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The circus arrived one blustery fall evening. If pressed, no one could tell you that they saw the tents go up, though few had business so far on the edge of town. The night the circus arrived someone broke in to Miller’s Pawn Shop, though Jeff Miller reported nothing stolen, just a few old mirrors broken. The night the circus arrived was the last time anyone saw a feral cat in Perkins for almost three years. And the night the circus arrived was the night Maggie’s mother threw her annual Harvest Potluck for the families living on your court.
Everyone, please describe your parent(s) and what dish you brought.
Maggie, your mom wants you to keep the kids (plus your stepsister and little brother) entertained while the grownups socialize. What do you do with them?
Theodore and Grace Lanham arrive a little late, as Abby had decided to have a meltdown as they tried to get her in the car. The couple brought a crockpot full of chili.
Would you mind taking Brian to where they're keeping the little kids? Holly's stepfather says, handing her the sleeping toddler. She walked off without comment, looking for the gate that would mark the toddler corral.
Steve arrives at the party with his mother. The other parents were usually polite enough not to ask about his father, but most of them probably assumed (correctly) that he was passed out, drunk.
Steve takes the pot of soup from his mother and puts it next to the chili. "I'm here!" he announces, looking around to see who else had come.
Yvette looks lost, head and shoulders peeking over the rest of the adults, but armed with a cute stacked tray of miniature quiches, she does seem happy to be out of the house. She's wearing a simple orange dress from Sears which she has had to alter with a swatch of cloth to let out the length a bit. She did an enviable job. She is the local seamstress.
Macoumba Seck is on a business trip in Dakar, Senegal, something little Fatou has already heard her mother repeat too many times to the other parents--twice to the same person, even. The girl is holding her mother's hand for support. "I will have to go to visit with the other children, ma, but I will be right over there. Is there anything else you will need before I go?" Fatou's voice carries the low, smooth quality of a native-French speaker, but she doesn't have a noticeable accent.
Fatou runs a finger under the strap of her backpack. The girl's dress fits fine: black and grey plaid with a moon embroidered on the skirt. Silver and bone jewelry decorate her collar and ears. The centerpiece of her accessories appears to be a small bird's skull at the end of a necklace. She's also wearing white stockings and shiny black shoes. The hair on one side of her head is plaited, and the other half is in long, thin, twisted locks decorated with silver and bone charms.
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Never to be undone concerning food, Barbara and Thomas Taylor have turned their kitchen into a frightful hash brown factory, and the sizzling hot potatoes have already claimed several stinging fingers from those too voracious to resist.
Both of Maggie's parents share her love for food, and it shows, but they also share her jovial nature, and when taking a pause from grating and frying they are making the rounds and welcoming the guests. As for her brother, he couldn't make it as he's stuck at college in Salt Lake City.
As for Maggie, clad in a woolen dress the same red as her hair, she's just oustide of a swirling vortex of children turning around a bunch of chairs in the middle of the emptied living room, singing along the kids, just a bit louder.
"Ring-around-the-rosies
A pocket full of posies,
Ashes! Ashes!
We all fall [larger]DOWN![/larger]"
As the rhyme ends, everyone but her rushes to the free chairs, and of course it ends with two small girls trying to push each other off the seat.
"Ashley, you were late! Come on out, your turn to choose the tune!" she rules, a look of exaggerated seriousness on her plump face. One of the girls slumps down the chair with half a frown before tiptoeing to Maggie and whispering in her ear.
"Right, kiddos! Next is Pop goes the weasel! Oh, hiya there, girls, hullo Steve! Come help me deal with these wild little beasties?"
Here you go. Holly says to her half-brother as she sets him down.
Hi, Maggie. She says, sitting down. she touches her hair, in an unfamiliar braid (hurts her scalp a little, it might be to tight), and takes off her one-size-too-small yellow sweater. Anyone else here?
After helping her mother find a place for her quiches, Fatou wanders into the living room, sidesteps to a part of the wall next to the door, and pulls her locks in front of her shoulder. "Maggie, Holly, it is good seeing you." Fatou seems to be waiting for a polite opportunity to break from the group and read.
If the party was anywhere other than Maggie's house, Blake probably wouldn't have gone.
His mother had to pull an extra shift - as usual - and barely had time to run a comb through his hair and shove a large bowl of potato salad into his hands before she jetted out the door. It would have been easy for him to empty the bowl into the outside trash and not go.
But because Maggie was his friend, the thought was dismissed almost immediately, and he made his way around the cul-de-sac to the Taylor house, looking a bit embarrassed as he rings the doorbell, wearing slacks that were slightly too short, and a button down flannel shirt that had more than a couple of patches added to it.
"Hi Mrs. Taylor" He says, as the door opens, awkwardly handing her the bowl, and moving into the house.
"Did you hear about the break-in at Mr. Miller's shop?" Steve asks loudly as he hears Blake enter the door. "I'm sure Blake would love to see all that broken glass," he adds, well aware of the boy's fear.
Fatou, you came too. Holly says, looking at the dress, and trying to decide if it's more burnt orange, or a dark-peach, as she sketched the basics in pencil. No Steve, right?
Fatou rolls her eyes at Steve's comment. Boys are so dumb. Looking around, she sees someone move a chair out of the middle of the room. Looked like some kind of game with a lot of rough contact. Definitely something Fatou would prefer to avoid. She also sees Holly fussing with her hair, and an idea occurs to her.
"Yes. Ma was very excited to make friends in the neighborhood. Holly, is something wrong?" Better not to point out her hair if it's bothering her. That would be a touch insensitive.
"Hiya Blake! All around the mulberry bush, the monkey chased the weasel, the monkey stopped to pull up his sock, POP! goes the weasel!"
As the kids rush to the chairs, Maggie moves to Steve, an uncommon frown in her eyebrows. "Hey, you're a guest in my house and nobody's been mean to you, so don't act like a j***, 'kay? Pretty please? Have a hash brown, they're made with the Johnsons' bacon- JAMES! Don't push your sister!"
She moves back to the writhing mass of children, separating a couple of twins, looking pleadingly at Blake. "Please tell me you've got an idea to make them play, I'm all out of songs and it's too windy to go outside."
There is a sudden crash of a gong, sounding from blocks away but loud enough to hear over the din of the party.
The noise is enough to bring all conversation to a halt. After a beat, loud circus music begins to waft from somewhere outside. You can hear excited voices from the next street over. From the sounds of things, there's a large crowd gathering near the music a few blocks over on Market St.
The parents all crowd around the window to try to see what's going on. What do you do?
"I was just..." the flustered Steve begins to protest, until Maggie's attention moves to James. He takes a hash brown, and begins to eat it just as the crowd gathers near the loud music starting outside. He holds back a comment about Holly and crowds as he tries to make out what's going on outside.
What's going on? why is there caliope music everywhere? Holly says, pronouncing it cally-ope, and trying to look out the window. Maggie, would you give me a boost?
From the window you can just barely make out flashing lights and colored smoke and what looks like a top hat bopping above the roofline, though that’s absurd.
Maggie lifts Holly up to the window, trying to catch a glimpse of what's happening outside. " D'ya know something 'bout a circus passing through town?"
Maggie’s father scratches his chin as he tries to get a better view. Can’t say that I have, Mags. It sounds like something’s happening out on Market. Why don’t you and your friends get a look. If it’s good, maybe we’ll lug the littles out to it.
Before you know it, the five of you are shuffled out of the house. The way out of your neighborhood and toward downtown is a snake of tightly packed tract houses. Or you could cut through the creek trail/drainage ditch. It’s be faster, but less bike friendly.
What do you do?
Fatou takes a few steps toward the creek. "Let's please get trough with this quickly. Cutting across the woods will be faster."
"Last one's a toad!" shouts Maggie, harrying her bike towards the creek trail.
Maggie sprints ahead, headless of the darkness and rough nature of the trail.
Maggie, your front tire strikes a crack in the poorly maintained trail and you can feel yourself losing control of your bike.
Maggie, describe what you’re doing to not biff off your bike and pick the stat that applies. Difficulty 6.
Blake's mood immediately starts to sour as he hears Steve, and he turns a shade of red as he enters the living room. The feeling passes a bit as Maggie approaches him, asking how to deal with the kids. Before he can respond, the noise and lights invade the window, and they all set off.
Excited to be outside and back in his element, Blake grabs his own bike and follows towards the creek trail, a path he's taken countless times. Seeing Maggie start to wipe out, he calls out to her. "Pip?"
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The front wheel of Maggie's bycicle bumps abruptly against the crack, the vehicle kicking like a donkey, but she's quick to brake, right foot striking ground to keep balance. "I'm all right! C'mon ya pansies!" she calls to her companions, before moving again, this time a bit more carefully.
When Maggie zips past her, Fatou stops with a sigh and turns back to get her own bike: a purple Schwinn Fair Lady which she got on her birthday a few months ago. It still has training wheels on it, which will no doubt make the off-road trail a challenge.
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Steve runs a few houses down to bring his bike, and pedals back until he reaches the trail.
"C'mon Fat, you wanted to go this way because it was faster," Steve calls as Fatou straggles behind on her training wheels.
Holly gets her sweater back on, thin and small but better than nothing in the November chill. and rushes across the street to get her bike (a little pink beach cruiser much more suited to being a town bike than off road... but Maggie and Fatou were going that way.
She rides past Fatou and tries to draw level with blake. Hi, I didn't see you at the party.
The “creek trail” is a paved bike path that bisects the entire town. Two paths sit along either side of a wide drainage ditch with slopes sides that the town affectionately calls the “creek.” Abandoned shopping carts, litter and dead animals are common sights along the creek bed. This time of year, the water is about ankle deep.
While the other kids rush off, Fatou notices something large at the bottom of the ditch. It could be a shopping cart covered in rags...or something else entirely.
Fatou, your friends are still in earshot. If you keep riding you’ll stay with the group, but if you stop without announcing you’re stopping, you’ll lose the group and have to find them downtown.
It doesn't take five kids to look at some clowns. Fatou slows to a stop over the creek, eyeing the mass of rags. To her mind, it is already a corpse. If it turns out to be something less interesting, well, she was already trailing the group, and she could see the men on stilts from here. It wouldn't be necessary to call the other kids back. That would only slow them down.
Fatou dismounts, pulls off her shoes, and tries to find a dry path down to the mass of rags. Is it a deer? A deer skull would look very nice over my bed...
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Fatou, you carefully make your way to the bottom to discover the rags are indeed covering a shopping cart. As you move the rags, you look down the creek back the way you came. Under the bridge, you can just make out the embers of a lit cigarette. It could be some uncharacteristicly quiet teenagers or someone...else, but you’re not alone down here and you made enough noise to be noticed.
What do you do?
Everyone else, you arrive at the Market St. creek enterence. The sidewalk on both sides of the street are jammed with people watching what appears to be a circus parade. Purple and black streamers rain down on the street as the performers toss handfuls of candy into the crowd. You’ll have to leave the trail to get a good look, but you’ve also noted that your group is one person lighter.
What do you do?
Is that Sebastien- or whatever he is calling himself? Fatou lets her hands fall to her sides and stares blankly at the space where she saw the burning ember.
After a few rapid heartbeats, Fatou calls out to the smoker with a quote from Anne Rice: "Do you know what it means to be loved by Death?... Do you know what it means to have Death know your name?"
"Ugh, lemon Starburst, just my luck." Maggie pockets the sour candy, looking a the performers before noticing the absentee. "Did Fatou fall behind?"
The cigarette hisses as it falls to the water. There’s no response to your call and without the light from the cigarette, you can’t see anything under the bridge.
What do you do?
Reminder to the rest of the group: you’ve reached the end of the trail. The parade is ahead, but your friend is missing.
Maggie, if you’re close enough to grab candy, you can get a better look at the performers. Clowns dancing and acrobatics flipping down the street. A tall blonde woman with hair in a tight ponytail wrapped four or five times around her waist riding a jet black horse. A man in a top hat on impossibily tall stilts. The man who is obviously the ring leader, in his purple and black tuxedo, is approaching. He’ll pass your spot soon.
Everyone is laughing and clapping, cheering for the dancing chimp, gasping at the fire eater. But all the joy in everyone’s faces draws your attention to the boy watching you directly across the street. He looks about your age, but he’s dressed oddly, it’s hard to put your finger on why. He looks like he’d been crying, but now he’s just watching you.
Fatou shrugs and turns to scale the side wall. She lifts her skirt with one hand and picks her way up the slope in her dirtied stockings.
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The wall is slick, but if you’re taking your time, you scale it effortlessly. As you reach the top, you glance back to the bridge. Whomever was under there is smoking a new cigarette.
When you’re older, you’ll post this story to AskReddit about a time you were in danger but didn’t realize it
Quick recap so everyone know where they are and what choices they have
Main group: investigate the parade or go back for Fatou
Maggie: Wait for ringmaster, interact with crying boy across the street or go back for Fatou
Fatou: Go to the end of the trail alone, stay put, go back down the creek for some insane reason or bail on this nonsense and return to the party
Holly moves forward, she's sure fatou just got her wheels stuck on a rock or something (training wheels did not make for a good off-road bike... Maybe they shouldn't have gone by the creek, but it had been her idea.
She starts picking up a little of the candy, hoping for chocolates, and drinking in the sights.
Holly, as you pick up candy, you note that many seem to be homemade, wrapped in black or purple wax paper (this was super common in the early 80s.)
A little bit down the block you see an old teacher of yours, Mr. Eads. You haven’t seen him on campus since school started. He’s grown a full beard and it looks pretty silly on him.
The stilt walker reaches way way down and offers you a tightly rolled piece of paper.
It’s a buy one get one admission coupon.
The ring master is only a few minutes away from passing you. The parade will be long over before you could get to the party and bring everyone back.
What do you do?
Fatou rubs the dirt off her stockings and puts her shoes back on. Then, she'll get back on her bike to head toward the parade.
Steve certainly doesn't want to be the only one to wait for Fatou, so he moves forward without mentioning her absence.
When he reaches the circus, he forgets about Fatou. He picks up some unattended candy and watches the monkey with the crowd, too interested in the circus to stop and greet his friends or pay attention to the crying boy.
Steve, you notice a pack of older kids who sometimes give you a hard time. They haven’t noticed you yet, but they’re likely to spot you soon
She's probably stopped to look at some strange rock.
Maggie moves to the weird kid, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Hey! You new in town? Got lost, need help?"