Read Carnival for Free Online

brought you here, because I was thinking . . . you see, I have a nephew, a kind of . . . how should I say this without insulting my sister . . . he is a bit lost. Not up here, he tapped his head, not like Lucian. My nephew is a good kid, but he can’t take orders.
    You mean he can’t deal with authority, I said.
    Yeah, you said it. He can’t deal with it. He always ends up making a scene. Once he even beat the shit out of his boss . . . Last year he worked at the Ferris wheel, but then he fought with an old lady who refused to get off after the last round of the day. She told him she could talk to God better up there. My nephew tried to pull her out, but she screamed. So what did he do but start up the wheel and leave her stranded at the top for the whole night. Lucky for my nephew, it didn’t rain and the lady eventually fell asleep praying. But still they fired him. I tried to give him a job at the restaurant but he spent most of his time outside, smoking. He likes the fresh air, what can I say? So I thought he might make a good taxi driver.
    Your nephew has to pass the taxi exam first, I said.
    I will make him study, Cyprian said.
    He has to memorize every road and street name. Or he can simply buy the tests from the Chinese restaurant at the corner and memorize the answers.
    Could you write down the name of the restaurant? he asked.
    I can’t remember the exact name. I believe it has something to do with a lotus, or was it Confucius. I passed my test fair and square. I looked behind me, hoping to see Lucian again.
    Lucian will be back. Finish your juice . . . You know, my brother was a genius as a kid. Sometimes he thinks he’s a fortune teller, and sometimes a contortionist. I say it is this town that drives everyone crazy. You’re from here?
    No. I mean, I’ve been here long enough.
    So you’ve lived through a few Carnivals.
    Yes, many.
    It may be good for business but it’s bad for my brother’s head. When they start setting up for the Carnival, he goes back to his fantasies. The rest of the year he barely speaks. What story did he tell you this time? Was it about his escape from the hospital or the story of fighting the beast? That’s his favourite.
    The hospital story, I said. I have to go.
    Well, thank you for your help, and here is the fare.
    Thank you for the juice, I said.
    Just then Lucian showed up, elated and restless. He moved back and forth around the pool table. Cyprian took off his jacket and handed it to his brother.
    Here, Lucian, show the taxi driver your escape trick.
    Lucian took his brother’s jacket and wrapped himself inside it. He crossed his arms and moved his upper body from right to left, back and forth, back and forth, exactly as if he were trying to liberate himself from a straitjacket.
    It saddened me and I left.

ACT TWO
     

 
    AISHA
    AFTER THE BEARDED lady’s death, I left her flat and walked, aimless and alone in this new land. It seemed that nothing chained me to the cages of this world anymore. Even wanderers cease to march one day. I walked towards the carnival tents and passed between their arcades and games. I picked up a gun and I shot the floating wooden ducks, and then I filled the clown’s mouth with water from my pistol until the balloons filled and burst with sounds of loss and laughter. I walked with a book in my pocket and a hat on my head, and I won every game and marched with a few stuffed animals who hung from my shoulders and consoled me. I picked up another gun, but before I aimed at the bull’s eye, the man inside the booth asked me if I was looking for a job.
    Maybe, I said.
    I see that you know the game.
    Yes, I know.
    Grow up around the tents?
    I nodded.
    You can help me for the season, he said.
    I agreed.
    No need to pocket anything, he said. I will pay you fairly.
    We both nodded because we knew that the games were rigged and that whoever worked inside these cages would steal first and fight or take flight later.
    And that is how I met Otto. He was