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“Useless jackasses!” I instantly recognized Rex’s angry voice before the flaps of my tent were pushed aside. Covering myself up with the blanket, I met Rex’s angry stare when it landed on me. He just stood there for several uncomfortable seconds, scrutinizing me as though I were the cause of whatever had happened outside. I prayed he’d never learn how right he was.
Without saying anything to me, he turned around and pulling the tent flaps back together again, he then kicked the man on the opposite side of the tent. Another thud and a groan ensued.
“Wake up, you useless,” Rex started.
“M-Mister E!” Zeke—whom I now realized was the recipient of Rex’s first kick—stammered incoherently. “I swear, Mister E, it’s not what you think!”
“You were asleep on the job you were assigned to perform,” Rex retorted, his silhouette looming ominously over the frightened stagehand. “A damned simple job too.That’swhat I think.”
“It must have been that bad monkey!” Zeke protested, struggling to get back on his feet.
“What?” Rex spat with contempt.
“The danged thing was swinging on the tie-down ropes last night, causing heaps of trouble. It even jumped on Hep’s head!”
I gasped and held my breath, not from fright but laughter, because I could only imagine how this explanation was going to go over with Rex. Meanwhile, Rex’s silhouette moved closer to Zeke. I could hear Rex sniffing the air for any traces of intoxication. Zeke turned his head to the side before Rex gave him an open-handed blow that threw him right back to the ground.
All at once, Hep appeared next to Rex. “Mister E!” he said before backing away like Rex was about to eat him alive. “Everything Zeke said is—”
His words were choked off when Rex seized him by the throat and lifted him into the air. Pulling Hep closer, he sniffed the poor man’s breath before throwing him hard on the ground in disgust.
“What did Laurent say about avoiding the opium dens before you were hired?” Rex demanded, putting his hands on his hips. “This isn’t San Francisco! Our circus has no room for dead weight.” Then he pointed at both of them and said, “You’re both fired. Collect your crap and don’t let me catch you on the circus grounds any later than noon.”
Both men slowly got up, but neither dared to protest Rex’s snap decision. As quickly as they could, they limped away, leaving Rex, who, once more, burst into my tent unannounced.
“Is it too much to ask that you knock?” I snapped, making sure that the blanket covered everything I wanted it to.
“Too much privacy might encourage you to make another escape,” Rex answered, stalking around the tent like a restless lion, looking for prey. “And I’m not completely convinced that those two morons became unconscious all by themselves.”
“If I’d known they were unconscious, do you think I’d still be here?”
He gnashed his teeth and said, “I doubt it. But I still can’t trust you.”
“Obviously,” I answered with a frosty tone. “Now can you trust me long enough to allow me to change into my clothes while you wait outside?”
Rex slowly shook his head. “I’ll preserve your modesty; I’ll turn around. But that’s as far as I’m willing to go.”
“Rex,” I started, but he shook his head.
“I told you—I trust you as far as I can throw you.”
I imagined he could throw me pretty far, but I didn’t comment. Instead, I let out an annoyed huff. “Fine...” I said, audibly sighing. “Then if you don’t mind...?”
Rex slowly turned around, but looked at me over his shoulder until I impatiently waved the back of my hand at him. He jerked his head to face forward and said, “So you slept the entire night?”
I dropped my blanket and got out of my cot. “Only in an ideal world,” I replied, walking toward my trunk. “You might try sleeping in a prison cell yourself sometime and let me ask you how well you slept.”
I opened my trunk lid, where Amelia was waiting for me. Her tiny arms held out my costume, which I accepted gratefully.
“Then let me ask you this,” Rex continued, breaking into my thoughts. “Were youlying in your cotthe entire night?”
“Where else would I be?” I snapped, closing the trunk. “There were two buffoons outside my tent all night, remember?” I sighed before pulling my nightgown over my head.
“What were those two lunkheads talking about when they mentioned Jiang’s monkey swinging on the ropes around here last night?”
“Are you saying you actually believe that wacky story from two men who you said yourself were opium smokers?” I asked sarcastically. “Do you think they also saw dancing pink elephants while they were at it?”
Rex lowered his head as he grunted. “Fair enough,” he muttered begrudgingly.
