Bringing Ezra Back by Cynthia DeFelice Page B

anybody. Then a young feller who’d climbed up next to her onstage pulled at her chin whiskers. The crowd cheered, but it seemed to me a shabby thing to do.
    Next Trask introduced the Amazing Amelia, who he said was just nine years old and weighed over four hundred pounds. “That’s as much as two grown men or four grown ladies.” Murmurs rose from the crowd as Amelia was revealed, sitting on a chair on the platform.
    â€œLooks like her folks didn’t know the difference between raising a daughter and a prize sow!” Trask added.
    I could see Amelia’s face clearly in the lantern light. She was looking off into the distance, as if imagining herself somewhere far, far away. I felt my heart squeeze tight.
    Pea-Head Pete was next. His head was real little, which I reckon was how he got his name. It came to a point on the top. His eyes went every which way, and his big, yellow teeth stuck out nearly straight from his mouth. He laughed and laughed when the crowd cheered him, drooling and acting the fool. He appeared dim-witted, but whether it was for real or just an act I couldn’t have said.
    I felt peculiar lying there watching. I couldn’t take my eyes off the stage, but at the same time what I was seeing made my stomach kind of churn, the way it did when I was about to be sick. I couldn’t wait for Ezra to appear, and at the same time I dreaded it.
    Calvin Edson was next. He stood with a grave dignity while Trask went on and on about his height, his weight, and the length of his bones. In the glow from the lantern his thin, bony face did have the look of a skeleton about it, but his bright blue eyes flickered with life.
    When Little Miss Mary came onstage, she sang a song in her small, odd voice. Then folks called out questions and she gave them sassy answers.
    â€œWhat’s your pa look like?”
    â€œHandsomer than you, mister.”
    â€œHow about your ma?”
    â€œAlmost pretty as me, only not so delicate-boned.”
    â€œYou got a husband?”
    â€œYou askin’ for the job?”
    â€œSure he is!” someone called.
    â€œPshaw!” said Little Miss Mary. “He isn’t half man enough for a woman like me.”
    The folks hooted with laughter, clearly loving every minute. Little Miss Mary laughed, too, which puzzled me some. I was sure it was anger, not merriment, I saw burning in her eyes. I could hear it in her voice, even as she smiled and sassed. It made my skin feel prickly, and I was glad when she left the stage.
    Then Trask started in hollering about what was coming up next. “We have saved for last, ladies and gentlemen, the most horrifying spectacle of the show, the man known to us as the White Injun!”
    In just a moment, I would see Ezra! I wriggled even closer to the edge of my hiding place.
    â€œThis would be the time for ladies and children of delicate constitutions to make their departure,” Trask went on. “For once you have seen this vision of savagery, you’ll never be able to banish the sight from your mind!” He paused for a moment and surveyed the crowd. No one moved.
    â€œYou’ve been warned, my friends. What you are about to see is a white man, but do not make the mistake of thinking he is like you or me. No, sir! For this man was stolen from his family at a young age and raised by savage Injuns, and a man raised by brutal savages cannot be other than a beast himself.”
    So far, Trask’s story was lies, but all I could think of was that Ezra was about to appear. My yearning to see him, to get him away from here and take him home, was so strong I felt my whole body shaking.
    The tin horn blew, and Trask said, “When he was first taken as a young child, he begged in his native tongue to be set free to return to his rightful kinfolk, as any poor kidnapped child would do. But his bestial captors could not bear the sound of a civilized voice in their midst. And so they exacted a terrible