Waking back in her world, Dorotea’s head hurts. Her lungs hurt, her leg feels broken. She rolls over and spits up a lung full of water. Hearing a commotion she starts to look around. She hears a strange mix of laughter and crying. She touches her face and can feel her left eye is puffed out so bad it throbs like a bucking bronco in her head. She feels her temple and under the swelling pieces of her eye socket feel like sand. Its such an awful feeling but she can’t stop messing with it.
She is covered in mud and her ankle has a bad sprain. Beyond a low grassy knoll she spies the train wreak of the Barstowe European Circus. Clowns streaked with motor oil and blood sit around a fire. The Strongman from the Freak-show consoles the Fat Woman. Two hairy, Dog Faced Boys sit looking at the fire, weeping.
A young girl named Ozma sees Dorotea and grabs her by the hand to present her to the survivors. Excitedly she says “Look what I found!” There are no smiles or welcomes. Tired eyes barely acknowledge her.
Pulling Dorotea to a group of Smashed Train cars, the Young Girl asks. “Do you want to see the Animals?” Dorotea tries not to talk since a couple of her teeth feel chipped and every time she breathes feels a sensation of extreme cold in the nerve. Walking around they look in on a Bear, an Orangutan, several Peacocks and some kind of exotic cat, that Dorotea can’t tell if its a Lynx or a Snow Leopard. Finally a wounded Elephant and its Baby.
Dorotea feels such a sad feeling for these animals she begins unlocking their cages. The Bear looks at her with a glassy daze, the Peacocks flock away in a violent dash of squawks, Orangutan turns its back to her, The Lynx or Leopard dashes off behind the Peacocks and the Baby Elephant does a bluff charge. Returns to his Mother Elephant who seems beyond help. A dying Jaguar drags himself into the reeds, back legs paralyzed from the crash. Crows circle overhead.
The Young Girl asks “How did you escape?” Dorotea can’t remember a thing expect her Mother’s betrayal. The Young Girl says “My Daddy said, we were ambushed by Mexican Revolutionaries, they bombed the bridge because the US Marines occupied the port of Veracruz. Pancho Villa is trying to inspire Mexicans into killing Americans on this side.” Dorotea says “My brothers left to ride with Pancho Villa.” As soon as she said it she regretted it.
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The Young Girl’s face turns hateful and with tears in her eyes runs off to tell someone what she said. Dorotea feels panic and tries to find a place to hide. She dashes into the Elephants Cage and dives behind the Mother Elephant. The Baby Elephant is enraged by this and begins to stamp his feet and turn around in aggressive displays, protecting his wounded Mother.
Dorotea sees a group of Clowns and Rough Looking Carnies looking around with rifles and torches. Dorotea tries to pat the Baby Elephant on the head but he tries to bite her fingers. Finally she wrestles him down and tries to keep him quiet. This stirs the Mother to try to get up in the toppled Boxcar but she can’t, kicks several boards out of the roof of the box car on its side and stops moving. The Clowns move on.
Dorotea hides under a pile of news paper thrown in as bedding for the Baby Elephant. A couple headlines include, “Aleister Crowley’s Secret ‘Invitation Only’ Performance of Igor Stravinsky’s ‘Rites of Spring’ 1913 Causes Madness and Riots!”, “Lusitania Attacked, America Considers Joining War in France.” “Mexican Raids on South Texas Continue, General Pershing Leads Punitive Expedition.” “US Institutes New Currency, Federal Reserve Act Passes by Small Margin. A Sorrowful Day for America.Warnings of Founding Fathers about Foreign Central Bankers Unyielded.”
Hearing gunshots and seeing flames bursting from the horizon. Dorotea tries to get out of the broken slats in the roof of the train, but before she can the Baby Elephant charges and smashes the boards to bits, carrying both Dorotea and the Baby Elephant onto the ground in a heap. Hearing shouts of anger and feeling uncomfortable Dorotea dashes into the darkness. She hears rustling in the grass, sounds that send a chill down her spine.
Seeing the Clowns and Carnies in a large battle with what must be Mexican Soldiers she thinks of her brothers. In a gunfight that seems like it occurs in show motion. One by one, each side knocks down a foe. Men falling, clasping their chests, gasping for air, murmuring prayers. Dorotea crawls further into the grass and comes face to face with a group of Glowing Eyes in the darkness. A Pride of Lions comes so close to Dorotea’s face she could kiss the nearest ones nose. There is a moment of shock in both sides and a large maned Male Lion licks her face and passes her to pursue the sounds of dying men behind her.
Dorotea rolls onto a dirt road. Standing up she sees the scene behind her. The Carnival crash site has now turned into a scene of atrocity. Men trying to run are chased down and pummeled by Hungry Lions. Clowns covered in blood are beating dying Mexican Soldiers with Axes and Table Legs, Soldiers likewise are beating fallen Carnies with rifle butts, bayonetting the wounded. Everywhere there is violence and carnage. Dorotea feels her own battle is ahead. She begins walking in the direction of home, she will make her Mother pay for what she has done to Dorotea’s happy life.