Entwined (21 page)

When Ruda got the cats back down the traps to their cages, Luis was already aboard the ambulance and on his way to the emergency room. She arrived at the hospital shortly after he was brought out of the operating room. His wound had taken one hundred and eighty-four stitches: He had been ripped from his throat to his groin. He remained in intensive care for eight days, as the wound festered and he suffered blood poisoning.

Ruda was at his bedside when he regained consciousness. His voice was barely audible as he told her to shoot Mamon…that he had warned her that cat would do something like this. She had wept, promised she would get rid of him, had even lied to him at other visiting times, saying that Mamon was gone, that the most important thing was for Luis to get well.

Grimaldi had recovered slowly, very slowly; the wound constantly reopened and he suffered from persistent infections—caused by rancid meat caught between Mamon's claws. Luis's weight plummeted, he caught hepatitis, and then pneumonia put him back on the critical list. The hospital bills took every penny he had. Ruda worked as hard as she could, but nothing covered the costs of the feeding and winter quarters. Ruda began to sell off the cubs—sell anything she could lay her hands on; some of the cats were the prize of the Grimaldi act, but she had no choice. The bills kept on coming in, even though many of Grimaldi's friends rallied around and helped.

Grimaldi's chief assistant went to visit him in the hospital, and announced that he was quitting. It was a severe blow; they had been together for thirty years. It was not the fact that his wages had not been paid, that he could understand. What he could not deal with—and refused even to clean out his cage—was Mamon. Ruda, he told Luis, had never made any attempt to get rid of him—when buyers came, he was towed to the back of the quarters.

As sick as he was, Luis had ranted and raged at her: Why had she lied to him? Lost him a man he had worked with for all those years! Ruda had listened with eyes lowered so he couldn't see her expression, and then had said it was not Mamon's fault; he had been vicious because he had an abscess on his tooth, and since it had been removed he was as gentle as a lamb!

Grimaldi languished in the hospital as the bills mounted. Ruda came less often, claiming she was too busy trying to keep a roof over their heads. She did succeed in retaining nine of the cats—and Mamon, of course.

On his release from the hospital, she had driven Grimaldi back to the quarters. He was determined to see the cats, and with the aid of a cane he had walked from cage to cage.

"Where is he?…
Where is he?
"

She had stepped back, warning him, "Don't you touch him. I mean it, Luis, don't touch him."

He had pushed her aside, determined to find him, and she had stood guard over the cage, arms outstretched. "Please don't Luis…please, I have never asked you for anything in my life, but don't touch him."

Mamon was lying like a king, yawning, as Luis stared at him. Grimaldi turned away and limped to their trailer. Ruda called out that she would show him just what a sweetheart Mamon was, told him to watch from the trailer window. He got the shotgun then, could have shot him, but instead he had watched her, been afraid for her, loved her, and watched…until the fear crept up along the jagged scar, a fear that had crippled him since that time. He had never been in the ring since, and Mamon had proved him wrong. He had never mauled or attacked Ruda, but she had never forgotten Luis's words. She used everything he had ever taught her, and went beyond it, working out her own methods and her own commands. Even if Luis could make it back into the ring now, she would have to teach him a new act, the complete new set of commands she now used.

As for Mamon, he was both an obsession and a constant test of Ruda's capabilities. The controller and the controlled; theirs was a strange battle of wills that thrilled her beyond anything she could have imagined. Mamon was the lover she could never take, and they had achieved the perfect union, one of total respect. But she knew if she broke their bond, if she weakened, gave him an opening, he would attack her. She liked that.

♦ ♦ ♦

Luis stared in the mirror at his bloodshot eyes, began to clean his teeth, angry at himself for drinking so much. He heard the trailer door bang, and he sighed, hoping it wasn't Tina again.

"Yeah! What is it?"

Mike's voice called out, and intuitively Grimaldi knew something was wrong, he ran out of the small bathroom. The boy was panting, waving his hat around. "You'd better come over to the arena, she's having a really tough time. It's those new plinths."

Grimaldi ran with Mike across to the big tent, Mike gasping out that it couldn't have come at a worse time, the big boss was in, up in the gallery looking over the rehearsals.

Hans Schmidt, wearing a fur-lined camel coat, sat back in his seat, his pudgy hands resting on a silver-topped cane. Below him, way below, he could see the main ring, the cages erected and the caged tunnel. The spotlights were on, and Ruda's figure seemed tiny as she turned, calling out to the cats.

Mr. Kelm eased into the vacant seat next to Hans Schmidt. "You wanted to see me, sir?"

"This Kellerman business, has it been cleared up?"

"I don't know, sir, the Polizei were here, I told you. I gave them every assistance possible, but I heard they asked Mrs. Grimaldi to identify him this afternoon!"

Schmidt nodded his jowled head, his eyes focused on the ring. "Very disturbing, bad publicity…very bad!"

"Yes, I know, but I'm sure it'll all be cleared up."

"It better be. This is the costliest show to date. What do you think of the Kellerman woman?"

"She's stunning, I've seen parts of her act in Italy and Austria, she is very special."

"Doesn't look so hot now…"

Kelm peered down, and then told Schmidt about the new plinths, that the animals were playing up, they always did with new props. Schmidt stood up. "Jesus God, is that part of the act?" Kelm looked down to see the cats milling around Ruda, he nodded his head and then waited as she did the jump, spinning on the tigers' backs. Schmidt applauded. "I have never seen anything like it…she must be insane!"

Kelm nodded again, his glasses glinting in the darkness. "She takes great risks."

♦ ♦ ♦

Ruda felt her muscles straining as she lifted one plinth on top of the other; the sweat was streaming off her, her hands in their leather gloves were clammy. She backed the tigers up…gave the command for them to keep on the move, and then tried for the third time to get them seated in the simple pyramid…they went up to the plinths, hesitated, and turned away.

"Goddamn you…HUP RED ED ED ED ED!! DDDDDDDDD! ROJA!" She knew if Roja obeyed her the rest would follow, but he was playing up badly. She was exhausted. Grimaldi moved slowly to the rails, asked if she was okay, and she backed toward him.

"The owners are up in the main viewing box, it's been mayhem…but I think I'm winning. Can you give me the long whip?"

Luis passed it through the bars. She took it from him without looking and began again, her voice ringing around the arena.

"RED-RED-BLUE SASHA BLOOOOOOOOOOOOot…good girl, good girl, ROJA UP…YUP YUP Red!!!…thatta good boy…good boy…"

Luis kept watch as she got them at last onto the plinths, leaving one vacant ladder to the top.

Ruda gave the signal, the tigers remained on their plinths as she gave a mock bow, looked to the right, to the left. The gates opened…in came one male lion, and a beat after she heard the click again and knew the second one was hurtling down the tunnel.

The two lions came to her, one to her right side, one to her left, and she herded and cajoled them onto the lower seats. They were unsure, backed off… but they were not as uneasy as the tigers.

She gave the signal, and Mamon, spotlighted in the long tunnel, came out at a lope. Ruda pretended she did not know he was there. Mamon was trained to come up behind her, to nudge her with his nose, and then in mock surprise she would jump—onto his back! She had a semicircle to go before she gave him the second section command. The act centered on Mamon's refusing to do as he was told; it was always a great deal of fun, the audience roaring their approval as Mamon played around.

Mamon refused, once, twice…Ruda called out to him but he swung his head low. Again she gave him the command: "UP…ma'angel up Mamon…"

Mamon refused the jump. He began to prowl around the back of the tigers. They got edgy, started hissing, and then two of them began to fight. Ruda called out "DOWN," herding them out, leaving Mamon to her right. They behaved well, moving back down the tunnel, but Mamon refused to leave.

Luis waited, watching, swearing to himself about the plinths, but it was too late now. Ruda gave the signal for Mike to lock on, to get the cats herded back into their cages. She was going to have to work Mamon with the new plinths, cajoling and talking to him, all the while trying to get him on the lower plinth. He refused, sniffing, unsure, smelling, circling, giving a low-bellied growl.

"Come on, baby…up up…YUP RED RED RED RED!"

Mamon lay down, ignoring her, staring at her. She stood with her hands on her hips. They eyed each other, and Ruda waited.

High up at the back of the main circle, Tina sat eating a bag of potato chips, watching as Ruda sat on one of the plinths, patting it with her hand, softly encouraging Mamon to come to her. He refused. Ruda checked the time, knew she was running over, and suddenly stood up. "Angel…ANGEL UP, come on—UP!"

Mamon slowly got to his feet, walked very, very slowly to the new plinth, sniffed it, walked around it, and just as slowly eased himself up and sat.

Ruda looked at him, "You bastard, now stop playing around…UYUP BLOOOOOOOO."

He shook his head, and then just as slowly mounted the blue plinth. He sat. Ruda encouraged him, flattered and cajoled him until he had sat on each plinth, sniffed it—twice he pissed over them. He was in no hurry, his whole motion was slow, leisurely, constantly looking to Ruda as if to say: "I'll do it. But in my time."

Ruda gave him the command for his huge jump down; he hesitated and then reared up and sprang forward, heading straight for Ruda. Tina dropped her bag of chips as she stood up, terrified.

Ruda shouted at Mamon, pointing the whip. "Get back…back!…"

Mamon paid no attention. Ruda spoke sharply to him—and suddenly he turned. Grimaldi gasped as the massive animal churned up the sawdust. Now he was not playing, now he was the star attraction. In wonderfully coordinated jumps he sprang from plinth to plinth, showing off, until he reached the highest point. Then he lifted up his front paws and struck out at the air.

By the time Mamon was moving back down the tunnel, Ruda had unhooked the latch to let herself out of the arena.

She slumped into a seat, taking the proferred handkerchief from her husband to wipe her face. He sat next to her and she could smell the brandy.

"That was tough going!"

"You said it, Luis. I am going to need double rehearsal time before we open, you could see! They're all over the place, they hate those bloody plinths. I hate them!"

"It was your idea to get new ones, I warned you but you wouldn't listen."

"I said get them the
same fucking colors. These are too bright!
"

They argued and Tina looked on. Her vision of herself taking over the act had paled considerably. She watched as Grimaldi and the boys began to dismantle the arena cages, then she went over to the horses and got ready for their practice. Grimaldi hadn't even looked in her direction.

Ruda was still in a foul mood, and exhausted, when she walked into the freezer trailer. She began chopping up the meat for the cats'

feed. By the time Mike appeared, still wearing the hat, she had all the trays ready.

"The arena cages are stacked, we got two extra hours tomorrow."

"That's marvelous, this'll be a nightmare. You saw them, they were all acting up."

Mike shrugged, giving a funny cockeyed smile. "But you handled them. Word is that Schmidt was impressed! You want me to take the feed through?"

Ruda shook her head. "No, I'll do it, just double-check that their straw is clean, their cages ready."

"Okay, will you need me later tonight? I reckon if I get their night feed set out—me and a few of the lads want to go around to the clubs."

"I hope not in that hat. Where did you get it?"

"Oh, I found it, it was in here."

Ruda smiled. "Well, just leave it, will you? It's one of Luis's I kept here so he wouldn't wear it, it's disgusting."

Mike tossed Kellerman's hat aside. "Sorry, it was just that it was pissing down earlier…Oh, about this guy Kellerman."

Ruda froze, staring at the blood-red meat.

"Somebody said he was a dwarf, used to work the circus, is that right?"

Ruda nodded.

Mike flushed slightly. "He was found in East Berlin, one of the lads told me he had been murdered."

Ruda lifted the trays. "Yes, he was, we had to go and identify him today. You ever meet him?"

Mike shrugged, shaking his head. "Nope…I don't know anything about him, just that I know he used to be your husband."

"Yes he was, a long time ago."

Mike watched her carry the trays down between the trailers, stacking them onto a trolley. She returned for the next batch and said sharply: "You going to stand watching me work or are you going to earn your pay?"

"Oh, sorry."

Mike began to place more feed trays out, and Ruda worked alongside him, until suddenly she banged down an empty tray. "Mike, if you've got something to say, why don't you come out with it?"

He flushed pink, unable to tell her what was bothering him. He was sure he had seen Kellerman the day he died, but he said nothing. She continued heaving out the hunks of meat. "Maybe you can feed Sasha and the two buggers with her."

"Okay," he said, already carrying out the second batch of feed. Ruda picked up Kellerman's hat and put it into her bag, then continued heaping the meat into the trays. Mike was still watching her and she banged down a tray.