Chapter Two

Friday

August 6^th, 1880

Secundus, England

11:04am

As it turned out, it had been the fiasco with the Queen and the event of his wedding that had caused the knowledge of the fair to slip everyone’s minds. In fact, it was thought for a while that they may have had to cancel if there had been too much damage. Luckily that wasn’t so and the festivities had begun on schedule.

Happily, Alice agreed to attend and together they summoned a cab to bring them to the fairgrounds. While the crew had set up areas to park horses, carriages, motorized transportation, bicycles and other modes of transport, they had not set aside somewhere for a giant riding butterfly. One of the men on the crew, however, promised that an area for Ferdinand would be planned for and added next year.

After paying the admission fee, Alice and Victor entered the fairgrounds hand-in-hand. He could hear music in the distance and a small information tent was set up just inside the entrance with free maps and he took it upon himself to pick one up.

The grounds were large but not massively so. From the large machines in the distance that many people seemed to be riding on, they had entered via what was called “Gate 2” on the map. There was a large wheel with seats attached to it that spun gently on a vertical plane around a fixed point; the view from the top had to be breathtaking. Alternatively, there was another wheel gently spinning but this one was on a vertical axis parallel to the ground and instead of seats there were large wooden carvings shaped like various animals that people were sitting on. Some rose up and down and some were stationary. What looked like a miniature railway was set up and was chugging around the area and a large balloon was floating above the grounds. Victor was sure there were more but he couldn’t see everything from his vantage point.

Interspersed between the rides were small tents with games of chance set up inside them. There was a small pool with wooden ducks floating in the water and the customers would select a duck and win a prize (“Winner every time!” boasted the fellow running the game). Another was a table set up with small empty fish bowls where the customer would toss a small ball into the bowl and win a goldfish or a small stuffed toy. Again, Victor was sure there were more but it was impossible to take everything in at once.

He consulted the map in his hands. Around the edges of the paper were advertisements for various products and companies and also a schedule for the musical guests for that day; Marty would be performing at 1:30, so Victor made a mental note to head over to that area at that time. Towards the back of the grounds was an area set up for a horse show and it looked as if all of the food tents were along that back stretch. In the area next to the carnival were tents for the various things people were selling and/or demonstrating and along the edge of the grounds were livestock barns and Lisa’s petting zoo.

“Goodness,” said Victor, “I see now why the fair is ten days long…is it even possible to see everything in one day?”

“That depends on if one has an objective or not,” Alice answered. “If there are only certain things one wants to see, then yes. If one takes the time to see everything, then it’s usually best to take multiple days. So, what would you like to do first? Since this is your first time here, I’ll let you pick.”

He didn’t really know. There was just so much to see and do! He finally decided to try some of the food and work their way around from there, so they headed for the food stands beside the horse show arena. The smells that wafted towards them made his stomach growl.

They found the tent with the steak sandwiches Lisa had been talking about – Butcher Boys. People were ordering them smothered with peppers, onions, and cheese in varying quantities. The stand also sold drinks in souvenir cups and chicken in flat breads with odd pockets that held the meat and vegetables in the sandwich.

After ordering and receiving their food and drinks, they headed to some tables set behind the stands so they could sit and eat in the shade. Victor took a bite of the sandwich and made a pleased noise in his throat. The meat was tender and wonderfully seasoned, the bread was the perfect size to hold all the fillings, and the condiments just added to the deliciousness. He looked around at his surroundings while he chewed. The box seats for the horse show were across the road behind another food stand that sold something called “arepas”, which was advertised as being “corn bread with mozzarella cheese”. The picture on the banner was a round disc of yellow bread with barely visible streaks of white inside. There were people buying the food, so perhaps it was tasty to some.

Once he and Alice were done with their lunch, they threw away their trash in the bin and headed down the road looking at everything. One stand was selling fresh roasted corn, another had barbeque, yet another had cubes of meat skewered on a stick, and yet another had potatoes thinly cut in a way that made them look like a corkscrew and then dunked in a pot of oil to come out crispy and golden brown. Many stands sold homemade ice cream and they saw Frozen in Tyme near a little park. They had some kind of machine surrounded by a fence in front of their stand that made quite a lot of noise; one of the workers would periodically come out from the stand to dump a bucket of ice into the machine. Since they’d just eaten lunch, they made note of its location for dessert later.

As the food stands thinned out, the stands for people selling their wares became more abundant. There were stands with clothing, jewelry, toys, little figurines, hats, belts, and all sorts of knickknacks and things.

Victor had stopped to look at some animal figures when a loud noise from behind him made him yelp and jump almost three feet in the air. He turned around to see a food stand alone on a corner; there had been a banner across the top, but it seemed to be damaged and only the word “Pizza” was left. The stand had a very large mechanical blue-eyed bear standing in front wearing a top hat and a bow tie, somehow managing to look equal parts adorable and terrifying. The noise turned out to be some kind of music, but it was ear-splittingly loud.

The music suddenly cut out and a middle-aged man came out from behind the bear, spotting Victor and Alice trying to slow their heartrates. He smiled apologetically. “Hello, hello!” he said cheerfully. “Just a glitch in the volume control. Sorry if he scared you.”

“T-that’s quite all right,” Victor half-lied. His heart was still racing a little and the jerky movements of the bear were very unnerving.

“Well, hey,” said the man, “let…let me offer you some pizza on the house…as an apology for Freddy scaring you.” The plate he held out contained two pieces of flat dough cut in the shape of triangles, topped with herbs, red sauce and white cheese.

It smelled delicious, and he did seem genuinely concerned that he’d startled them, but Victor and Alice politely declined. “We’ve already eaten,” he said, “but thank you. Er…good luck with…Freddy.” Was he seeing things or was that bear staring at him?

The man shrugged and picked up a toolbox, going back behind the bear. “Well, Freddy,” he said mostly to himself, “first you disappear a couple of days ago and now there’s a problem with your volume controls. What else can go wrong?”

His voice was drowned out by the ambient noise of the fair as Victor and Alice continued down the street browsing the tents. After walking for a few moments, Victor turned around to look back at the stand.

“Are you all right?” Alice asked him.

“I’m sorry,” he said. “That bear unnerved me.”

She patted his arm sympathetically. “Well, it’s a good thing I realized it wasn’t a threat quick enough. Otherwise that bear would have a new accessory.” Her fingers stroked the sheath around her neck where her Vorpal Blade was.

Victor chuckled and took her hand so they could continue walking the fair, deciding not to worry about scary-looking robot teddy bears. They passed the tent where Lisa’s boyfriend was doing his self-defense demonstration, giving Adam a little wave as they walked by but not staying so as not to interrupt the lesson.

They turned a corner and continued on their walk. The barns they were passing contained several different animals people could purchase for their own farms such as ducks, rabbits, and chickens. One barn had cows set up for a milking demo while another had sheep for a sheering demo. Still other buildings held more wares for purchase, such as the stall selling local honey in jars and in candy form. Victor wound up purchasing a small package of homemade fudge to snack on while they walked.

The couple found the stage where the musical guests were or would be performing. Currently on stage was a group of men and although the music of the song they were singing was very jaunty and happy, Victor had to wonder why in the world someone would have lyrics describing such horrid things happening to another person.

“What on Earth is a ‘Scion’?” he had to wonder aloud. Equally baffled, Alice just shrugged.

Shaking their heads, they continued on, wondering what else the fair could hold for them.

End chapter two.

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