WATER FOR ELEPHANT - Sara Gruen [96]
“Jacob!” he calls out in a booming voice. “So glad you could come! Please, come in! Come in, my boy!”
Marlena is in costume. She sits in front of her vanity with one foot up on its edge, wrapping the long pink ribbon from one of her slippers around her ankle. August sits nearby, in top hat and tails. He twirls a silver-tipped cane. Its handle is bent, like a bull hook.
“Please take a seat,” he says, rising from his chair and patting its seat.
I hesitate for a fraction of a second and then cross the tent. Once I am seated, August stands in front of us. I glance over at Marlena.
“Marlena, Jacob—my dearest dear, and my dearest friend,” says August, removing his hat and gazing upon us with moist eyes. “This last week has been amazing in so many ways. I think it would not be an exaggeration to call it a journey of the soul. Just two weeks ago, this show was on the brink of collapse. The livelihood—and indeed, in this financial climate, I think I can safely say the lives, yes the very lives!—of everyone on this show were in danger. And do you want to know why?”
His bright eyes move from me to Marlena, from Marlena to me.
“Why?” Marlena asks obligingly, lifting her other leg and wrapping the broad satin ribbon around her ankle.
“Because we went into the hole acquiring an animal that was supposed to be the salvation of our show. And because we also had to buy a train car to house her. And because we then discovered that this animal apparently knew nothing, yet ate everything. And because keeping her fed meant that we couldn’t afford to feed our employees and we had to let some of them go.”
My head snaps up at this oblique reference to redlighting, but August stares beyond me, at a sidewall. He is silent uncomfortably long, almost as though he’s forgotten we’re here. Then he remembers himself with a start.
“But we have been saved,” he says, gazing down at me with love in his eyes, “and the reason we have been saved is that we have been doubly blessed. Fate was smiling on us that day in June when she led Jacob to our train. She handed us not only a veterinarian with an Ivy League degree—a veterinarian befitting a big show like ours—but also a veterinarian so devoted to his charges that he made a most amazing discovery. A discovery that ended up saving the show.”
“No, really, all I—”
“Not a word, Jacob. I won’t let you deny it. I had a feeling about you the very first time I laid eyes on you. Didn’t I, dear?” August turns to Marlena and waggles his finger at her.
She nods. With her second slipper secured, she removes her foot from the edge of the vanity and crosses her legs. Her toes start bobbing immediately.
August gazes at her. “But Jacob didn’t work alone,” he continues. “You, my beautiful and talented darling, have been brilliant. And Rosie—because she, of all of us, is not to be forgotten in this equation. So patient, so willing, so—” He stops, and inhales so deeply his nostrils flare. When he continues, his voice cracks. “Because she is a beautiful, magnificent animal with a heart full of forgiveness and the capacity to appreciate misunderstanding. Because thanks to the three of you, the Benzini Brothers Most Spectacular Show on Earth is about to rise to a new level of greatness. We are truly joining the ranks of the big shows, and none of it could have happened without you.”
He beams at us, his cheeks so flushed I’m afraid he might burst into tears.
“Oh! I almost forgot,” he cries, clapping his hands in front of him. He rushes to a trunk and fishes around inside. He pulls two small boxes out. One is square, one is rectangular and flat. Both are gift-wrapped.
“For you, my dear,” he says, handing the flat one to Marlena.
“Oh, Auggie! You shouldn’t have!”
“How do you know?” he says, smiling. “Perhaps it’s a pen set.”
Marlena tears off the gift wrap, revealing a blue velvet box. She glances up at him, unsure, and then opens its hinged lid. A diamond choker sparkles on the red satin lining.
“Oh, Auggie,” she says. She looks from the necklace