It seemed like an eternity had passed before my spirits were lifted by the familiar sound of horse hooves and rickety cart wheels travelling down the dirt road. But alas, only a day had gone by when Tom returned with three new recruits.
It was late in the morning when I opened the door to make a visit to the outhouse and I heard those welcoming sounds of the horse and cart. Looking up in anticipation, I saw the top of Tom's tattered old cap at the head of the cart peeking above the long grass as he drove the horse carriage down the path to the circus. A smile crossed my lips and I immediately made a run for the front entrance to greet the horse-drawn cart.
The moment Tom laid eyes on me, he greeted me with a smile and waved. I waited for the cart excitedly, bouncing on the balls of my feet and tugging on the ruffles of my skirt. When the cart had approached, I ran up beside it and jumped up to climb up to the seat. Tom exclaimed with surprise before chuckling and helping me up to sit next to him.
"I missed you!" I exclaimed happily, hugging him around his neck. TomCat chuckled and hugged me back, "I missed you too, Tae. How did my lovely lady fair without me?"
I never answered his question, as I had turned away from him to peer into the back of the cart. I was quite stunned, to say the least, to see two very peculiar people lounging amongst crates of new supplies and canned goods. One, who I presumed was a woman, was completely covered in hair; only her eyes could be seen under the thick black locks and she gave me a friendly smile and a wave with her hairy hand. I timidly hid behind the backboard of the cart and turned my attention towards the other gentleman... or gentle-men.
Indeed, they had one shared body but there were two heads, one of which attached to the other's neck and carried a deformed grimace that was both revolting yet fascinating. The main head (I assumed it was the main head because he looked otherwise normal except for his sad expression) looked my way and tipped his hat to me. I waved shyly and promptly turned to TomCat.
"Who are these people?" I wondered quietly. Tom smiled proudly; keeping his eyes ahead at the path ahead, he answered, "They're our new recruits, and they're the start of our greatest attraction yet!"
"Ooh!" I exclaimed joyfully and turned my attention towards the odd people again. There was no doubt they would attract a lot of attention from people, but a part of me couldn't help but wonder if they wanted to be at the circus. The hairy woman seemed perfectly content and I didn't second guess her regret of joining us; however, the two-headed man seemed uneasy and there was a look in the main head's eyes that told me he feared for his future.
Too timid to ask, myself, I turned to Tom once again and quietly inquired if they had names, to which Tom responded, "We have Ms Wilson, here, sitting to your right and Timothy Frank to your left... his other head's name is Harold. Stage-name-wise, they are WolfCat, Siamese, and Rex."
At this, the hairy woman, who was Ms Wilson smiled kindly again and extended her furry hand to me, "Pleasure to meet you, dear. You must be little Tae! Mr MacSeren, here, has said a lot about you when he described this place," she stated. My face flushed with embarrassment when she spoke and I shyly reached out to take her hand.
After that, Mr Frank, the two-headed man leaned forward and shook my small hand as well, only saying, "Good morn, miss," and nothing more. I turned back around in my seat after the short introductions and clung to his arm as he led the horse cart around to the stables. Everyone remained silent after the introductions and it bothered me; I wanted to hear the new recruits speaking, even if it was only to themselves. Their silence made me feel as if there was something wrong, almost, and Tom's pleasant smirk was the only thing to convince me that everything was as it should be.
But alas, we finally reached the stables- AdventureCat came out from the back to greet us and take care of the cart- and everyone filed out of the back and waited for Tom to speak, which he did.
"A'ight, here we are! I'll have you all go into the Big Top, where I'll give you a short orientation of the circus, the schedule, possible rehearsal dates- you'll have to forgive me, I'm not quite sure yet- and then I'll give you all a lovely tour of the circus. Sound good?"
The recruits nodded soundly and Tom politely gestured them down the path towards the Big Top, which was very distinguishable with its bold blue and gold stripes and billowing pendants. The recruits had no trouble getting there themselves while Tom and I trailed behind.
However, when we finally arrived at the Big Top, a sudden thought came to my mind that needed to be brought to light immediately, so I decided to ask.
"Tom... what would the knife-thrower think about them?" I said. Without looking towards me, Tom pushed aside the tent flaps for me to enter and said nonchalantly, "He can get on his knees and swallow me whole."
I didn't quite know what to make of that statement, as I wasn't sure what it meant. Instead, I decided not to say anything- I'm sure Tom knew what he meant, so I'll let him keep that mentality, whatever it may be-and I entered the tent to watch the new recruits receive their orientation.
Howbeit, to everyone's misfortune, Precision had already found the recruits and was invading them with curious questions. Tom followed close behind me and I heard him curse under his breath when he laid eyes on the man.
"Have you ever shaved? Even just an attempt to look normal?" the scourge wondered intrusively, his eyes never leaving WolfCat's thick black hair. She harrumphed and raised her chin to him, challenging his gaze with her own.
"Have you ever looked in the mirror? Or were you too afraid you'd see the truth?" she retorted loudly. Precision's manner went slack as the two-headed man cackled mockingly; WolfCat smirked proudly, still challenging the posh ninny to say more. Precision backed down, defeated, and he promptly returned to his corner in the ring where he had been practising his knife-throwing.
"Tut! Serves the poor sod right!" WolfCat scoffed and returned to her conversation with Siamese and Rex. However, before she could, Tom climbed over the barrier and made his way over. The recruits stopped and turned to him, waiting patiently for the ringmaster to relay the rules. I took that time to make myself comfortable in the stands to watch the orientation.
Tom briefly apologised for the knife-thrower's antics before moving on to the ways of our circus. He discussed our schedule, how mealtime works, rehearsals, and even a possible show-time schedule. Costumes were conferred about (it was agreed they would remain in normal attire to remind guests that these oddities are found in everyday society). It took longer than I expected for everything to be wrapped up; I ended up having to entertain myself in the stands by twisting my hair into odd hairstyles. Tom does my hair much better than I can. I thought at one point.
Finally, after all, matters had been settled, Tom announced to the recruits that their bags had been placed inside their designated tents and he would show them the way. I chose not to follow, as I had always found the "moving in" part quite boring and tedious. Instead, I remained in the Big Top to play around on the safety net of the trapeze for a bit.
Eventually, I was joined by Kitten and Mitten, and we had a gleeful time bouncing around the net and doing flips and swinging off of the trapeze. Our merriment lasted for hours and would've quite possibly lasted for longer if hadn't the ringmaster burst through the tent in quite the excited stupor. His eyes were wild with ideas and a huge grin was plastered on his face as he ran towards us.
"Tae! Tae! I know what you can do!" he yelled delightedly, startling the twins and me. We all piled off the net and came forward, almost afraid of what he had to say, but to my great relief, his news was spectacular.