Pegasus: A Novel (10 page)

As they drove to Penn Station, Lucas was gazing out the window, fascinated by everything
he saw and chattering excitedly, while Toby drifted into pensive silence. Nick kept
a lookout to make sure that the boxcar was stable and the luggage car was following
with their trunks. He had never had to handle so many details and arrangements on
his own. Until then, servants and underlings had handled everything he had to cope
with now himself, and he had a new respect for how talented and dedicated they had
been, and how complicated it was to manage all the details, particularly with the
horses. And as they hurried to their train, he stopped at a Western Union office in
the station to send telegrams to his father and Alex, saying that they had arrived
safely in New York. Lucas was insisting that he wanted to see the city, the Chrysler
Building, and the Empire State
Building, which was the tallest building in New York, and Nick said they didn’t have
time.

It seemed like a herculean feat to get the boxcar onto the Seaboard Air Line Railway
train, and half an hour later they were settled into their compartment with their
trunks all around them. It was a relief when they finally left the station, even though
they had seen nothing of New York. Nick couldn’t help thinking of Monique, on her
way to Boston, and how simple her life was. She could return to Germany whenever she
wanted, and he and his sons had fled. The cruelty of fate didn’t escape him, but it
was the way of the world now. He thought, too, about his mother, as they rode south
on the train. He would have liked to try to find her before he left Germany, but he
hadn’t had time. And in an odd way, for the first time he felt angry at her for abandoning
him, but she’d been a young girl, probably with no choice in the matter. He was determined
to find her one day, and meet her, but he knew that now it was a long way off, if
he could ever return to Germany at all. If Hitler remained in power, Nick would be
a man without a country for the rest of his life.

“We’re not going back, are we?” Toby said softly, once Lucas fell asleep from the
rhythmic motion of the train, several hours out from New York.

“I don’t know,” Nick said honestly. He didn’t want to lie to him and give him false
hope. “It depends on what happens in Germany. For now, we have to make our home here.”
They had no other choice.

“With the circus? Forever?” Toby was appalled.

“For a while.”

“I miss Opa,” Toby said sadly, and Nick nodded. He missed his father too. Terribly.
And Alex. And their comfortable home and life.

“So do I. I’m sure he misses us too,” Nick said sadly, as the train to Florida rolled
on.

It was long after dinnertime when Nick’s telegram arrived at the manor house at the
schloss that night. Paul had decided to remain where he was—the main house would be
too lonely now without Nick and the boys, so he didn’t move back. And staying in the
manor house was a way of convincing himself they would return. The main schloss was
their home.

He was relieved to read in the telegram that they had arrived safely in New York,
and were on their way to Florida with the horses in good condition. Nick had signed
it from him and the boys, and Paul had tears in his eyes when he read it. His life
had been bleak for the past five days without them. He couldn’t even imagine a whole
lifetime without them now, and he had aged visibly ten years overnight.

When Alex got Nick’s telegram at Schloss Altenberg, he showed it to Marianne, who
had been sitting in the library with him. And they had been nearly as lonely as Nick’s
father. Nick and the boys’ absence was sorely felt in everyone’s life. Alex was relieved
to read that the horses had traveled without mishap. Nick hadn’t told him that Pluto
nearly died. It would only have worried Alex for no reason, since all was well now,
and Pluto seemed healthier than ever. At least for now, their future was safe.

When the train made several stops as it wended its way south, Nick got out and checked
the horses, and gave them fresh water. The boys were excited to have dinner in the
dining car, and afterward the porter set up their sleepers. They weren’t due to arrive
in Sarasota until the next morning, and would be traveling through the night. And
Lucas loved the little blue light over his bed in the compartment.
He thought everything about the trip was exciting. And Toby cheered up a little after
dinner, as they watched the countryside slide by. Nick was exhausted by the stress
of their travel, and constantly worried about either his sons or the horses. There
seemed to be so much to take care of now. He had had no idea how complicated running
one’s own life was, and he was not enjoying the process. No matter how bad it was,
it would be good to get to Florida, and finally stop moving around. He felt as though
they were coming from the far end of the earth to get there. And they hadn’t arrived
yet. He was grateful that they wouldn’t have to travel again for the next three months,
since the circus was settled in its winter quarters, and wasn’t leaving on tour until
March. After that they would be on the move, going from city to city, for nine months.
But they would have time to adapt to their new life now, with only a light schedule
of occasional performances in Sarasota. It would give him and the boys a chance to
adjust and settle in, and perfect their act. He wished Alex were there to help him
improve further, and tried to remember everything Alex had taught him about putting
the Lipizzaners through their paces.

And after not sleeping at all the night before on the ship, Nick fell into a deep
sleep on the train, with the hypnotic rhythm and the sounds of the wheels on the track.
It was morning, in a bright sun, when they finally got there. Nick had woken the boys
an hour before, so they could dress and have breakfast, in the dining car again. Lucas
ordered nearly everything on the menu, and tried to order in German. Nick forced him
to use his halting English instead of translating for him. Toby had learned enough
English to speak a little, although not well. He had to struggle for his words, but
the people he spoke to were patient about it. Nick let Lucas order for all of them,
and he did a decent job of it, and got everything right, except
for the pancakes, which he called “crepes” and confused the waiter. Both boys spoke
a smattering of French, which they’d learned from a nanny they’d had when they were
younger and still remembered, and enough English to get by.

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.”