Pegasus: A Novel (12 page)

“I’m sure that’s true,” North said respectfully, “but we don’t want your stallion
sounding like a cartoon character. And I’m afraid that
Pluto will remind them of the dog in the Disney cartoons. We want something a little
grander. Maybe you can think of a better name for each of them. We want to start advertising
and putting out stories about your stallion as soon as possible. Maybe some press
interviews and photographs with you, before we go on tour. It won’t be for another
five months, but I like to plan ahead. See what you can come up with for both of them.
What about the Arabians?”

“They all have Arab names, which relate to their bloodlines too.”

“That’ll work,” he approved. They discussed salary then, and what he offered Nick
was respectable, although not staggering. But Nick hadn’t expected it to be. It would
be enough for him and the boys to live on, and the circus provided them many benefits,
the trailer to live in, free food at the cook tent, and health care when needed. There
would be no luxuries, but they would be protected and secure, and he was employed,
which seemed miraculous to him.

“Thank you very much,” Nick said with considerable emotion. He was grateful for all
of it, and particularly that he and the boys were safe, no matter how unusual their
situation was. He had never expected to join a circus, but his life had been full
of surprises recently. And Ringling Brothers was the least of them. He had given up
a country and a way of life, left his family and his home, become a criminal due to
circumstances beyond his control, and discovered that the mother he had mourned all
his life wasn’t dead after all and had relinquished him at birth. It was a lot to
digest and absorb.

“I’m looking forward to your rehearsal tomorrow morning,” John Ringling North said
warmly as he escorted Nick out of his office. “I’ll have the contract ready for you.
We’ll give it to you after the rehearsal.” Nick was well aware that he was still on
trial, and there would be no contract if the president didn’t like their performance.
He was going to have Toby ride with him, and have Pluto go through
everything Alex had taught him so carefully. He just hoped that the stallion would
be willing to give it his utmost in the unfamiliar surroundings. Nick was going to
have a talk with him that afternoon. He was nervous about the circus president watching
the show. What if he didn’t hire him after all? Then what would they do? It didn’t
bear thinking. He couldn’t go back to Germany now. His performance with Pluto was
going to have to be outstanding if there were to be a contract.

After the meeting, Nick found Joe in the parking lot, leaning against his truck and
smoking a cigar. He was wearing a light gray fedora to match his suit, which, as always,
was pushed back on his head. It was a perfect look for him, and he smiled at Nick
as he approached.

“How did it go?”

“Well, I think. He’s coming to our rehearsal. And he changed my name.” Nick grinned
wryly—he had expected none of this. He hadn’t known what to expect at all. “I’m Nick
Bing now.”

“It suits you. Sounds a bit British, like your accent when you speak English.” They
both laughed.

“I hope he likes our act,” Nick said nervously as he got into the truck with him.
Joe was about his age, and seemed to understand how Nick felt, and he was trying to
make Nick and the boys feel welcome and at home.

“Don’t worry. He’ll like it, I’m sure.” Joe tried to reassure him.

“He wants me to change the Lipizzaners’ names too. The man who bred them would kill
me for that, but I don’t have much choice, do I?” Nick glanced at Joe questioningly,
and Joe looked sympathetic. This was a whole new world for Nick, and it showed. Most
of the performers they hired, except a few very young ones, had been in circuses before.

“The circus is all about drama and excitement, ‘hype’ we call it. Everything is bigger
and better and more dramatic, or smaller and more exotic. I figured he’d want you
to change Pluto’s name,” Joe commented as he started the truck.

“I’ll try to think of something.” But he had no intention of telling Alex once he
did. It would seem like a sacrilege to him. Alex had no way of knowing or understanding
that this was a whole different world, which had nothing to do with their own.

Joe drove Nick back to his trailer then, and they saw women in the now-familiar costumes
on the way. Joe recognized several of them as trapeze artists, but to Nick they were
just pretty young women in short skirts. He noticed them, but for now he didn’t care.
And none of them were the kind of woman he would ever have looked at. He had always
been attracted to the women in his own world. These girls were young, all foreign,
and giggling like schoolgirls. But Joe gaped at them, as he always did, and nearly
hit a young boy practicing on tall stilts in the road. There was constant foot traffic
on the fairgrounds, everything from midgets to giants. Nick couldn’t help staring
as an enormously fat woman, who Joe said was very well known, and a man covered with
tattoos walked past them, deep in serious conversation. It was a totally exotic crazy
world.

And when they got back to Nick’s trailer, he saw Lucas laughing and talking to a dwarf,
and a man in clown makeup, dressed as a mime and wearing a beret, short pants, ballet
shoes, and white tights. Once out of the truck, Nick approached them with interest,
as Lucas smiled up at him with wide eyes and introduced his new friends.

“Papa, this is Pierre. He’s a clown. And this is Thomas. He’s a clown, too, but he
doesn’t have rehearsal today.” Lucas said it as though he’d been there forever and
knew their routines perfectly
and what they meant. Nick wasn’t even sure Lucas knew what a rehearsal was.

Nick shook hands with the young Frenchman, who smiled broadly. He’d been having fun
with Lucas, and the dwarf had been laughing when Nick arrived. The threesome were
having a good time. It was odd to think that these people would be their friends now,
and that Lucas and Toby would grow up among freaks, acrobats, and clowns. Lucas had
been begging to see the tattooed lady since they arrived. Joe had made a point of
saying there were no “freaks” in the circus, only “acts,” “artists,” and “performers.”

“They said I could be a clown,” Lucas said, “and ride in the little car with them
during intermission, and Thomas is going to take me to see the elephants.” They had
seen several in the parking lot that morning, including two babies following their
mothers with a handler running alongside.

“That sounds like fun,” Nick said with a tired smile. He had a lot to adjust to since
they’d arrived that morning, and he didn’t have a signed contract yet. It would all
depend on his performance at rehearsal the next day, and if John Ringling North liked
what he saw. “Toby and I have rehearsal tomorrow morning, for the president of the
circus. He’s coming to watch us. Where is Toby, by the way?” Nick asked, looking around.
His older son was nowhere to be seen.

“He’s inside,” Lucas said, pointing to the trailer, just as a little girl walked up.
She had golden curls that danced all over her head, and big blue eyes. She looked
like a doll in a pink dress, and she was about the same age as Lucas. She had wandered
over from her trailer nearby. She looked him over with interest, and smiled, as Nick
watched.

“Do you speak English?” she asked Lucas boldly, and he nodded, although he wasn’t
fluent yet. But he had been managing well with
the dwarf and the clown. The French clown spoke a few words of German, which helped.
“Where are you from?” she asked him with a curious look, as the clown and the dwarf
left, promising to visit Lucas the next day. He was already making friends.

“Germany,” Lucas answered, and she nodded. There were lots of Germans in the circus,
and she knew many of them.

“I’m Czech, but I’ve been here since I was two. I speak Czech and German too,” she
said matter-of-factly, and began speaking to him in German. Lucas looked relieved,
and thrilled to have found a friend he could speak to freely, without struggling for
words. “I’m Rosie, and my mama dances on the high wire, without a net sometimes. She
made my dress,” she went on in German. He thought she had a funny accent, but she
spoke it well. “My papa is Czech too. He’s on the trapeze, and he can do a triple.
Sometimes he does the high wire with my mama. He doesn’t like it when she doesn’t
use a net, but everyone applauds more when she doesn’t. What does your papa do?” She
glanced shyly at Nick, and he smiled. She was an adorable child, from a typical circus
family. And to her, it all seemed normal. It was the only life she knew. To Lucas,
it was all new and exciting, far more so than his six quiet years growing up in Bavaria,
in the country.

“My papa rides horses, and my brother will help him. We just got here today.”

“I know. My mama said to leave you alone until you settled in. My sister thinks your
brother is handsome. She saw him when you arrived.” Lucas thought it was interesting
information, as Nick realized that his sons would be part of the large group of circus
children now, and these would be their friends.

“My brother is fifteen, and I’m six,” Lucas volunteered.

“Me too,” Rosie said, and when she smiled, Lucas could see that she had recently lost
her front teeth. He thought it made her look cute, and so did Nick. She was wearing
pink ballet slippers with her dress. She usually did. She didn’t need to wear other
shoes here, only when she went to school.

As they chatted, Nick went inside to find Toby and remind him about rehearsal the
next day, and tell him the president of the circus would be there to see their act.
And when he found him, Toby was listening to the radio, and he looked up at his father
with a glazed expression.

“Something wrong?” Nick asked, instantly worried. Toby looked like he’d seen a ghost.

“There were attacks all over Germany two days ago. They burned synagogues and businesses
and people’s homes. They took people away. They said that they were ridding Germany
of the criminal element, but it sounds like it was all Jews. They said on the report
that thirty thousand Jewish men were put in prison, and several thousand women, in
Germany and Austria. They called it
‘Kristallnacht.’
It happened the day before we got off the ship. Would that have been us, Papa, if
we were still there?” Toby looked terrified at the thought, and sad for the people
who had been hurt and put in jail. They had been isolated from the news while they
traveled. Nick had heard something about it on the ship, but he thought it was just
another bout of violence after one of Hitler’s rallies. He had no idea that the persecution
of Jews had taken such massive proportions, and was so out of control. He realized
then that was probably why General von Messing told them to leave immediately. He
knew what was coming and tried to warn.
Kristallnacht
was no random roundup. It had been planned.

“I’m glad we didn’t have to find out. Hopefully that wouldn’t have been us if we were
there, but it could have been. The country is in a sad state, and Hitler is a very
dangerous man.” Nick was relieved for the boys and his father that they had left.
If he had stayed, they might have punished Paul for harboring them, and Nick could
have been taken to jail, and even Toby. And now that they were gone, Paul was safe,
and so were they. It seemed as though no one was secure in Germany now, not only the
Jews, but anyone related to them, even by marriage, involved with them in any way,
or doing business with them. Any Jew or person protecting a Jew was in danger.
Kristallnacht
had been a night of incredible violence that shocked the world.

Nick was suddenly even more grateful to be here, and knew he had done the right thing.
His father was right. He was determined now to give the best possible performance
he could, so they would offer him a contract and he could stay. Nothing was sure yet,
until North approved their performance the next morning. He tried to get Toby to focus
on that, in order to get his mind off what he’d heard on the radio. And he told him
exactly which tricks he wanted to do. He was going to try and get Pluto to do all
his most spectacular feats, and he wanted Toby riding around the ring on one of the
Arabians both at the beginning and the end of the act. He didn’t have to do anything
more than that. For most of the act, Nick would be using liberty commands, and standing
in the center of the ring in his top hat and tails. Toby would be wearing tails too.

After a sleepless night in the unfamiliar surroundings, the two men looked very elegant
the next morning when they set out for the tent where they were keeping their horses.
Lucas went with them, to help
them lead the horses to the main tent. And Nick had found two handlers to assist him.
The three men and Toby each took two horses. Nick led the two Lipizzaners, and Toby
and the two handlers each led two Arabians, while Lucas walked along and told his
brother that he had heard about a girl who liked him.

“Oh really?” Toby said skeptically. He hadn’t met nearly as many people as Lucas in
a single day. But his brother was irrepressibly gregarious, and he was far more reserved.
The only girl he wasn’t shy with was Marianne at home. He had written her a letter
the night before, about the ship and their arrival at the circus, and he had posted
it that morning. He told her how much he missed her and how strange everything was
here, and how much he missed his grandfather and her father, and their home. “What’s
her name?” Toby asked about the girl Lucas had mentioned. He looked older than his
years in the top hat and tailcoat, and very handsome. And Nick looked incredibly dashing
as he led the two Lipizzaners toward the main tent. Several of the women’s heads turned
as he passed them, but he was oblivious as he worried about the act he was about to
do for such an important man, with so much resting on his performance, their lives
and his job.