The Circus of Dr. Lao Read Online Free Page A

but I never seen one that color before. Look at its hide; the thing shore has rough hair. Good Lord, its teeth are green, too. Well, what kind of a dog is that, anyway?"
     "You got me. That's a nice little burro pulling the last cart."
     "That ain't no burro."
     "Well, what the hell is it, then; an elephant?"
     "Say, what's the matter with you today? You know that ain't no burro. You know burros've got hair on 'em. You know burros ain't slick like they was made of glass like that thing is. You know they don't shine that way."
     "Well, it looks like a burro."
     "Yeah. You thought that man looked like a bear, too. I don't know what's got into you today."
     "By God, that was a bear! You better pull yourself together, guy. They got a booby hatch in this state for people what gets funny notions." Inspector Number One got out of the coupé. "Don't go getting any funny notions when you're on shift tonight, or somebody's liable to get your job. I'm telling you straight, see?"
     Inspector Number Two lit a cigar. A policeman friend of his came up and jocularly cautioned him about parking too long in one spot.
     "Listen, Tom," said the inspector, "did you see that parade go by just now?"
     "Yeah, I saw the crazy thing. Hell of a big bear they had in one of the wagons."
     "Oh, Lord!" said the inspector and drove away.
         The railroad traffic officer's wife called him up at about eleven o'clock.
     "Ed," she said, "have you seen the circus parade? The children want to go over and watch it, but it's so far from the house I'm sort of afraid to let them. Is it really worth watching, do you know?"
     "Yes, I just now saw it," said Ed. "All they got is three wagons pulled by horses or something. I thought sure there'd be some trucks. I can't imagine how they got into town. I know those beasts didn't pull those wagons all the way from California or from wherever they came. No, the kids wouldn't like it, I don't believe. There's a big snake in one wagon and a wild man or something in the other and a funny-looking dog in the last. I don't think the kids would like it, really. No clowns or anything like that."
     One of his fellow-workers, listening in on the conversation, said: "Where was that wild man, Ed? I must have missed him."
     "In the middle wagon."
     "Ho, ho, ho! That wasn't no wild man; that was a big bear. Funny thing: a couple of guys out in front made the same mistake you did. Thought the bear was a man. Haw, haw, haw!"
     "Well, it surer'n hell looked like a man," said Ed.
         "You been worrying about that circus so much all morning," said the desk sergeant to the chief of police; "there goes the parade now — why don't you go out and look at it?"
     Its inertia broken by these pregnant words, practically the entire force left off lounging around the spittoons and went out on the curb by the parked Black Maria to watch the little procession go by. The old Chinaman driving the first wagon noted the uniforms and bowed to vested authority. The unicorn harnessed between the shafts noted the brass buttons, too, and flinging its icicle horn skyward, whinnied like a bugle and danced on its hind feet. The aged Chinaman flailed it with his lash, and its caperings subsided.
     "That's a high-stepping bronc he's got hooked on there," commented one of the lesser policemen. "How'd it get that horn, d'yuh reckon? Never heard of a horse having a horn before."
     "That ain't no horse," said another policeman; "that's a unicorn."
     "What's a unicorn?"
     "Why, it's something like a cross between a horse and a rhino, I guess. They come from Armenia, I believe, or some goddam place like that."
     "Oh, sure, I remember reading about them in school now when I was a kid. Ain't they awfully rare or something?"
     "Yep. Rarer than hell."
     "Man, that's a