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or something. But then I always shake my head and tell myself that there'll always be people coming to Coney Island, and there's always someone interested in seeing a man drop a blade or two in his throat, and if Humphrey the freakin' midget knew so much he wouldn't have hung himself from the rafters in the Big Top.

So I nod to Josef the new midget - he's still new to me even though he's been here only three less years - as I pass underneath the tent flap, and he returns the nod so I offer him a ginger ale and he accepts, so I pause to shoot the breeze and I ask him if he remembers Humphrey at all, being that the little guy was stuck on my mind at the time and he says, "Yeah, I remember that crazy dude, why d'you ask," but I just shook my head and told him that I had a weird dream about Humphrey and for a minute I was afraid that I was losing my mind, and Josef chuckled mirthlessly and said, "maaaan, your mind has probably been gone a good long time, and if it wasn't, well shoot...bein' that you spend your working days among freaks of nature, then if they was gonna start invadin' your dreams then maybe a man had some entitlement to a bit of insanity."

And I suppose I must've looked appalled or shocked or something, because then he laughed a bit nicer and told me not to worry about it too much, everybody does what they can to get by and "insane people are just called eccentric until they scare or hurt someone," so as long as I stay friendly then I shouldn't be concerned. After that I protested and said that he shouldn't refer to himself as a freak of nature and that he should like himself the way he is, but then Josef just glared at me in a sideways kinda way and grunted and told me to get inside and go deep throat my swords, which I considered excessively rude especially seeing how I gave him one of my sodas, but I just shrugged it off and went backstage to my dressing room, where I unpacked my case of swords and checked each one for burrs. I found a few small nicks in one blade and so I set it aside so that I could fill it and sand it for re-use, then I popped open another can and drank and drank.

It wasn't long after I had changed into my costume - midnight black with the glittering rhinestones and swirling cape, fresh from the drycleaner who gave the funny looks - when I got a knock on my dressing room door, and it was Josef coming to say, "Edmund, you're on stage next," so I thanked him and gave him another soda and chugged one for myself because even today,

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