PREFACE

-Nadine-

 

August 14^th, 1885

            “Let’s go! Lock ‘em up. We got the next show in 23 hours. We have got to get a move on!” yelled Jim, the show manager. Nadine went around to all the cages one by one and checked the locks. She made sure each animal she passed had enough water to last the night.

“Goodnight, Roger. I’ve left you plenty of bananas if you get hungry again in the night,” she pointed to the large heap of bananas adjacent to the monkey named Roger. Nadine walked to the cage holding a baby elephant, “Crazy Kelly. Good work today with the crowd! They sure loved you.” Crazy Kelly let out a loud snort. Nadine said goodnight to the other animals as she passed their cages. “Ha ha! Goodnight, everybody. Hush now, Chastity,” Nadine whispered to the whimpering baby tiger, “hush or Jim will make me give you a sleeping tonic.”

“We all set in there?” Jim yelled. He appeared from behind Benji the parrot’s cage. Nadine shoved a thumbs up into the air. Jim yelled something out the window and almost immediately they could feel the rumble of the train. Nadine could sense the animals’ fear. Even though they’ve travelled with the circus via train dozens of times, they still weren’t used to its rough travel. Nadine was afraid she was going to be required to tranquilize the animals so she nervously paced around the cages trying to calm them down.

She had a love hate relationship with the traveling circus. She loved the animals and would never part from their side; however, she desperately despised the way they were treated. She often fantasized about setting them free and running away with them. Although she knew it to be a bad idea due to their lack of experience in the wild, she dreamed it frequently.

Nadine wasn’t allowed to feed the animals before a show—especially the large felines. The only exception to the rule were the monkeys. They were surprisingly well behaved creatures; they even seemed to enjoy doing tricks.  They say that they need the animals weaker so they won’t have the energy to attack. Nadine argued against this rule many times before and once she even secretly stole some food to feed them. The lion tamer got mauled the next day… Needless to say, she learned her lesson.

“IOWA,” screeched Benji the parrot.

“Yes, Benji. We’re in Iowa!” responded Nadine. The cool winds of Iowa swept through the animal corridors. The subtle grumble of the train’s engine was somewhat relaxing to Nadine. After only a few minutes, Nadine felt herself start to nod off. She curled herself into a ball on the floor next to the elephants’ cage and used her work jacket as a blanket. She slowly drifted into a deep sleep.

An hour passed before Nadine was awakened by the loud screech of the train’s brakes. Nadine and the other animals jolted toward the front of the corridor as the train’s horn sounded. There was no time to process what was happening. With a loud explosion, the train flipped off the tracks and shattered upon impact with the ground. The last thing Nadine heard was the cry of Chastity brutally being crushed under the weight of the elephants’ cage.

Life After Death