Free See You on the Backlot by Thomas Nealeigh

bottle around… but I think I do, now. A few sips in and suddenly I can see everything in a way I never could before. The stories just keep on coming to me. And it puts me in a way that makes me not miss being out there with the rest of you. Makes being in here by myself seem not so bad. Of course, I’ll feel bad when I wake up tomorrow – but what can you do?
    Now, don’t go telling nobody that I found Charlie’s stash, all right? Seriously now. He’ll figure it out soon enough, I suppose. You didn’t think this was the first bottle of his I’ve found my way into, did you?
    Ah, Murphy is good to have sent you to look in on me. I know the others have checked to see I was here – but no one ever came in to talk to me. Did I ever tell you how he came to be with the show, Murphy? No? Well then, you should definitely have a sip while we cut the jackpot! That’s right! Youhaven’t gotten to do that since you came on the road with us, have you?
    It all started a long time ago – that’s how all good stories start out, don’t they? Anyway, I’m not sure what sent Charlie and my mum out to start a Ten-in-One show. I don’t even know if my mum really had her heart set on making it happen. And Charlie being a doctor or something – it almost doesn’t make sense to trade that off for the risk of a show. But, for whatever reason, they got a top, grabbed some performers, and started on the circuit to be ‘with it’.
    Not exactly sure how badly they were doing right from the start. But, from what Murphy has told me, in the beginning it was not going at all well. Not only were the two of them just simple Firsts of May, but I guess they brought along a green crew, too. And as for Charlie… Some of the carnies told me he thought he was just too good to listen to advice from anyone. Of course, from what I’ve seen of carnies and showmen, probably no one was too quick to offer any help to him, either. Gave himjust enough rope to hang himself, I’ll bet, and all the while keeping their eyes on the fancy equipment they hoped to buy off him cheap at the end of the season (assuming he made it that long)!
    Now this whole time I’m just a babe in arms, right? Like, really a baby – in a diaper and blanket with my bottle the whole time – that’s how little I am. And my mum is holding on to me while Charlie and his show have one blue date after another. Not making their nut, owing lot fees to the company running the carnival, who now won’t let them leave because they owe them so much, and they’re just racking up costs to add on top of it. I guess just about everyone on the circuit was figuring they’d get a piece of Charlie’s show before it was all over.
    So, then, about halfway through the season – and I can just see Charlie out in front doing the bally to no one on a bad spot at the end of the midway – this little guy comes up early in the day, buys a ticket and watches the grind for most of the day. Charlie thought this guy was ‘kicking thetyres’, that’s how he put it – this little man walking around looking at everything about the show. But he didn’t say anything to anyone, and Charlie tells me he wrote him off as someone looking to buy the show out or something. And Charlie says that at that point – down to a few diapers and no food coming for me anytime soon – he probably would’ve sold to any offer just to make it end.
    Then late that night, after all the townies have gone home, Charlie and my mum are sitting at the table doing the books while I slept in a hammock nearby, when there’s a knock on the door. Charlie goes and opens it, and this little man comes in – big as you please – and introduces himself as Murphy. Then, before you know it, he’s sitting at the table with my folks.
    Murphy once told me that he realised Charlie was chasing a dream from his childhood – something about the life caught him when he was young and never let go – like he was born with sawdust in his blood