I was fourteen, when my poor ma-ma and pa-pa died of fever. Desperate and alone, I was placed in an orphan asylum. It was there, shortly after—” she touched her breasts “—that the female half of my body began to emerge. Up until that time I had assumed I was a normal boy. I later discovered, thanks to some older boys, that I was female as well as male in every way.
“I have been married twice—once to a man and once to a woman. I am the mother of two children and the father of three. I am at present unmarried.” She touched the hair at the back of her neck.
Harold rolled his eyes and Billy put his hand over his mouth to keep from laughing out loud.
“My body has confounded the greatest doctors and scientists in the world,” Henry-etta continued. “Because of the delicate and shocking nature of the rest of my performance, I must request the ladies to leave.”
The young man pushed the curtain back to the rear of the tent. As he passed, Rose held her head at what she imagined to be a sophisticated angle, not looking at him.
Evelyn laughed. “Rose, if the judge could see you…” The consequences were too dire to put into words.
The women began moving out, looking embarrassed. Several more of the men joined them.
“Thank you for attending Haverstock’s Traveling Curiosus and Wonder Show,” Henry-etta called over the departing conversation. “I hope you had an entertaining and enlightening evening. Thank you and goodnight. Don’t forget to tell your friends that there will be two performances tomorrow night.”
The girls stopped for a moment to talk to the boys.
“Rats!” Rose snarled.
“This is stupid.” Harold stood up. “We’ll leave with you.”
“You’ll do no such thing!” Rose put her hand against his chest. “You’ll stay right here and tell me everything that happens. I want to know exactly why Henry-etta’s body has confounded medical science the world over.”
Harold laughed. “Hold it down. She’ll hear you.”
Rose humphed.
“We’ll wait for you outside.” Evelyn waved and smiled. They moved away, whispering and giggling.
Henry-etta waited patiently until everyone who wanted to leave had left. Only a very small group remained.
“Good,” she said and smiled. “Now that the ladies have left, we can get down to business. My, what a handsome group you are. There will be an additional charge of ten cents for the remainder of my performance,” she stated flatly.
“Is she kidding?” Harold spread his hands in disbelief.
“Come on, let’s stay,” Billy urged gleefully. “This ought to be good.”
“You’ve got a dirty mind,” Sonny said, grinning.
“Isn’t it the truth?” Billy smirked.
A few more left as Henry-etta passed among them collecting their dimes.
“I thought you were broke,” Sonny said.
“Well, I’ve got a dime.” He shrugged. “Besides, Rose’ll be mad if we don’t stay so we can tell her all about it.”
Henry-etta reached them and held out her hand. They placed their dimes in it and tried not to meet her eyes. She continued down the row of benches.
“Boy, is Henry-etta a phony,” Harold whispered.
“Why?” Billy asked.
“I just looked down the front of his dress. All that frontage is pure cotton.”
“Really?”
Henry-etta climbed back onto the stage with a grunt. “Would all you lovely gentlemen move up closer, please? I am about to show you exactly what it means to be half man and half woman.”