The Greatest Show on Earth

They blew in with a cool June breeze and set up their tall red and white candy swirl tents on the outskirts of Brownsville. They brought with them a long caravan of trailers and hay bales, elephants and monkeys. They drove their spikes into the caked earth and erected their monolith high into the sky. When the lights went out and downtown Brownsville was closed and emptied the freakshow slithered out slowly and filled shop windows and telephone poles with their dull orange and black fliers. They covered Brownsville in cheap paper, silently and hurriedly. They made it back to the base just as the sun was peaking over the tops of the plains, back into their cages and iron chains that bound them in service to the ring leading master Mr. Maddow. The townspeople would wake in the morning and see what was left behind and wonder what specters had invaded their town during the twilight hours while they slept warm and safe in their beds.

The sun rose and revealed what the night had given birth to. The grounds were perfect, brought together tight at the seams like a beautiful handmade suit. The great big tent rose up in the center of the carnival, swirling up and up towards the sky. Above the entrance into the hive hung an ancient arch, its twisted iron letters spelling out the name of the traveling phantom. It was surreal and confusing to look at, but if one looked long enough the shapes would eventually come together and reveal their message. It was a strange garbling of letters in a foreign language that to most, meant nothing, but left all anxious and unsettled.

The path leading up to the main tent was lined with gypsy carts, fortune tellers, rigged games and the freak show. The Gauntlet, as the path was called by the workers, was a hall lined with human deformation and misery, and it was meant to capture the audiences’ morbid curiosity, preparing them for what lay ahead. There was the bearded lady, a woman with who was cursed with a wispy brown beard. There were the Sharppe Twins who were amazingly joined at the waist, forever together and forever on display. There was the Fish-Boy whose eyes popped out of his head and came out at strange angels. He was missing his lips and all of his hair. He was one of the main attractions and it wasn’t terribly uncommon for people to faint at the sight of him. There was Misha the dwarf, Oleg the giant and Charles, a man with an unfortunately distended chest who was mocked and berated by the men of the towns they traveled through.

Hidden on its south side, far away from the public and view were the housing caravans; small ramshackle things that were more transportation than home. Inside of these little shacks on wheels lived the workers, the clowns, the acrobats, the fire breathers, the knife throwers, strongmen, and magicians. They were all cramped together there like cattle, sleeping on linen covered hay mattresses and eating grub ladled hard tack. Mr. Maddow only allowed them to leave their portable cells when the night came crashing down, lest they reveal themselves too early to the wide eyed and idiotic patrons.

Opening day came and the town emptied out and ran excitedly toward the great tent, money in their hands and arms akimbo. The businesses were shut down for this exciting event, entire families came hand in hand and some people even brought their dogs. It was a marvelous day indeed!

The townspeople paid their tickets and filtered in, buying their children cotton candy and popcorn from the vendors that lined the Gauntlet. They all stopped to gaze in amazement and horror at the freaks, especially the Fish-Boy. Some nastier children even spit on the poor deformed child. Eventually, after much ooing and ahhing everyone made it inside and took their seats on the uncomfortable wooden bleachers under hot hot electric lights. They sat there chatting in hushed whispers, excitement oozing like honey out their pores, when suddenly the lights with out with a silent bang. A single spotlight came on and there, standing under the white light stood Mr. Maddow in a brilliant black suit with long tails and a tall tophat. He swept it off his head and cried out, in a big booming voice:

“WELCOME! Welcome, welcome welcome my wonderful friends, to what could very well be the greatest show on earth!” The crowd erupted in furious applause and cheers, children jumped out of their seats in sugar fueled rushes of euphoria and several restrained dogs howled in the madness. Mr. Maddow hushed them then with a bowed head and outspread arms.

“Prepare yourselves ladies and gentleman for a show the like of which you have never seen! We have mysteries from every corner of the world, amazing feats of glittering magik, untamed beasts and oh so many laughs! Prepare yourself my friends, for an evening you will never forget! I know introduce to you-” The spotlight went out then, and silence reined king. There was hushed breathing and quiet whispers. With a sudden flash of light the spotlight came back on, but instead of Mr. Maddow there stood a clown, his face painted with a most forlorn expression.

“Ladies and gentleman, I regret to inform you, but there has been a change of plans. Instead of presenting you the Greatest Show On Earth, we will instead be showing you, uninterrupted and oh so personal, The Greatest Show Of Your Lives!”

With that the light went out once again, but instead of pure darkness as they had experienced before, there was a faint orange glow surrounding them. Smoke began to curl its way into the nostrils of the patrons and slowly they began to realize what was happening. Men scrambled over children and the dogs were let loose as the fire began to consume the great tent. Some rushed towards the fire in an attempt to contain it, while most ran towards where the great flap had been. Instead of sweet escape, they found instead an elephant, terrified and stomping, roped to a stake in the ground that was quickly pulling up. Some tried to run beneath its smashing feet, and most all were crushed. Some escaped just barely, but were met by a swarm of released, furious freaks and clowns. They tore down the escapees brutally and without mercy. The carnies gathered just outside the entrance and listened to the screaming coming from inside. Eventually it quieted to just a few mixed moans and the great tent began to fold in on itself. The elephant had broken free of its bonds and was running, burning and burning across the plains. The tent was fully engulfed, orange and red and yellow and the carnies watched it burn and burn and burn as the day twisted slowly and surely into night and then they left, to find their new homes in the quiet ghost town of Brownsville.