See You on the Backlot by Thomas Nealeigh Read Free Book Online

mine.’
    They may have said more, but I snuck away then.
    I don’t know what they were talking about, either, greenie. It just made me think that maybe there’s more to this guy Frank than I’d thought. Will you keep an eye onhim, for me? I mean, I would do it, but I still have something I need to do.
    Well, sure, I’m still going to go over to see Delilah! But I’ll do it tonight, after the show. Didn’t forget that we’re doing the grind, did you? There are marks who are begging to be separated from their money, son! But I’ll meet back up with you later.

    Psst! Greenie!! Yeah, you. Over here!
    Get down. Down! Look, just keep it quiet for a moment, all right? Staying behind this trailer may not be the most comfortable thing in the world, but it’s what we’re going to do for the moment.
    What happened? How do you know anything happened?
    OK, OK. Yes. Something happened. But keep your trap shut and I’ll tell you about it. Quietly… OK?
    I did what I told you I was going to do. I took a walk over to Delilah’s trailer. This time, I thought I’d avoid getting stopped by anyone, by reading the midway while I walked along. You know, ‘read the midway’ – I walked with my head down, looking for change and anything else the chumps might have dropped on their way out of the carnival.
    But when I got near the entrance to the back yard, what do you think I see? Mutt and Jeff, who were hanging around the gate. Almost like they were waiting for me. I kept an eye on them though, as soon as I saw them, because I had no desire to get distracted again. So I kept my head down and headed around through the back way.
    So I figured, as I’m used to heights and climbing and things, that I’d scale over the fence using the Light Plant – that’s the big truck with the generators on it – to get myself through. Now, it probably meant that I would have to walk back
out
of the gate past Mutt and Jeff, but I figured I’d be OK at that point.
    It was easy enough to get over to where I wanted to go – to Delilah’s trailer. But when I got there, gazoonie… Well, when I got there, not all of the lights were off. So I was listening outside quietly, beneath the lit-up window that used to be her window – just to make sure it was still hers right? I hear voices – not just her voice, right? But a couple of voices – and it sounds like her and her father talking really quickly and urgently. Then I feel the whole trailer shift – like someone threw themselves into the side of it. And then more noises from inside. It was like things were being thrown around. Like someone was getting slapped or hit. I could hear loud voices, but couldn’t tell what they were saying. And then it sounded like crying.
    I froze. I completely froze. I didn’t know what to do. Should I get help? Or try to get in?
    Just then, I heard a yell behind me. I turned around and saw what looked like Mutt or Jeff – one of the carnies, anyway, it wasn’t a townie – running towards meand yelling. Well, a noise like that would wake up the whole lot, and… Well I just ran, greenie. I ran as quick as I could, not paying attention to where I was going.
    Within a few moments I’d put some good distance between me and Delilah’s trailer, and I started thinking I should turn around and tell whoever it was chasing me, who it was they were after. I mean, maybe they thought I was just some townie pervert sneaking around the trailers, being a peeping tom or something. I know I shouldn’t have run – but I did.
    When I turned around, though, there wasn’t anybody there. I guess I’d lost them as I ran through the lot. I was hoping that whoever it was who’d chased me off had heard what was going on in Delilah’s trailer, and maybe put a stop to it. But, if I went back to check, I’d have to answer why I was out there, right? That’s what made me stop and think. That’s what made me head back here instead of going back.
    What would you have done?

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