Circus Parade by Jim Tully Read Free Book Online

after.
    Slug Finnerty was the chief spieler. He had lost an eye in a brawl many years before. The empty socket was red and criss-crossed with scars. He was deeply pock-marked and stoop-shouldered. His ears had been pounded until they resembled pieces of putty clinging to his bald and cone-shaped head. An ex-bruiser of the old school, he had served five years in a southern penitentiary for a crime unspeakable. The boy was injured internally.
    Slug was the money-lender and the leader of the gang of crooks. The Baby Buzzard despised him. She was the one person with courage enough to greet him with a snarl. He had once called her a “damned old bag of bones” in the presence of Cameron. The owner of the show turned white, then red, then walked away.
    After this incident it was always said that Slug knew where Cameron “had buried the body.” Our meaning implied that Slug knew of a murder or other crime that Cameron had committed in some part of the world, and that Cameron was afraid he would tell.
    At any rate, Slug had been with the show for many seasons. He was said to be the greatest shortchange artist in the canvas world. He robbed every citizen who did not produce the exact price for a ticket. When making change he had a habit of turning his empty socket toward the victim. It was a ghastly sight. It had the proper psychological effect upon his victim.
    He had a trick of folding a bill in his hand. He would count both ends in the presence of a patron. In this manner a ten dollar bill was made into twenty dollars. Another unerring method was the “two-bit short change.” He would return change of a five dollar bill by counting “one-two-three-four” swiftly. By the time he had counted out three dollars he would say—“and four”—there you are.” The customer having heard the word “four” so often would conclude that Slug meant four dollars and pocket the change—short one dollar. Always near Slug was the “rusher”—a man who kept the patrons moving swiftly, once they had been given their change.
    Slug was an adept pocket-picker. He could slug and “roll” or rob a drunkard in record time. Hence his nickname. It was all he was ever known by. He was also a past master at the manipulation of loaded dice, marked cards or the shell game. His earnings at the end of each season were on a par with Cameron’s. He was always ready to loan money at fifty per cent. interest. Cameron would always turn the employee’s money over to Slug. They divided the interest and all other profits. The two men hated each other.
    Most of the borrowers of Slug’s money spent it for liquor or cocaine. As long as they owed Cameron or Finnerty money they were not “red-lighted.”
    Slug was a furtive bootlegger in the dry sections. He would give the alcoholics a few drinks, and once their appetites were aroused he would then sell them more and loan them money with which to buy it.
    Rosebud Bates was always in the clutches of the one-eyed Shylock. His mania for musical contraptions kept him penniless. He had joined the show in a small Colorado town in the early spring. He was a trap drummer. Decidedly effeminate, with a pink and white complexion, the strict moral gentlemen with the show at once became suspicious of Rosebud. With no evidence upon which to base the charge, they immediately called him a “fairy.” The accusation stuck. Our world was brutal, immoral, smug and conventional. We had unbounded contempt for all those who did not sin as we sinned.
    Rosebud’s parents had spent a great deal of money on his musical education. He could play many musical instruments. His passion in the end became a trap drum. Finnerty called him Master Bates. At each greeting he would say, “How are you, Master Bates?” amid laughter. Bates would blush and remain quiet.
    Rosebud would spend hours in imitating the whistle of a locomotive, the song of