Adeline picked her way through the tall grass surrounding the midway, back towards the main performance tent, barefoot in a pale peach silk robe with a regal looking swan embroidered across the back. Settled in the crook of her right elbow was a shiny, weighted gold hoop, and rolled and tucked under her left arm was one of her heavy promotional banners, tied with a bright red ribbon. She hurried as quickly as she might, not wishing to keep Elsa waiting. When Adeline had rushed off to return Maximus to his enclosure and throw on a costume, she’d heard Elsa snapping at those remaining in the tent to take the table away, and set up a grouping of chairs. Reaching the main tent, she pulled aside the tent flap and ducked inside. The girls were still practicing, so Adeline found a chair off to the side, waiting politely for Elsa to summon her. She sat with her eyes facing forward, attempting to clear her mind, intentionally avoiding the gaze of the young man with whom she had exchanged glances earlier, deliberately ignoring him in order to avoid any lapses in her pre-performance concentration. In many ways, although it was not a formal performance before an audience, auditions before new troupes were more nerve-wracking for Adeline than going on before a full house. Visitors to a show were likely to be delighted by her act simply because it was different, exciting, and new. Most individuals would go their entire lives without meeting someone with syndactyly. An outfit dedicated to exhibition and performance, like a carnival, a circus, or a freak show, was likely to be comprised of individuals who had plenty of experience between them, and plenty of reference with which to make comparisons. Such outfits were also likely to be quite protective of the dynamics already associated with their lineup, and mistrusting, even of their own kind, if the newcomer was unknown to them.
“All right, girls! That’s enough for now!” Elsa declared. She had not looked at Adeline once since the girl re-entered the tent, but she had been acutely aware of when she re-appeared. She turned to Adeline now, smiling with an air of sly mystery about her, one Adeline supposed was an integral part of her character. She gestured grandly out in front of her,
“The stage is yours.”
Adeline nodded and stood, draping her hoop crosswise on her body, hanging it off her left shoulder and letting it bump against her right hip. Building momentum in her stride, she placed her palms far apart on the stage and hopped up with charming fluidity, landing between them on balls of her feet. She rose to stand at the edge of the stage, her back to all those still in attendance…the stunning three breasted woman at the piano to Adeline’s right, the giantess, the twins, Elsa, and the tiny woman beside her, filing her fingernails. And Jimmy.
Adeline pulled her hoop over her head and dropped it to the stage floor with a metallic clatter, and reached into her left pocket to pull out the carefully rolled piece of sheet music stored there. She strode over and presented it to the woman at the piano, holding it out cautiously to see if she would accept it. The woman nodded to her, arranging it at the piano. Quietly, the woman began to practice the notes before her, as Adeline returned to center stage. She reached into her right pocket and took out her half shoes. Normally, a performer wore them covering their toes as well as half of their feet, but due to Adeline’s matching webbing on her feet, hers were modified, strips of ballet pink leather with suede padded bottoms, fitting just over the balls of her feet, so she could spin on varied surfaces without discomfort….or splinters. As the woman at the piano practiced quietly, familiarizing herself with the music, Adeline unknotted the sash tied loosely at her waist, and turned her back to the audience, dropping it past her shoulders and down past her thighs, snapping it up in her left hand before hurrying stage right to toss her robe over a crate. As she returned to center stage, the woman at the piano called to her.
“This tempo all right?”
“Yes,” Adeline said, turning to give her a pleasant smile. “Thank you.”
YOU ARE READING
Dressing the House, Paid Off in the Dark
FanfictionAdeline began her life billed as "The Lovely Duckling," and became "Swan Girl" at the age of fifteen, exhibited before crowds since her childhood. Educated in humane animal training and handling by her uncle, and in performance by her mother, Adelin...
