NaNoWriMo Day 6 excerpt. (Only slight need for the usual Qale warning this time.)
Posted by
Qale (aka Qale)
Nov 6 '08, 18:42
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Soon enough, puppeteer Mercurial was around with the cart. He was an odd sort that even many in the carnival didn�t associate with. But I thought he was pretty cool. He even helped me load the large plastic cubes and stood around to talk to me while I continued placing the rest of our props onto the cart.
�I�s figurin� they�ll be a bigger crowd here than in Florida, ya think?� Mercurial had a deep southern accent and wide dark eyes that complimented his equally dark complexion. Dressed in a plaid button up shirt and jeans, I�m sure many wondered if he�d just stepped out of the nearby corn fields. But for what Mercurial lacked in style of dress and manner of speech, he sure did have a bit of wit to him.
As I�m loading the last of the boxes, I turn back to the now half-closed trailer door. �Haddy, you alright until show time?�
My twin takes his time before pushing back open fully the trailer�s door and standing there leaning up against the wall of our make shift home. He�s got his hip cocked to the side, still shirtless, and both hands dug deeply into his jean pockets. Was this how I looked to him earlier in the morning when he was taking a ride on the Ferris Wheel?
Mercurial�s eyes follow mine, and he looks to Hadyn standing there up on the back of the semi-trailer. The puppeteer�s lips part, his mouth opens, a shine of white teeth and pink tongue as if about to say something to my brother. But, he closes his mouth and instead moves on to the driver�s side of the loading cart.
I chuckle, dart closer to the back of the trailer. Hadyn drops down in a crouch close to the edge, and leans close as if to kiss me. Self-consciously though, I turn my head and his lips catch my cheek instead. I murmur quietly, �I�ll see you in the dressing tent tonight.�
Dashing back to Mercurial and the awaiting cart, I turn back and wave to my twin whom is a bit reluctant to wave back. I don�t understand. He said he wanted in and I gave him something I was now finding hard to believe I did. While we were always impressively close, I couldn�t imagine a day would come when Haddy would practically throw himself to me desiring a sexual relationship as strong or stronger than one I�d share with another human being.
Perhaps giving him what I did wasn�t going to satiate him, but rather feed a hunger that�d only grow stronger as the days and weeks progressed. I look to Mercurial with a bit of darkness in my eyes thinking just those sorts of thoughts. He pulls the loading cart away from the trailer and we start making our way toward the big tent.
�Somethin� change in that one, Devyn. Something� change pretty darn strongly, you know? You felt that too, no?� His dialect wasn�t quite something from Louisiana and not quite something from Mississippi either. It was a messed up mixture that did only one thing, hide the fact that the puppeteer seemed to have a certain untrained expert opinion on the human mind and condition.
He also had a way of pulling things out of people. Forcing words when more often than not, people would rather have buried deep within themselves. It�s not surprising I find myself telling him precisely what just happened. �Haddy�s seen me fooling around. With locals, you know?�
�Ahh. Envy is only one step away from the most bitter expression: Jealousy.�
�No!� I instantly refute the puppeteer�s claim. Even as he�s putting pedal to the metal and rushing us toward the big tent, we aren�t going all that fast. So why was I holding so desperately hard to the handle to my right hand side?
�I can see clear as th� nose on his and yer face, the same nose, I tell ya, that he is crestfallen. Feels he�s lost you to others. You were to be his, or so he did think.�
�But Mercurial, not like that.� Even though only a short time had passed since Hadyn had stripped of his clothes during our routiene, and even though only a short time had passed since I took it upon myself to pleasure him with my hand and mouth, I was finding myself protesting what I�d done and what it represented.
�No, of course not like that,� Mercurial seemed to cover his words with a shroud of compassion. He pulled up to the back flap of the left hand side of the largest of our tents, and yanked up the emergency break with a quick hand. My head and body jerks forward, and then I stick out my tongue to the black man. But, naturally, he has me caught. �But it was like that. You let him make it just like that and since you gave into it, you now have to decide what you�re going to do about it.�
I blinked, stunned. Even though I hadn�t told him what specifically had happened, the damn puppeteer had figured me out yet again so perfectly. Shaking my head, slowly, I get out of the cart and start to heft our prop boxes inside.
Mercurial gives me a hand, stacking two of the large plastic cubes that will later light up giving shimmering and dazzling visual effects to highlight my brother and I while we perform. He pushes them inside after me.
After we�d brought in all of the belongings, I look Mercurial up and down, judging on if I really want to head back to his part of the carnival. I wasn�t sure I could take any more of his spooky insight. But as we both exit the tent and are once again surrounded by golden brilliant sunshine, I find myself smiling to the man. Even as he�s getting back on the cart, waiting for me to hop back on, I still smile inexplicably.
�You waiting for the advice part, Dev�, boy?� Mercurial matches my grin and then broadens his grin. �Afraid I don�t have any this time. The heart is like a lion and she�ll have what she wants. I don�t think you did yourself any favors feeding it just a few strips of meat.�
My hands go behind my back as I stand there looking to the puppeteer on the cart. Still loaded on it were his trunks holding inside the marionettes and their long guiding strings. Sometimes I wondered if he treated those who dared to finally speak with him as those puppets. A tug here, a drop of more slack there, and he could get anyone to do whatever he liked.
�You decide. Are you a lion tamer?�
I slowly shake my head no.
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