south. Would that be so hard? Won’t Jackson reconsider?”
“There’s nothing that way. Jackson goes where the people are, where the money is. Has his mind fixed on San Francisco eventually. I think he’s got family there.” Did she notice the way my voice caught on that word, family? Her sharp eyes didn’t miss much; they were narrow now, as though she meant to study me the way I’d been studying her. Don’t do that, little girl, I thought and she sat straighter.
“East.”
She turned her face up to the stars, but Saturn didn’t lie in the east so I didn’t figure it was a star she was following. “What’s east?” I asked and she didn’t look at me. Didn’t turn away from the stars. Didn’t even answer me.
And before long, it was too cold to just stand there, so I had to go inside. I started a fire in the small grate, warmed my hands and my feet, and made sure the smoke wouldn’t roll back on us during the night.
It didn’t roll back on us, just on me, for when I woke she was still out there looking at the stars. I saw her point to one and heard her say, “I am there.”
But she wasn’t there—she was here—and that was her entire problem.
She hadn’t meant to come to Earth, she told me. It was all one big mistake. She’d been running from her family, had to get away, and this is where she ended up. She had to stop running because her ship stopped. Caught something in the engine and when she was about to get it right, a New Mexican storm slapped her down. Two years, that’s how long she’d been here, trying to figure a way back home.
Two years ago, Jackson had stopped the train for a young man named Coleman Bean. A lot could happen in two years.
Couldn’t find any of her own kind. Seemed she was the only one, and that thought filled her with an agony that tasted like metal in the back of her throat. She’d climbed onto the tracks to kill herself, but damn Jackson had to go and stop. Had to find that shred of soul within himself and put it to use that night.
“You was glowing like some firefly,” I said. “I think that might have caught his attention. Maybe he thought you was a diamond.” I grinned and she shoved me. She didn’t look like a diamond or a firefly.
I didn’t mean to come to this place, either, I finally told her, though it wasn’t Earth I was meaning. This circus train. But I’d been running, too, and yes away from family. Sombra and Gemma spotted me in a track-side bar, performing card and coin tricks for a little cash. They told me they had a better deal, both in and out of their tent. They were right, so I came to the tracks and watched the train slow as they said it would. Anything was better than going back.
“Going back is the only thing,” she countered as she stuck her bare feet toward the flames. “Until you do, you’re in limbo. Fancy Earth word. Why’d you run?”
“Why did you?”
She didn’t answer me and I didn’t answer her and the night blurred into morning as we warmed our feet beside the darkened grate.
The first night of the show is perhaps the best. Mistakes happen, but that’s part of the fun. Like Manny and his lions; surely he didn’t mean for the male to eat his red coat, but it happened. Buttons and all, down the hatch and the audience applauded while the big cat licked his lips.
We didn’t have many animals in the show. The monkeys seemed to be the favorites, but Miss Victoria Solace didn’t appreciate the way they stole her hat and wore it around the ring. They pranced and chattered and the men roared and pointed. I made the hat vanish from the monkey’s paws and reappear on her head, much to her delight.
Mrs. Isabel Tompkins had the kind of mind I liked, clear and warm like a summer pond. I could see everything that lay under the surface and when she handed me her handkerchief and bade me “vanish it!” it was easy enough to do so. In her mind I could see her orderly kitchen, though her husband Harry was always
“There’s nothing that way. Jackson goes where the people are, where the money is. Has his mind fixed on San Francisco eventually. I think he’s got family there.” Did she notice the way my voice caught on that word, family? Her sharp eyes didn’t miss much; they were narrow now, as though she meant to study me the way I’d been studying her. Don’t do that, little girl, I thought and she sat straighter.
“East.”
She turned her face up to the stars, but Saturn didn’t lie in the east so I didn’t figure it was a star she was following. “What’s east?” I asked and she didn’t look at me. Didn’t turn away from the stars. Didn’t even answer me.
And before long, it was too cold to just stand there, so I had to go inside. I started a fire in the small grate, warmed my hands and my feet, and made sure the smoke wouldn’t roll back on us during the night.
It didn’t roll back on us, just on me, for when I woke she was still out there looking at the stars. I saw her point to one and heard her say, “I am there.”
But she wasn’t there—she was here—and that was her entire problem.
She hadn’t meant to come to Earth, she told me. It was all one big mistake. She’d been running from her family, had to get away, and this is where she ended up. She had to stop running because her ship stopped. Caught something in the engine and when she was about to get it right, a New Mexican storm slapped her down. Two years, that’s how long she’d been here, trying to figure a way back home.
Two years ago, Jackson had stopped the train for a young man named Coleman Bean. A lot could happen in two years.
Couldn’t find any of her own kind. Seemed she was the only one, and that thought filled her with an agony that tasted like metal in the back of her throat. She’d climbed onto the tracks to kill herself, but damn Jackson had to go and stop. Had to find that shred of soul within himself and put it to use that night.
“You was glowing like some firefly,” I said. “I think that might have caught his attention. Maybe he thought you was a diamond.” I grinned and she shoved me. She didn’t look like a diamond or a firefly.
I didn’t mean to come to this place, either, I finally told her, though it wasn’t Earth I was meaning. This circus train. But I’d been running, too, and yes away from family. Sombra and Gemma spotted me in a track-side bar, performing card and coin tricks for a little cash. They told me they had a better deal, both in and out of their tent. They were right, so I came to the tracks and watched the train slow as they said it would. Anything was better than going back.
“Going back is the only thing,” she countered as she stuck her bare feet toward the flames. “Until you do, you’re in limbo. Fancy Earth word. Why’d you run?”
“Why did you?”
She didn’t answer me and I didn’t answer her and the night blurred into morning as we warmed our feet beside the darkened grate.
The first night of the show is perhaps the best. Mistakes happen, but that’s part of the fun. Like Manny and his lions; surely he didn’t mean for the male to eat his red coat, but it happened. Buttons and all, down the hatch and the audience applauded while the big cat licked his lips.
We didn’t have many animals in the show. The monkeys seemed to be the favorites, but Miss Victoria Solace didn’t appreciate the way they stole her hat and wore it around the ring. They pranced and chattered and the men roared and pointed. I made the hat vanish from the monkey’s paws and reappear on her head, much to her delight.
Mrs. Isabel Tompkins had the kind of mind I liked, clear and warm like a summer pond. I could see everything that lay under the surface and when she handed me her handkerchief and bade me “vanish it!” it was easy enough to do so. In her mind I could see her orderly kitchen, though her husband Harry was always
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