Technically, this was allowed. Management didn't want anyone onstage who wasn't
100 percent. But it was something that none of the brothers, not even Joe, had
ever done. The Lead was surprised, but he sent over a soft one to relieve
George.
#
Orville and Bill were sitting out front of the cabin, watching Tom, when George
got back. He wrung his hands as he approached them, not sure of what to say, and
whether he should talk in front of Orville at all. He held his left thumb in his
right hand, and it comforted him, a little.
Bill and Orville were so engrossed in Tom's antics that they didn't even notice
George until he cleared his throat. Orville raised his eyebrows and looked
significantly at Bill.
"I just saw Joe," George said. "On the midway. His ears are pointed, and he's
walking all hunched over. I give him a few days at the most before he's all the
way gone." George held his breath, waiting for Bill's reaction.
"Too bad," Bill said. "It was inevitable, I suppose. A child of the tongue! What
was father thinking?"
Orville smiled and puffed at his pipe. "Don't you worry about it, George. Joe's
going to be much, much happier. Focussed. If you'd like, I can bring him out
here to live. Little Tom could have pony rides."
Bill said, "I don't think that's such a good idea. Joe's too wild to play with a
child."
Orville put a hand on his shoulder. "You'd be amazed at how docile he'll
become."
Bill scooped up Tom, who was up to his waist now, and who liked to grab onto
Bill's nose. "We'll see, then." He retreated into the cabin with his son.
Orville turned to George and said, "You've probably heard that we're taking down
the midway tomorrow. The others are all being reassigned until the rehab is
done, but I thought I'd see if I could get you a couple months off. You could
stay here and play with Tom -- it's not every day you get to be a new uncle."
Orville had always taken obvious pleasure in the transformation of boys into
donkeys. It was the whole why of Pleasure Island, after all. Orville seemed
especially pleased tonight, and George thought that he was as surprised about
Bill as George was.
George, not knowing what to say to any of it, said nothing.
#
It didn't take long for George to start missing the midway. Stuck at the cabin
with Bill and Tom, he sat against an outside wall and tried not to get in the
way. He prepared meals in silence, taking a long time in the woods, gathering up
choice morsels. Bill and Tom ate on the floor, away from the table. Bill chewed
the tougher morsels first, and then put them in Tom's mouth with his crippled
left hand. Most of the time, neither of them took any notice of George.
One day, he prepared a whole day's worth of meals and left them on the table,
then walked to the utilidor at the other side of the woods. He boarded a tram
and rode to the old midway entrance.
The midway was fenced in with tall plywood sheets, and construction crews
bustled over the naked skeletons of the new HorrorZone. Heavy machinery groaned
and crashed. Nothing but the distant silhouettes of Actionland's skyline were
familiar. George tried to imagine working here for years to come. An
overwhelming tiredness weighed him down.
He took the tram back to the cabin and stripped off his clothes. They were
browner than ever. His arms felt weak and tired. He suddenly knew that he would
never have a son of his own.
Bill and Tom were playing out front of the cabin. He sat in his usual spot
against the wall and watched them. "Bill," he said, softly.
"Yes?" Bill said.
"When will I have a son of my own?" Bill always knew the answers.
Bill gathered Tom up to his chest unconsciously while he thought. "I suppose
that once Tom is grown, you could take some time off and have a son of your
own."