Circus of the Grand Design Read Online Free
Author: Robert Freeman Wexler
the fire...she would never know about it. He would leave without telling her.
Something about the man made Lewis want to join him immediately, venture out into the country, to small town and metropolis, presenting their entertainment vision to everyone. Though he worried that Dillon would be suspicious of his sudden interest. He was about to tell Dillon of his life-long love for the circus, but Dillon started talking.
"Yes, but you must be sure you are ready. It will not be possible to return you to the exact place whence you began."
Dillon pointed one of his elegant fingers at Lewis's chest. Despite the man's small size, Lewis could easily imagine him as ringmaster of his circus. His melodious voice was too powerful for the small, drab diner to hold.
"A circus performance, you see, moves in the fourth dimension—time—as a sequence of present moments flowing away to become part of the past. It cannot be re-read after it is gone."
Chapter 4: The Circus
Lewis boarded the train to Penn Station and took a seat. Goodbye...Point Elizabeth. During his wait, the sun had emerged; light shone clean and sparkly on the icicles, but away from Dillon, his mood dipped. Dillon had left the diner before Lewis finished eating, to continue, he said, his search for the snake woman. He had told Lewis when and where to meet the circus back in the city. Lewis thought he might watch today's performance, after attending to the various tasks awaiting him in the city, packing, leaving...what the hell was he doing? Impossible—first the fire, then...flight? He couldn't do this. If he went to work tomorrow, today even...those people he worked for would have no idea that he had been planning to leave.
But the fire...he hadn't called to report the fire. The authorities wouldn't care that the phone lines were down. They would hold him responsible.
A fugitive from justice.
But he would be safe with the circus.
Because of the ice, the train took longer to reach the city, though the day turned out much warmer. A branch of his bank was around the corner from the train station, and he decided to close his account before the check he wrote Are No could clear. Afterwards, he took the subway down to his neighborhood.
Indecisive about returning to his apartment, he wandered through Chinatown. Walking was clumsy with the etching flopping in the wind, and he didn't like how exposed he felt, with any passerby able to see what he carried. He could discard the frame to make it easier to carry, but that might damage the artwork. At a butcher shop, he stopped for brown paper and twine to wrap around the frame.
The circus was performing at the old West Side Coliseum. Dillon had said they would be leaving that evening, after a two o'clock matinee. Martha's apartment building was a few blocks north of Chinatown. He had time for a focused visit.
The entry hall was blessedly empty, and he climbed the stairs to the third floor. The backpack he had taken to Are No's would serve for most of his clothes. He removed the unused bed sheets, leaving them piled on the floor, and transferred his journal to the satchel he used for work, which already held a legal pad and some pens; he filled the pack with clothes. Not much else of his remained. Martha's things. He hadn't brought any furniture to the city, and the rest...everything could be replaced.
~
By the time Lewis reached the coliseum, the pale winter light was fading. The coliseum stood among abandoned warehouses and newly opened bistros and wine bars, the latest redevelopment zone in a city of endless redevelopment. The building was in the process of being demolished, and he wondered if Dillon had given him the wrong location.
But a banner draped across the pockmarked front proclaimed:
The chance of a lifetime
The circus of dreams
Starring the unbelievable
in gold letters on a blue background, and in the lower right-hand corner in much smaller letters:
Circus of the Grand Design
Now in its
Something about the man made Lewis want to join him immediately, venture out into the country, to small town and metropolis, presenting their entertainment vision to everyone. Though he worried that Dillon would be suspicious of his sudden interest. He was about to tell Dillon of his life-long love for the circus, but Dillon started talking.
"Yes, but you must be sure you are ready. It will not be possible to return you to the exact place whence you began."
Dillon pointed one of his elegant fingers at Lewis's chest. Despite the man's small size, Lewis could easily imagine him as ringmaster of his circus. His melodious voice was too powerful for the small, drab diner to hold.
"A circus performance, you see, moves in the fourth dimension—time—as a sequence of present moments flowing away to become part of the past. It cannot be re-read after it is gone."
Chapter 4: The Circus
Lewis boarded the train to Penn Station and took a seat. Goodbye...Point Elizabeth. During his wait, the sun had emerged; light shone clean and sparkly on the icicles, but away from Dillon, his mood dipped. Dillon had left the diner before Lewis finished eating, to continue, he said, his search for the snake woman. He had told Lewis when and where to meet the circus back in the city. Lewis thought he might watch today's performance, after attending to the various tasks awaiting him in the city, packing, leaving...what the hell was he doing? Impossible—first the fire, then...flight? He couldn't do this. If he went to work tomorrow, today even...those people he worked for would have no idea that he had been planning to leave.
But the fire...he hadn't called to report the fire. The authorities wouldn't care that the phone lines were down. They would hold him responsible.
A fugitive from justice.
But he would be safe with the circus.
Because of the ice, the train took longer to reach the city, though the day turned out much warmer. A branch of his bank was around the corner from the train station, and he decided to close his account before the check he wrote Are No could clear. Afterwards, he took the subway down to his neighborhood.
Indecisive about returning to his apartment, he wandered through Chinatown. Walking was clumsy with the etching flopping in the wind, and he didn't like how exposed he felt, with any passerby able to see what he carried. He could discard the frame to make it easier to carry, but that might damage the artwork. At a butcher shop, he stopped for brown paper and twine to wrap around the frame.
The circus was performing at the old West Side Coliseum. Dillon had said they would be leaving that evening, after a two o'clock matinee. Martha's apartment building was a few blocks north of Chinatown. He had time for a focused visit.
The entry hall was blessedly empty, and he climbed the stairs to the third floor. The backpack he had taken to Are No's would serve for most of his clothes. He removed the unused bed sheets, leaving them piled on the floor, and transferred his journal to the satchel he used for work, which already held a legal pad and some pens; he filled the pack with clothes. Not much else of his remained. Martha's things. He hadn't brought any furniture to the city, and the rest...everything could be replaced.
~
By the time Lewis reached the coliseum, the pale winter light was fading. The coliseum stood among abandoned warehouses and newly opened bistros and wine bars, the latest redevelopment zone in a city of endless redevelopment. The building was in the process of being demolished, and he wondered if Dillon had given him the wrong location.
But a banner draped across the pockmarked front proclaimed:
The chance of a lifetime
The circus of dreams
Starring the unbelievable
in gold letters on a blue background, and in the lower right-hand corner in much smaller letters:
Circus of the Grand Design
Now in its
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