wasn’t half bad. But the people around the stage thought Pat Bellnip and His Sweet-Singing Toe-Stomping Dance-Making Accordion were great. Some started stomping their toes, all right, and two couples got up close to the stage and began to dance, and then three couples, and then a whole lot more, and James Sullivan took Patty’s two hands and started to dance with her, and then what could Tommy do when Alice Winslow pulled him up and said she didn’t care if his hands were covered with cinnamon?
Tommy figured he’d have to punch Pat Bellnip in the face when this was all over.
Afterward, the Swampscott Barbershop Quartet took the stage, and Patrick Belknap climbed down and everyone clapped as he walked by—you could tell he liked that. He came over, and Alice Winslow told him he was great and James Sullivan and Tommy said he looked dumb in a cowboy hat. Patrick Belknap said he saw Pepper dancing with Alice Winslow and Tommy told him shut up and Alice Winslow asked why he hadn’t told them he would be playing and he said would
they
say anything if
they
were going to get on stage at the Plymouth Fall Festival? James Sullivan and Tommy both said not in a million years, and then they all decided to get elephant ears—even Tommy and Patty and Alice Winslow again—and Tommy said at least the hat was great and Patrick Belknap lifted it off his head and put it on Tommy. “Yours for the morning,” he said, and Tommy adjusted it so that it fit low over his eyes.
They bought the elephant ears and listened to the Swampscott Barbershop Quartet until they couldn’t take it anymore and then they walked out to the Midway and they each placed a quarter on a spin and Alice Winslow won a fuzzy white koala bear and gave it to Patty, who held it close. Then they all stood at a bar and fired water pistols into a clown’s mouth while the little ball rose on top of the clown’s head and Tommy won—because of his cowboy hat, said James Sullivan. So they used five tokens to play again and James Sullivan wore the cowboy hat this time and he won and said “I told you so” and so Tommy fired his water pistol at James Sullivan and James Sullivan fired his at Tommy and the guy behind the bar hollered at them and Tommy took the cowboy hat back.
But Tommy was pretty wet, and maybe that was why, when a barker hollered that they only had to pay three tokens to see the Cardiff Giant the Greatest Hoax of All Time, Tommy suddenly felt very, very cold.
Even though his chain had suddenly warmed.
“Come in, come in,” the barker called. He was a tall man, with shadows across his face. He wore a dark suit, and a dark shirt, and dark gloves. “Come in.” He looked at them. “Come in.”
They paid their tokens. They went into the tent.
Inside, the sawdust underfoot was worn down to furrows, and the sawdust in the air sifted through the shafts of sunlight the plastic tent windows let in. James Sullivan and Patrick Belknap and Alice Winslow and Tommy and Patty passed the poster displays— THE CARDIFF GIANT!!! THE PETRIFIED MAN!!! A GIANT OF EARLIER TIMES !!!—and then James Sullivan lifted the sheet that divided the outer tent from the inner tent.
The chain was hot.
“We shouldn’t be here,” said Tommy.
James Sullivan looked at him. “You scared, Pepper?”
Tommy was scared.
“No,” he said.
James Sullivan ducked through. Then Patrick Belknap. Then Alice Winslow.
Patty took Tommy’s hand, and they ducked in too. Tommy felt the dark close around them.
They were alone in the tent.
Tommy held Patty’s hand tightly.
Another thick layer of sawdust on this side of the tent, also furrowed, and a long trestle table with a rope strung around it to keep people back. And lying on the table, what looked like a stone man, long arms tight at its sides, face eroded away so that it was blank except for a mouth, long legs slightly apart, and looking like it weighed more than any of the giant pumpkins Tommy had seen being weighed.
Maybe it
Tommy figured he’d have to punch Pat Bellnip in the face when this was all over.
Afterward, the Swampscott Barbershop Quartet took the stage, and Patrick Belknap climbed down and everyone clapped as he walked by—you could tell he liked that. He came over, and Alice Winslow told him he was great and James Sullivan and Tommy said he looked dumb in a cowboy hat. Patrick Belknap said he saw Pepper dancing with Alice Winslow and Tommy told him shut up and Alice Winslow asked why he hadn’t told them he would be playing and he said would
they
say anything if
they
were going to get on stage at the Plymouth Fall Festival? James Sullivan and Tommy both said not in a million years, and then they all decided to get elephant ears—even Tommy and Patty and Alice Winslow again—and Tommy said at least the hat was great and Patrick Belknap lifted it off his head and put it on Tommy. “Yours for the morning,” he said, and Tommy adjusted it so that it fit low over his eyes.
They bought the elephant ears and listened to the Swampscott Barbershop Quartet until they couldn’t take it anymore and then they walked out to the Midway and they each placed a quarter on a spin and Alice Winslow won a fuzzy white koala bear and gave it to Patty, who held it close. Then they all stood at a bar and fired water pistols into a clown’s mouth while the little ball rose on top of the clown’s head and Tommy won—because of his cowboy hat, said James Sullivan. So they used five tokens to play again and James Sullivan wore the cowboy hat this time and he won and said “I told you so” and so Tommy fired his water pistol at James Sullivan and James Sullivan fired his at Tommy and the guy behind the bar hollered at them and Tommy took the cowboy hat back.
But Tommy was pretty wet, and maybe that was why, when a barker hollered that they only had to pay three tokens to see the Cardiff Giant the Greatest Hoax of All Time, Tommy suddenly felt very, very cold.
Even though his chain had suddenly warmed.
“Come in, come in,” the barker called. He was a tall man, with shadows across his face. He wore a dark suit, and a dark shirt, and dark gloves. “Come in.” He looked at them. “Come in.”
They paid their tokens. They went into the tent.
Inside, the sawdust underfoot was worn down to furrows, and the sawdust in the air sifted through the shafts of sunlight the plastic tent windows let in. James Sullivan and Patrick Belknap and Alice Winslow and Tommy and Patty passed the poster displays— THE CARDIFF GIANT!!! THE PETRIFIED MAN!!! A GIANT OF EARLIER TIMES !!!—and then James Sullivan lifted the sheet that divided the outer tent from the inner tent.
The chain was hot.
“We shouldn’t be here,” said Tommy.
James Sullivan looked at him. “You scared, Pepper?”
Tommy was scared.
“No,” he said.
James Sullivan ducked through. Then Patrick Belknap. Then Alice Winslow.
Patty took Tommy’s hand, and they ducked in too. Tommy felt the dark close around them.
They were alone in the tent.
Tommy held Patty’s hand tightly.
Another thick layer of sawdust on this side of the tent, also furrowed, and a long trestle table with a rope strung around it to keep people back. And lying on the table, what looked like a stone man, long arms tight at its sides, face eroded away so that it was blank except for a mouth, long legs slightly apart, and looking like it weighed more than any of the giant pumpkins Tommy had seen being weighed.
Maybe it
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