"You and me both," said Thaddeus.
Alvin walked in just then, carrying all our CLOSED signs.
"What do you think you're doing?" demanded Thaddeus.
"The roads are open," replied Big Alvin.
"I didn't tell you to take those down."
"But—"
"Put 'em back up. We're moving out."
"Where are we going?" I asked.
"I don't know yet. But the weather's too lousy to stay up here any longer."
Alvin shrugged and went back out to post the signs again.
"Mr. Flint," said Mr. Ahasuerus. "I feel I must interject a word at this point."
"Save your breath," said Thaddeus. "I know what you're going to say."
"Do you?"
"You're going to tell me that if you don't report to your mother ship in the next seventy-two hours all hell is going to break loose."
"How did you know that?" asked Mr. Ahasuerus, genuinely surprised.
"Your friend Romany's got a big mouth."
"Indeed he does," agreed Mr. Ahasuerus. "That does not, however, negate the truth of what he said."
"I know," said Thaddeus.
"What do you propose to do about it?"
"I've been giving the matter a lot of thought. I'll let you know." He fumbled through his pockets for a cigarette, pulled it out, and lit it. "By the way, Rainbow's up and around."
"I'm gratified to hear it."
"And I don't think you have to worry about Dapper Dan killing himself. He's just spent a couple of days thinking about what almost happened to his immortal if somewhat displaced soul."
"Good."
"It occurs to me," remarked Thaddeus, "that you must have one hell of a time nurse-maiding your tourists around the galaxy."
"Most of them are not hardened travelers," agreed Mr. Ahasuerus wryly. "Still, it has been a fulfilling job in many ways."
"How did you come by it?"
"I beg your pardon?"
"Your job," said Thaddeus. "What made you choose it?"
"I was selected."
"Yeah? What were your qualifications—languages and things like that?"
"That, too," said Mr. Ahasuerus. "When is Mr. Romany due to return?"
Thaddeus shrugged. "Who knows? Sometime today."
"What has he offered you already?" asked the blue man.
"Nothing that interests me," replied Thaddeus. He turned to me. "Tojo, as long as you're just sitting there like a rock, why don't you pass the word that we're breaking down the show and packing it onto the trucks?"
I put my coat back on and went around the grounds, telling Diggs and Monk and anyone else I could find to start taking the carnival apart. Most of them wanted to know where we where going, but even though I couldn't tell them they were all pretty happy with the decision. In their eyes, anywhere was better than Vermont in the snow. (Monk did tell me, though, that if Thaddeus went back up to Maine, he was taking his animals and going to Florida with them.) Thaddeus and Mr. Ahasuerus were still sitting at the table when I got back.
"You didn't see our friend Romany out there, did you?" asked Thaddeus.
"No," I replied.
"Poor bastard is probably reading the Help Wanted ads," said Thaddeus with a chuckle.
"Have you decided what you're going to say to him?" asked Mr. Ahasuerus.
"Pretty much," he said. "Of course, he's got to show up first. Right about now he's probably sitting in his room wondering how he can bribe or blackmail me."
"Do you really think so?" asked the blue man curiously.
"I can read that son of a bitch like a book," smiled Thaddeus. "You're the only one I have problems with."
"Me?" asked Mr. Ahasuerus.
"Don't look so damned innocent. The others all make sense. You don't."
"In what way?"
"Romany's just a guy who's fighting tooth and nail to hang onto his job. Dapper Dan's a very confused religious freak. The Lizard would stick a knife in my ribs if I ever turned my back on him. The same with the Sphinx. The rest of them are just chattel, a bunch of tourists out for a holiday. But you—you ought to be ready to kill me, or be so damned scared of me you don't know which way is up."
"And you find that unusual?" asked Mr. Ahasuerus.
"It's been my experience that the whole damned universe can be divided into meat and meat-eaters. You fall somewhere in between."
"And this disturbs you?"
"It did," admitted Thaddeus. "Now it just puzzles me."
"You asked me a few minutes ago why I was chosen for this position," said the blue man. He placed a finger on his face. "This is the reason."
"I'm not sure that I understand you," said Thaddeus.
"To borrow from your religious teachings, I have two cheeks. The assumption is that if I turn the other one often enough, sooner or later a sentient being will get tired of hitting it and will find some more constructive means of communication."
Thaddeus stared at him for a very long time. "You're a very unusual man, Mr. Ahasuerus," he said at last.
"Thank you."
"Put the two of us together and you might come up with a normal human being."
"You might indeed," said the blue man.
"Or at least an interesting one." Thaddeus stared at him again, seemingly lost in thought. Finally he turned to me. "Tojo, tell the Dancer I need his trailer again."
"When?" I asked.
"Right now."
I walked to the door.
"And bring a coat back for Mr. Ahasuerus," he called after me.
I found the Dancer in the Hothouse. He offered no objection to letting Thaddeus use his trailer, and even loaned me his fur-lined jacket to take back to Mr. Ahasuerus. When I returned to the tent, Thaddeus was on his feet. He took the coat from me and handed it to the blue man.
"We're going over there to talk a little business," he said. "I don't want to be disturbed."
"What if Mr. Romany shows up?" I asked.
"I almost forgot about him. All right—when he gets here have him wait in the Hothouse. Then come over and let me know he's on the grounds."
Then Thaddeus and Mr. Ahasuerus walked out the door and went over to the Dancer's trailer.
"What the hell is going on?" asked Queenie, staring after them.
"I'm not sure," I told her.
I tried to keep busy around the tent, sweeping the floors and checking on Snoopy and Pumpkin every few minutes. I asked Alvin for the time twice, and when an hour had passed I got so curious that I couldn't keep my mind on my work any longer, so I sat down and thumbed through Thaddeus' astronomy book and wondered what was happening inside the Dancer's trailer.
Mr. Romany arrived half an hour later, looking very nervous and fidgety.
I ushered him over to the Hothouse, then went to the trailer and knocked on the door.
Thaddeus stuck his head out a minute later. "Yeah?"
"Mr. Romany is here."
"Tell him to wait."
The door slammed shut, and I returned to the Hothouse to tell Mr. Romany that Thaddeus wasn't ready to see him yet. The Rigger walked up and offered to take his mind off the waiting with a friendly little game of gin rummy, but Mr. Romany just shook his head and kept drumming his fingers against a support post.
Finally, after another hour had passed, Thaddeus opened the door again and called for me.