A Simple Charm

Chapter 1There wasn’t a spot in the whole of Brookburn, Indiana, where the tiny colored flags on top of the tents pitched outside of town weren’t visible. The red and yellow wisps fluttered whether Levi could feel a breeze or not, captured in a world of their own making, someplace separate and magical where the wind didn’t whip up the dust to get trapped in places it had no business being. He even caught them dancing at night, when he climbed out his window to sneak down to the gulley that cut the carnies off from the rest of town. He’d stretched out on his stomach, as flat to the packed earth as he could get, and drunk it all in until the last light had been extinguished. Everywhere he looked was an explosion to his senses. Colors rainbows would’ve been jealous of. Laughter and music and hushed whispers as shadows emerged from one tent only to meld into a single entity before disappearing into another. Roasting meat and strong whiskey that made his stomach rumble even though he’d had his fill at suppertime. His fingers curled into the dry grass, because he needed to stay put, not make a run for it like everything inside screamed at him to do. He crept back home before the night relinquished its hold on the sky. His dreams for the few hours he got before Pap pounded on the door for him to get to his chores left Levi with a hollow longing in his chest. “Mr. Trumbull’s closing the store tomorrow,” he commented at the supper table, staring at the beef he sawed away at on his plate rather than anyone else at the table. “Now why would he go and do a fool thing like that? Saturday’s your busiest day of the week.” Levi had been working at the general store since ‘27, when he was twelve and it became increasingly obvious to his burly father that his only son was built more like his wispy mother. He wasn’t short, but he’d always been too scrawny for most of the labor out on Granddad’s farm. Pete Beckerman talked Artie Trumbull into giving Levi a job, in hopes the hours helping with inventory and making deliveries around Brookburn would put some meat on his bones. It hadn’t, not really, though Levi had always wondered why Mr. Trumbull had kept him on when there were plenty of men in town who could’ve used the extra wages to take care of their families. Money was tight, jobs hard to come by, and yet, the store became his second home, his haven when everywhere else felt wrong. “He says everyone will be at the carnival tomorrow anyway,” Levi said in response to his mother’s surprised question. Pap snorted. “And then at church on Sunday like they didn’t throw good money after bad just the day before.” “You never know, Pete.” Levi and his sister Annie might have cringed a little at the harshness of Pap’s tone, but Mom was unfazed as always. She reached for the mashed potatoes to scoop another spoonful onto Pap’s plate. “I heard someone over in Jagerstown won a brand-new stove in that grand raffle of theirs.” “A stove.” “That’s what I heard.” “Those people don’t even have homes. How would they find the money for a stove?” “Mr. Trumbull’s going.” Nobody in town really trusted the carnies, so Pap’s reactions were hardly unusual, but Levi wished he could see what else they offered, the dreams they held out with both hands to anybody who wanted them. Those fantasies were all Levi had thought about from the moment the first flyer showed up on the post outside the newspaper office, though his were buried so deep, they’d need more magic than a few pretty flags and some fast words to be set free. “Well, with the store shut, he doesn’t have much else to keep out of trouble, now does he? Some of us have real work to do.” Levi stopped trying then. Pap was just like the soil he tilled, practical, unchanging, ultimately immovable. The night was cooler than its predecessor, the rustle of air coming in through his open bedroom window as bewitching as the not-so-far-away carnival. Levi leaned through the opening, stretching to peer around the Joslin house next door. Common sense said he shouldn’t be able to smell or hear anything, not from this distance, but he would’ve sworn on every Bible in Brookburn that it was right there. All he had to do was reach out and close his eyes and he was back at the edge of the gulley, the ground cold beneath his belly, his blood hot to make up for the chill everywhere else. A soft rap came at his closed door. He jolted back, barely in the room when Mom let herself in. Her gaze drifted to the window behind him. She knew. He didn’t have to say a word because she always knew, and that frightened him more than anything else. Some things should remain a secret. Some things had the power to hurt more than he would wish onto his greatest enemy, and the only way to make sure they didn’t was to lock them away from her omniscient eyes. “Did you have plans tomorrow?” she asked. Levi shrugged. Anything he’d hoped to do was built on fancies, as implausible as catching a cloud to make it rain when they most needed it at the height of summer. “Read, maybe.” “Annie wants to go to the carnival. You should take her.” The sudden lurch inside his chest made it hard to breathe, harder even when his heart took to racing like Scott Joslin’s best horse within the passage of the next moment. “What about Pap?” She smiled. “I’m not telling you to take him.” “What’ll you say?” “You don’t worry about that. Just keep an eye on Annie, get back in time for supper, and if you manage to win me a new stove, well, that certainly wouldn’t hurt.” She left him to spend the night too excited to sleep, hours lost to imaginings as he tossed and turned until dawn. * * * * Mr. Trumbull’s assessment had been dead on. When Levi and Annie left with all the reminders about how to behave and when to be back ringing in their ears, a steady stream of people already walked down Main Street, heading straight for the carnival and the music that somehow made its way into town across all that distance. They fell into step with Scott and Marnie Joslin, and while the girls chattered on about nonsense, Levi had to listen to Scott go on about all the freaks he’d heard were on display. “They’ve got a six-legged horse, and fish with two heads, and I overheard Sue McKeegan telling Frances Hickle at Bible study the other night that there’s even a man who swallows fire. Can you imagine? I betcha he doesn’t have a tongue. He can’t. He’d have to…” The excited words faded into the dull music that underscored Levi’s life, the sounds he blocked out when he disappeared into his own thoughts or got lost wandering in daydreams made real. Today, they were already dyed by the carnival, what he might see, who he might meet. In their world, boundaries didn’t exist. They could be anyone, do anything, go anywhere they wanted. Levi had yearned for those kinds of freedoms his entire life. But being the skinny son of a schoolteacher and a farmer in the middle of Nowhere, Indiana meant certain roles to play, rules to live by. For the most part, he was obedient in deed, if not in thought. A makeshift bridge had been constructed over the gulley, to better accommodate those who weren’t as capable of scrambling up and down the shallow sides. Some of the kids couldn’t wait. They broke free of their family packs to whoop and slide down the slippery grass, tumbling over each other, then laughing and clambering up the opposite side. The girls sniffed in haughty disapproval of such shenanigans, but as he followed them across the bridge, Levi cast a longing glance at those who weren’t walking the straight and narrow. Some had already reached the carnival’s periphery. Shouts and cries filled the air, jubilant and carefree. A glitter appeared in more than one adult’s eye, that shine that came with rising hopes before reality set in, when they could forget how ill-prepared they’d be for the harsh winter ahead and instead focus on the sun beaming down from above. Even Mr. Trumbull was smiling as the throng gushed out the other side of the bridge. “You think you know what this world is about? You think this is all there is? Well, I think you’re about to get your eyes opened, folks, because what you see out here is only the tip of the mysteries you have yet to discover!” Though still unseen, the man who called out to the crowd, enticing them closer, had the clearest, strongest voice Levi had ever heard. It carried without a scrap of wind, whipping around the citizens of Brookburn to coax them more quickly to the tents, and he had to twist side to side in an attempt to see around the people blocking his line of sight. What he wouldn’t do to be a little bit taller, or a little bit stronger so he could push his way to the front. But then they rounded the corner of one of the tents, and it didn’t matter that he couldn’t see over everyone’s heads. The man in question stood high enough for all to see. His waistcoat was a riot of color, reds and blues and purples woven into a tapestry that hugged his trim form, though his shirt remained loose, open at the collar to expose a strong neck and the hint of hair curling across his chest. That on his head was a lighter brown and hung longer than the fashion, tied with a leather strap at his nape, but shorter strands had fallen free, flipping across his angular cheekbones with every sly glance he tossed off to his audience. As he walked up and down the wooden stage at the side of the tent’s entrance, he swept his arms out to encompass them all, throwing smiles to the onlookers like pennies to vagabonds. The same impish humor twinkled in his dark eyes, lined at the corners from hours in the sun and lots of laughter. Levi was entranced. If this man was any indication of what the carnies were like, he’d walked into heaven, indeed. “You, sir, what’s your name?” The carnie had pointed off to the side. Levi had to crane his neck to spot Irv Nickles before he responded. “Well, Mr. Nickles, if I told you I could show you something you’ve never once in your lifetime seen before, I’d bet you’d tell me I was all wet, right?” Swiftly, he turned his head to Irv’s neighbor and winked in conspiracy. “If I was a betting man, of course.” The crowd tittered, especially since Irv was one of Brookburn’s oldest residents. He could actually remember bits from the Civil War, though he still called it the War Between the States. Pap said that was because Irv’s family was originally from Louisiana, but nobody ever really talked about that. “Well…” He had the people in the palm of his hand. When he lowered his voice and hunkered down to get on a more even level with Irv, the audience leaned in to make sure they didn’t miss a single word. “There’s only one way for us to know for sure. Why don’t you take a wander inside and look for yourself?” Irv frowned at the folds of the tent, hanging heavily to bar the way. “I’m not paying ‘til I know what it is.” “Did I say anything about paying? No, sir, I did not. And the reason for that? Well, what you’re going to see is so spectacular, there’s no way we could put a price on it. That’d be a sin of such proportions, God would smite me down before you could reach into your pocket.” Straightening, he shook his head, this time for the benefit of the others. “No, I’m not going to charge any of you good folk a single cent. This is a gift, mine to you, one I’m both honored and privileged to share.” Those in front surged forward, eager to be the first to lay witness to what could be so wondrous that not even a carnie could swindle them about it. Levi lost Annie for a moment when she disappeared amongst the crush of bodies, and his heart skipped a dozen or two beats before he caught sight of her navy skirt in front of the carnie’s dais. “Don’t do that,” he scolded when he grabbed her shoulder and hauled her back. “You know what Mom said. Stay with me, or we’ll have to go home.” “Oh, now, don’t go blaming her for my wrongdoing.” The carnie hopped down from his perch, smiling and so fair aglow, Levi might’ve thought him unreal if he couldn’t smell the perspiration emanating from the man’s clothes. The late June day was already turning into a scorcher, and no body, not even one like his, could pretend otherwise. “I was just commenting what a pretty dress she’s got on.” Annie was blushing, and Levi couldn’t blame her, but he knew a fib when he heard one. The problem was, did he mind it as serious, or let it go as the harmless act the carnie clearly wanted it to be? “Tell you what. I’ll make it up to you.” The carnie stepped between them, looping his arms around their shoulders like they’d been best mates all their lives. Heat poured off his body, sweet and seductive, and this close, Levi could see the sheen of sweat glistening around his ears. “When you get through to the other side, you’re going to see the fattest man you’ve ever clapped eyes on. No lie. Now, his name’s Bertie, though you won’t hear anyone calling him that. You go on up to him, and you say, ‘Bertie, Seb says to give us the special.’” He gave both of them a squeeze. Levi’s heart constricted, tightening and quickening like it had been the direct object of Seb’s embrace. “You have my personal guarantee it’ll be worth it.” “Is that your name?” The question was unstoppable, just like his racing pulse. “Seb?” He turned his head, and for what felt like the first time, looked directly at Levi, like he hadn’t actually noticed him until that very moment. What had seemed dark from a distance was actually a furious hazel, mottled green irises with so much brown in them Levi thought of freshly tilled fields after an autumn storm, the soil rich and moist, broken pieces of corn stalks threading through the earth until they were picked out or plowed under. He’d thought the carnie much older than he, maybe into his thirties, but the lines were a trick, more sun-shorn than age. The years between them must’ve only been a few, six, seven. The difference was the experience. “It’s short for Sebastian,” he said, and the smile was in his voice now rather than curving his wicked mouth. “But those kinds of airs don’t sit well with people I call friend. So yeah, call me Seb.” He grinned, unable to contain it. “I’m Levi.” “And I’m Annie,” she piped up. “And now that introductions are out of the way…” Seb gave them one more squeeze, then let them go, hopping back onto his stage with the nimble grace of a deer in flight. “I better get back to work before I find myself without a job.” He winked at Annie. “Go have fun. And listen to your big brother.” Annie had pulled him along several feet, hungry to get to Bertie on the other side of the tent and whatever special surprise Seb must give out to his favored customers, when Levi yanked to a halt and stared back at him. “How’d you know she was my sister?” he asked. A fresh group was already starting to mill around the stage, ready for Seb’s spiel, but he turned away from them for the time it took to meet Levi’s gaze. “You think I don’t notice things?” Levi’s heart stopped beating. Just how much did he notice?