Free See You on the Backlot by Thomas Nealeigh Page A

and didn’t realise it until he was older.That seems to be something Murphy can understand.
    Whatever they talked about, apparently Murphy and my pops came to some sort of understanding, and my mum was all for it, too. So, as the story goes, Murphy went to the company running the carnival the next morning and had some sort of talk with them on Charlie’s behalf. From that point on, the show got better spots. Not First Call, mind you – that’s the best spot on the midway. No, not right off the bat, anyway – but definitely better spots than before. I guess there had never been enough room to put up the whole banner line before, and now, suddenly, they could find room for Charlie to do everything he had been trying to do. So, of course, the show started bringing in money and doing better. The season may have started out badly, but by the end of it Charlie had made enough to pay the nut and keep the show, plus a little bit to set back for the next season. During the whole down time, Murphy stayed with my folks, and he and Charlie worked on aspects of the show to build it up. Then Murphy hit the roadwith them again for the next season, and hasn’t left Charlie’s side since then.
    Who was Murphy to do this? Well, if you ask him, he’ll tell you he’s just a simple man from a long line of tinkers. I don’t even know what a tinker is. But, apparently, if he wasn’t one of the original old-timers, he was brought up by one of them – Big Mike says it’s almost like he’s a hundred years old with all he knows, but he has the energy of a two year old. Murphy seems to know everyone, new or worn, young or old, who’s on the circuit. That’s why he was able to help Charlie get a fair shake from the carnival companies. Within a few years – by this point I was performing with the show, too – Murphy introduced Charlie to Big Mike, and we’ve been on one of his lots ever since.
    Murphy taught me just about every act that I do. He taught me how to escape from a straightjacket while hanging upside down, how to tear a telephone book in half like it was nothing, and – most importantly – the skills to be a talker. He taught me otherthings, too: how to hang a banner line, how to be an A&S Man (the age and scale racket – you know, the game where you guess the rube’s age or weight) and how to juggle the ride brake so the chumps think they’re having a good time while what you’re really doing is shaking the change right out of their pockets!
    Not that Charlie’s any slouch with that stuff either, mind you! He didn’t go into this racket blind – no, sir. Murphy told me once that Charlie has more put away about the business than he could have ever known. I don’t know about that – but it was Pops who taught me to breathe a fountain of flame, turn a tip, and the importance of having a shill. He’s also the one who taught me to read an angry crowd to see if they’re going to cause a clem – that’s a big fight – and watch the weather for a blowdown . And Charlie still schools me every day in reading and maths. I couldn’t check the receipts nightly if he hadn’t taught me bookkeeping. Of course, right now, that’s the only time we talk.
    It’s lonely just sitting in here, son, I’ll tell you that for nothing. But that’s the deal Murphy and Charlie cut with Big Mike to stay on the circuit after I mixed it up with Delilah’s father in the cook shack. I guess the blame was flying around and everybody was ready to beef – but no one with any sense wants to bring in the local sheriff. After all, there are always some carnies who need to avoid the law, if they can. So I have to stay in here, separated from everyone for a bit. Charlie brings me some meals from the cook shack, or makes sure I eat from some cans here. Murphy takes time to check up on me now and again. But I haven’t seen anyone else… not really.
    Murphy told me that this was Big Mike’s decision, because Delilah’s father was bloodied up