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A Freak of Nature © |
| Written by r.e.potter | |
| Thursday, 14 August 2008 | |
The night was just like any other night; read a story then tuck her into bed. It had been their normal routine since his nine-year-old daughter Emily was old enough to read, and certainly tonight she wouldn't be disappointed. He had promised earlier in the day that he would tell his daughter her favorite story, the one about a boy in the traveling circus, the one he had told her at least five times already. As she curled up under her covers, she was all to ready for him to begin. "Daddy, don't leave any out this time ok." "Alright sweetie, I promise, but it might scare you." "I'm a big girl daddy, I'll be ok." As he chuckled to himself he began with his story. "Well, a long long time ago back in nineteen hundred and eight, about one hundred years ago, the traveling circus came to town. But no one came to see the elephants and clowns, everyone there came to see only one thing; the boy wonder himself, and as the crowd took their seats... the show began. .... He continued on. "It was a warm and starlit night as Ludwig; the 'master of ceremonies' took center stage and began to speak to the crowd... Step right up ladies and gentlemen; get your front row seats. Be the first to lay witness to the most shocking, most incredible, most unbelievable spectacle on earth. A site to behold is waiting behind these curtains. Yes sir, what your about to see will not only shock you, but will amaze you; so get your front row seats and be ready to gaze with unbridled bewilderment at the greatest show on earth. Ladies and gentlemen, it is with great privilege and great honor that I now present to you at this time, the one and only, the truly remarkable...boy wonder. Ludwig Von Clapp told the crowd as he turned his body and motioned with his arm in unison with the fall of the curtain. With a gasp, the crowd looked upon that which lay beyond the curtain. But what lay beyond the curtain was neither shocking nor incredible in site, though the crowd gasp nonetheless. What lay beyond was that of a sixteen year old boy; or so it seemed. A boy with no obvious amoralities or deformities, and a rather normal looking boy to the observer at that, but this was no normal boy by any stretch. The crowd who had gathered that day had heard about this freak of nature through out their lives, but had never laid claim to him until that very day. His life had been well documented in the years past about his plight to fame, and so the crowd knew they were not looking at a fraud. Still, they gazed upon him with amazement and uncertainty, and murmured amongst themselves, how was it possible they asked; how could God be so cruel...and yet be so kind at the same time." "Daddy I forget, what was the boys name again?" His daughter asked. "Well, the boy being marveled at was Nikolai Koslov, a Immigrant who was sent to the United States by his Russian Government after the last of his immediate family had died off in the hopes of him finding a new beginning. But what little Nikolai found was that he could no longer run from the truth, and after the death of his late uncle with whom he was living and no other family members now alive, Nikolai had a decision to make. With nowhere else to call home, he decided to join the circus, and he quickly moved up the ladder of oddities to become the main attraction at the circus freak show. "Daddy, did Nikolai like being in the circus? "Well, a little I guess," he assured Emily. "But Nikolai would often think back to a place in his life where he was the most happy, but it was a place that was hard to find. Still, he could remember times spent with his mother and his sister when they would laugh just to laugh, and dance just to dance. They were the only ones who loved him for what he was and for what he was becoming. They were the only ones to love him unconditionally, but they were now gone; like everyone else he had once loved. And on through his life he saw how others would look upon him, simply scared and unsure... unsure of anything about him. He was an abnormal boy in an abnormal world, and now he was alone again. He thought only of the circus where he could call his new home, it was a place his uncle would often speak of. Maybe there he could find comfort in others who were also different from the normal. Maybe there he could find what people in the past were never willing to give him...simple pity, and maybe there he thought he could find the life; a life that was taken from him, a life long lost on a cool November morning... Two hundred and twenty years ago." "Daddy, how old did that make Nikolai at that time? "Well let's see, about two hundred and thirty six years old I reckon." "Daddy, is this a true story? "ahhh... yes! He said as he ran both hands up her side in an effort to scare her. "Do you want me to continue? As she giggled she told her father, "Sure, you can't scare me." "Alright then let's see, where was I," he pretended to think to himself.... ahhh yes. "The ‘boy wonder' was what he was being billed as, and as Nikolai stood there staring back at the crowd with his deep sorrowed eyes, Ludwig Von Clapp once again began to speak. Ladies and gentlemen and my dear friends, what we are witnessing here tonight is a true miracle of God. Lost deep in the Ural Mountains of Russia for six days and six nights back in sixteen hundred and eighty six, this remarkable young boy became lost while camping with his fellow Russian scouts. The boy was feared dead until he was found lying by a spraying stream of water springing forth from the rocks, and by being lost, he discovered something we can only dare dream of; that is if we dare dream at all. As years past, people began to understand the true nature of what this water really was, and all who went searching for this fountain of youth; failed to lay claim to it, simply folks because the water was no longer there, vanished from whence it came. So I asked you kind folks here tonight, what would you give for this young mans gift of immortality? Would you dare to even sell your soul? Would you risk everything to simply have it all? Ladies and gentlemen, I can only wonder if this is truly a gift or a curse from our God almighty as I gaze into this young mans sad and lonely eyes. He is a young boy who has lost everything of value. Who are we to even think that we can stop time itself? Who are we to even think that we can live as God lives? Yet I tell you this boy continues to defy Gods very rule. Ludwig Von Clapp yelled out while twirling his long mustache and laughing almost sadistically while raising his wooden cane high into the air with the bang of a gong that was hidden behind the curtain to mimic the sound of thunder, a tactic he would use for more dramatic effect in selling to the crowd. But Nikolai continued to only stare out into the dark night, lost in his own dark mind, knowing that tomorrow would simply be another day just like today... and regrettably so. "Daddy, did Nikolai ever have a reason to smile? "Well I guess in a way he did. Nikolai would always crack a smile when Ludwig told the crowd that he had lost everything of value. Because what the crowd never knew is what Nikolai had in his possession. "What was that daddy," little Emily asked, even though she had heard this story time and again. "Some of that very same water left in a canteen he had with him that very same day he was found. He found it in his duffel bag stashed deep in the corner of the attic many years later as he packed to leave to come to the states. But Nikolai never told a soul about the water he had hidden because he felt it was evil, even though he knew of its value; and why the water never evaporated was a mystery to him, but one that he never cared to examine. "Because it was magic water right daddy? "I suppose it was," he told his daughter as he brushed back her hair. "But as the years continued to roll on, Nikolai was growing tired of living and often wondered if he could even die. So many times he wanted the answer to that very question, and so many times he held a razor to his own wrist and even the same number of times he coward to go through with it. Until one day when they found him lying there inside the tent of the circus with his wrist cut and blood everywhere. "ooh daddy I hate that part, why does he always have to die? "Because it's getting late and little girls need to go to sleep, and besides, if I didn't kill him off, this story would never end now would it," he said as he tickled her. "I guess so, but what ever happened to the magic water? "Well, they found the canteen laying there next to his body... empty." "He poured it out because he didn't want anyone else to go through what he went through right daddy? "That's right sweetie, now get some sleep," he said as he kiss her forehead and left the room. As he got into his own bed and before turning out the light to go to sleep, he laid there thinking of a happier way he could end the story the next time Emily wanted it told, he couldn't think of any. He couldn't think of a reason to let Nikolai live, but why should he; he had never lied to his daughter before. Besides, had Nikolai kept quiet about where his canteen water of life was hidden, he just might be here now one hundred years later to tell his own story. ...The man once known as Ludwig, a one time master of ceremonies for a traveling circus way back when; rolled over to his side and turned out the light, grinned and went to sleep. R.E.Potter
Copyright 2008 r.e.potter |
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