Deliver Us From Evil Ch. 03

"Laideeees and gentlemennn! Children of all ages! The Wrrrangler Circus is in Towwwwnnn!" After that announcement, six people in clown garb came forward. Some were juggling tennis balls, and some were doing silly antics.

After a few moments, the music of The Benny Hill Show played, and the clowns did skits. One clown juggler snagged another juggler's tennis balls, adding them right to his own balls being juggled. Then the first juggler started chasing him. Clowns ran into each other and did pratfalls as the children and their parents laughed.

Then two jugglers who were not in clown garb came in and juggled balls of various sizes as well as bowling pins. They talked a lot during their routines, and the highlight was when they asked for six kids to volunteer, then lined the six kids up side by side to juggle around them.

"Don't lean too far forward!" one announced. "And don't lean too far back!"

"And don't worry, we've been doing this for years!" the other said.

"But when was the last time we did this?" the first one asked.

"Oh, fifteen years ago... but don't worry kids! We're professionals!" the second one said as he nodded, making the kids and their parents laugh nervously.

But it was all good. The balls they used were soft Nerf balls. The six kids stood stock still, stiff as boards, as the balls flew in front of them and behind them. Everyone in the audience clapped as they finished the routine...

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

After the show, all the kids went back to their rooms, and the Circus people went to visit them as well as the kids who couldn't make it to the show; most were too ill to leave their beds. But they were all very happy when a clown came in to juggle, another twisted balloons into shapes and gave one to each kid, and the other Circus members came in just to talk to them.

It was hard for me to decide whose hearts were getting more out of it; the kids being visited, or the Circus members visiting them. And I realized that giving money was good, but giving of their time and abilities was just as good...

* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

The Circus members were congregating in the front lobby. Teresa and Bonnie came up to me and Teresa said said "They're talking about having a full rodeo here next Spring. We can't tear up the front lawn, but there may be room behind the Hospital. Let's go check."

"Come on, everyone!" Bonnie said. Everyone followed us down the hallway and out the back doors. The back lawn was not as large nor as well manicured as the large space in front of the Hospital, and the side of the mountain finger was behind it.

"It's enough for a small rodeo space." Bonnie said.

"Good." Teresa said. "We'd love to have you, and I'll sponsor it."

Bonnie then said "Everyone gather round! And can we get Ms. McFarland and Mr. Geiger to come up here, please?" Alison and Geiger had been with our group, and Todd had asked them to come with us. I also noted that a KFXU camera was present, as well as a cameraman for the Town & County Examiner.

Bonnie said loudly "We don't have much, but we'd like to give Alison and Timothy these for all they did for us. These are coins the previous owners gave all of the employees of the Wrangler Circus before it went broke."

Two members came up and gave Alison and Geiger gold coins with the Wrangler Circus logo on the obverse and some inscription on the reverse, inside hard plastic protective shells. Bonnie said "Timothy, this coin was Johnny's, and we hope you'll accept it in memory of your friend Keith Madden."

"I'm honored." said Geiger solemnly as everyone clapped.

Bonnie gave Alison the other coin. I said quietly "That's not George Aurus's coin, is it?"

"No sir." Bonnie said. "We put his in his urn after he was cremated, and buried it with him." I nodded.

And then two men came up, carrying large flat objects wrapped in paper as Bonnie said "Commander Troy, you promised to try to bring down O'Leery, and you not only kept that promise, you succeeded." The crowd applauded, and Bonnie said "We don't have much, but maybe you'll accept these as small tokens of our unending gratitude." The men handed Teresa and me the paper-wrapped gifts, and we tore off the paper.

"Oh, wowwww." I said, pleasantly stunned. "This is awesome!"

They were posters, like movie posters, about 5'x3' in size, and had been posted in places to advertise the Wrangler Circus. On the top right was a large drawn, silhouette-ish image of a cowboy riding a bucking bronco, and underneath it, in Western script, were the word 'The Wrangler Circus'. Under that, mine said 'Town & County Fairgrounds' and the dates... which had been just weeks before the Circus had gone defunct.

On the left side were images of other performers: big-haired Bonnie as a younger woman, clowns juggling... and in the lower left corner was George Aurus, shooting his six-shooters. He'd been a trick-shot artist, and word was that he was as deadly accurate with them as my ex-wife Melina was in her shooting ability.

The poster was authentic, and in mint condition. I would learn later that a certain now-Town & County Sheriff had had it in his son's room, and had donated it to this cause.

Teresa's poster was the same, except the location was her childhood hometown, and the dates a couple of years before mine. The condition of it was not quite as pristine as mine, as it was as little faded; it had hung outside for a while. We'd later learn that Chief Bennett out there had found it in storage in back of the old theater there, which was being renovated, and he'd kept it then sent it to Sheriff Griswold when Our Sheriff had asked about it.

"I love it!" I said most very truthfully. "And I know just the place to put it in my house."

And the Wrangler Circus poster would hang to the right of the huge map on the wall over my desk in my office at The Cabin, between the map and the wall that contained the window to the front of the house. And it would hang there until my death in the far-flung future...

Part 22 - Epilogue

"Up ahead in the distance, I saw a shimmering Light
My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim
I had to stop for the night
There she stood in the doorway, I heard the mission bell
And I was thinking to myself
This could be Heaven or this could be Hell..."
--- The Eagles, 'Hotel California'

Johnny looked around and saw a bright Light seemingly swirling overhead, illuminating the Path he was on. He was wearing a white button-down shirt and black dress trousers. Up ahead and uphill, he saw a pastel Rainbow Bridge over a flowing Stream, and what looked like a meadow past it. A bench was to the side of the Bridge, and someone was sitting there, but Johnny could not make out who it was.

He turned and saw that the Path behind him led down into a dark patch of woods, and he felt the foreboding, the total lack of hope there. And then he glanced down to see George Aurus standing in front of him, looking up at him with a sly grin. Aurus was wearing a velvet crimson suit jacket and pants, a green shirt, and a crimson tie. Outlandish, but that was George, Johnny thought.

"Hello, Johnny." George said.

"George... where is this place?" Johnny asked.

"Ah, it's our Final Destination." said George. "Can you see the Bridge up ahead?"

"Yes." Johnny said.

"That means you can cross that Bridge, and you should." said George Aurus. "Someone's waiting for you up there, too."

As Johnny was about to go, he said "Are you coming with me?"

"Unfortunately, no." George said. "There is no Bridge for me; I can't see it. I'm not permitted there. I killed a lot of bad, bad people, people who are now in that dark patch of woods, and getting what they are due. But I also killed a few too many innocent people, and so I'm not permitted up there."

Seeing Johnny look at the dark patch of woods, Aurus said "I'm not allowed in there, either, and that may be for the best. The guy who took over that place when he got here, he hates dogs. He really, really hates dogs. And it seems that one of the very last things I did in my life was to help a little boy find his dog." (Author's note: 'Vengeance Is Mine'.)

"So go." Aurus said, indicating the path up the hill. Johnny began walking up the Path towards the Bridge and the bench. He looked back, but George Aurus was gone, nowhere to be seen.

Coming up the path, he saw a young girl sitting there. "Hi Daddy." she said brightly.

"Sarah?" Johnny gasped. Then he began crying. "I'm so sorry, Sarah. I wasn't there for you, and I'm so sorry!"

"It's okay, Daddy." Sarah said as she got up off the bench. "You're here with me now. And here, there is no pain or fear or guilt."

Johnny saw that he was still wearing the white shirt, but his pants were now equally white. He had released his pain, and his guilt. Sarah took his hand and said "Are you ready to cross the Stream with me?"

"Yes." Johnny said. Separated in life, father and daughter were now and forever together as they walked across the Bridge over the Stream, and the Light descended upon them...

Finis.