"What do you get out of this deal, Thaddeus?" asked Alma.
"The stars," he said with just a touch of irony.
She looked at him for a long time, a bittersweet expression on her face. "You're never coming back, are you?" she said at last. It was not really a question.
"There are an awful lot of sheep up there waiting to be fleeced," he replied.
It was not really an answer, but it served as one.
She stood up and extended her hand to him. "Good luck, Thaddeus. I'll look up every night and try to imagine where you are."
He took her hand awkwardly. "Good luck to you too, Alma."
Then she was out of the Hothouse and walking rapidly back to her trailer.
"How many more have I got to see on that list?" asked Thaddeus wearily.
I pulled it out and looked at it. "Seven." I paused. "Unless you've added someone."
"Like who?"
I found I didn't have the courage to tell him.
"Like Big Alvin," I said lamely.
He shook his head. "Who needs a roughie on a tour like this?"
"But what about Gloria?" I asked.
"I've already talked to her. I told her I wasn't taking anyone I couldn't use, and that she could come along or stay behind as she pleased, but Alvin stayed."
"And?"
"She's coming. It'll work out just as well for Alvin. He could have wasted another five years before he figured out that all she cares about is her dancing." He yawned. "Jesus, I'm tired. I was up all day yesterday working this out with Mr. Ahasuerus, and then I spent half the night on his shuttlecraft's radio selling his company on the idea of a traveling carnival, and the whole time I had to make sure Romany didn't throw any monkey wrenches into the deal, and I've spent most of today convincing a bunch of con men that I'm not trying to pull the biggest con of all."
He looked out the window and saw Stogie walking his little pet schnauzer on the snow.
"I don't know what the hell we're going to do about that dog," he said. Then he shrugged. "What the hell. If we can carry leopards and a lion and a bear, I suppose the old bastard can take along a ten-pound dog."
He opened the door and shouted, "Hey, Stogie—come over to my trailer! I've got to talk to you about something."
I considered going back to the Dancer's trailer to spend a final evening with my friends, but I knew that Monk and Diggs would be talking excitedly about their future, and the future wasn't something that appealed to me at that moment. So I sat in the Hothouse, totally alone, and realized that being totally alone was something I was going to have to get used to again.
Chapter 16
The activity started the next morning, and got a little frenzied as the day wore on.
Mr. Romany and the Rigger spent a few hours dividing up the games, arguing about who got which. Monk decided that he had no confidence in Mr. Ahasuerus' ability to get the proper food for his animals, and drove his bus—aliens and all—into a nearby town to pick up two hundred pounds of meat from a rather surprised butcher shop. One of the trucks had to be unloaded when it was discovered that the strippers' costumes, which were going with Thaddeus, had been packed under the specialty tent, which was staying with Mr. Romany. Big Alvin got drunk and had to be restrained when he started breaking windows in a number of vans and trailers. Stogie's schnauzer got loose and didn't turn up again for almost two hours.
But finally, by late afternoon, all was in readiness, and Thaddeus announced that his division of The Ahasuerus and Flint Traveling Carnival and Sideshow would be ready to move out in ten minutes. He then rounded up a number of men from Romany's division to accompany him so they could drive the vehicles back after his group had left.
I had spent most of the day alone in the trailer, trying to work up the courage to ask Thaddeus to take me with him. Once or twice I got as far as the door, but then I remembered that he wouldn't even take Big Alvin along, and I knew there was no way I could convince him that I could earn my keep.
So I stayed where I was, and counted down the hours and the minutes.
I even considered going over to Monk's bus and throwing myself on Mr. Ahasuerus' mercy, but I knew he had more important things on his mind than the future of an ugly little hunchback who had trouble speaking, and I couldn't bring myself to face the finality of a negative answer. I guess deep down I thought that as long as he didn't officially turn me down, there was always the chance that he might change his mind at the last minute. I wondered what odds the Rigger would give on it.
The drive to the shuttlecraft took about forty minutes. When I felt us come to a halt I looked out the window and saw that we were in a large clearing, surrounded by a snow-covered forest. The wind was blowing the finely powdered snow through the air, and even though we were less than fifty yards away I couldn't make out any of the huge craft's features. It looked more like a grounded submarine than anything else I could think of.
I saw the aliens, most of them wearing coats and wrapped up in blankets, begin the short trek to the ship, and then Monk started unloading and moving his animals. I wiped the fog off the window, hoping for a last look at Diggs and the Dancer, when I felt a sudden cold draft.
Thaddeus was standing in the doorway, hands on hips, looking mildly irritated.
"Well?" he said.
"Well what?"
"Aren't you packed yet?"
"I thought I'd keep on living in the trailer," I said. "Unless you've given it to someone else, that is."
"What the hell are you talking about? You're coming with us."
"Me?" I exclaimed.
He snorted. "You see anyone else in here?"
"But . . . but what can I do? You said everyone has to earn his way."
"Everyone will," Thaddeus assured me. "Especially you."
"I don't understand."
"I'm going to be too damned busy running this carnival to do anything else. I mean, Mr. Ahasuerus is a nice guy and all, but you can fill a library's worth of books with what he doesn't know about operating a business." He paused. "Well, how about it?"
"How about what?" I asked.
"You've always wanted to be a barker, haven't you?"
"Yes, but . . ." I started tripping on my tongue again and couldn't get the words out.
"Mr. Ahasuerus tells me that a hell of a lot of the worlds we're going to visit communicate by telepathy. So," he said with a smile, "unless you stammer when you think, you've got yourself a job."
"Do you really mean it, Thaddeus?" I managed to say.
"Would I lie to you, you ugly little dwarf?" he said gently.
It took me less than a minute to fill a suitcase with all of my worldly belongings. Then I put on my coat and followed him through the cold Vermont snow to the waiting spacecraft.
THE END
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