"What is it?!" I squealed, Tom's eccentric attitude slowly becoming contagious as it infected the twins and caused them to huddle close and fidget in anticipation.
"You're a contortionist!" he announced exuberantly. I knew by his tone that this was good news, yet I had no clue what he meant and simply stared at him with wide eyes and a half-open grin. Mitten's expression, however, quickly transformed to showcase his confusion. His brows furrowed and he stared at Tom as if the ringmaster were a puzzle.
"What gave you that idea?" The boy conjectured. We all turned to him and Tom chuckled.
"It came to me when one of the new freaks mentioned contortionism. I realised then we don't have a contortionist... yet we do," he explained. Kitten and Mitten both flashed me bewildered glances.
"Her? A con-conte-contetornist?" Kitten stuttered over such a challenging word. Unbeknownst to me, my excitement had died down; as everyone seemed to know what Tom was talking about except me. I vaguely remembered my father referring to me as a "contortionist" but he never said it as excitedly as the circus-folk who stood before me. What's a contortionist!? Is it a good or bad thing?
"Of course! Come on, Tae, show 'em what you can do," Tom urged proudly. I stared back at him blankly, still unsure what he was on about.
"You know?" Tom could see my uncertainty now, "how you make yourself smaller and you do weird bendy things with your body?"
"That's one way to put it," Mitten commented quietly to his sister. She giggled quietly. As hilarious as they found Tom's odd explanation, I understood him then and my excitement immediately returned.
Quickly and gracefully, I lowered myself into a handstand to perform my trick. The moment the twins saw me moving, they paused their laughing and watched in awe as my spine seemingly collapsed in on itself and my legs hovered over my head like a scorpion's tail. I held that position for a few seconds and everyone remained silent as they admired my abilities. Eventually, Tom tapped my knee, signalling me to come up, and (albeit less gracefully than when I had come down), I lowered myself to the floor and came up, smiling excitedly.
The twins were in a rather amusing state of shock once I had gotten up and all Mitten could say about it was,"Okay... she can be a conteteternist." Tom chuckled at the boy's reaction, flashing me a wink, he clapped the young trapeze artist's shoulder and said, "it's 'contortionist'... and yes... I know she is one."
The whole way to Tom's office, I was an animated spaz. I skipped alongside the ringmaster and chatted nonstop about what my soon-to-be outfit would look like. It irritated me that Tom's answers to my questions were vague and aloof as if he were keeping it a secret.
We burst through the front door and marched to the office as if there were an emergency to be had. Upon opening the door, my eyes were bombarded by the sight of papers littering the floor and countless sketches piled up on his desk. There were paper bags of peanuts here and there (along with the discarded shells) and boxes of supplies and papers and lord knows what else! To top it all off, two mannequins sat in the corner nearest to the door and both were covered with pinned and half-sewn scraps of cloth. The poor ringmaster has clearly been busier than ever with his growing carnival.
TomCat stepped over his mess of an office to the back corner, where a large crate filled with the old costumes of the old Haven remained. He shuffled through each article, shooting me glances in the corner of his eye numerous times before returning to the scrapped costumes. Occasionally he would hold up a piece, mumble something incoherent about how it would look on me, before promptly throwing it back into the crate.
Alas, finally, he pulled up what looked to be a small, dark blue dress. He handed it to me, saying to hold on to it for a moment, as I might need help putting it on before he returned to rifling through the crate.
"I know it's in here somewhere..." he mumbled to himself. I examined the dress he handed to me while he searched; it was much shorter than any of my other dresses and secured at the torso by a decorated black and blue corset. I thought it was quite pretty despite the scandalous length and couldn't wait to put it on! But I knew Tom wasn't finished so I remained patient.
"Bite me in the arse! Where the hell did it go!?" he growled in frustration.
"What are you looking for?" I asked. Tom sighed, throwing down a handful of costumes that he clutched in his hand.
"Nothing, I guess. I'll get back to you when I find it... let me help you into the costume," Tom stated, his brows furrowed deeply in frustration. In the back of my mind, I had Precision's sly smirk staring at me and I couldn't help but remember his odd "experiment" with the neck clamp he claimed to have found in Tom's office. I was going to say something but I stopped myself, as that would mean Tom would go and retrieve the clamp and I would have to wear that uncomfortable piece again. I didn't want to... so I said nothing.
Tom knelt down and helped me out of my dress without saying another word and didn't antagonize him. I didn't want to say anything either, for fear of accidentally telling him about what Precision stole from his office; I'm sure the ringmaster will find out soon anyway.
Once my dress was off, Tom picked up the blue costume and told me to raise my arms. I complied and he pulled the outfit over my head. The skirt of the new dress, I found, was actually an elegantly-designed tutu and it flared out beautifully with its satin blue ruffles and black lace. I admired my costume while Tom tied the back and rolled up the legs of bloomers to hide them.
Once he was satisfied with adjusting the costume and fiddling with different areas of the dress, he turned me to face him. He smiled proudly with his hands on my shoulders.
"Well, it's a tad bit big. But that's okay. You'll grow into it," he pushed a lock of hair behind my ear and caressed my chin, "You look absolutely lovely!... how does it feel to have an act finally?" he smiled pleasantly.
I couldn't help but squeal in elation and hug him around his neck. My heart was overjoyed by the idea of me finally having an act and no words could express my eagerness. Tom laughed and hugged me back, holding me tightly around the waist and burying his face into my neck. I melted in his embrace; nothing but safety and comfort on all sides.
After a few moments, he pulled out of the hug and said calmly, "Now why don't you go show off your new outfit to everyone while I fill out your papers?" I responded with a chipper giggle and bounced in my spot. Tom chuckled and the second he let me go to set me free, I was off; racing down the halls to the front door and out into the carnival.
I ran the long way around the carnival in an attempt to catch the attention of as many artists as possible. Catching their attention is just what I did as my hysterical laughing and excited screaming caused performers to peek out of their tents in concern. I'm positive a good number of them feared that I was in terrible danger.
One glance behind and I could see the artists staring at me, puzzled. Their puzzlement wouldn't deter my excitement, though, and I continued without slowing down.
The Big Top was approaching and I faced my destination once again. However, to my dismay, when I turned, I was met by the sight of a freshly pressed suit. I couldn't stop in time and before I could realise what was happening, I had collided head-first into Precision and we both fell to the floor in a dusty heap.
The whole circus went silent.