House of Mirrors by Bonnie Dee and Summer Devon Page A

opportunities to kiss or touch, but it was never enough. Jonah was always left wanting more.
    “I’m from around here,” Sam reminded them. “I can tell you Kentucky hillfolk won’t be too interested in high-falutin’ talk.”
    “Ah, but Shakespeare was written for the masses. We must choose the right scene to capture their attention. Horror or laughter, a good murder or a bit of slapstick, maybe some men dressed as girls from As You Like It .”
    “Murder. Yeah, now that’s somethin’ people around here are interested in,” Sam interrupted. “Ghosts and hauntings. They’d pay to see a show about that. Add in a pretty woman like Mindy here, and you got a winner.”
    “I don’t act,” Mindy sniffed, but Jonah thought she looked pleased by the compliment.
    “What about Jonah?” Rafe squeezed his shoulder, setting Jonah’s heart thumping even harder. “People love to laugh at a man in a gown, and he’d make a pretty lass with a wig of blonde curls.”
    “Cut it out, Grim. You’re making him blush,” Claudia spoke in Jonah’s defense. “What you should do is a skit about The Tell-Tale Heart or maybe The Black Cat . That’d have ’em on the edge of their seats.”
    “ You’ve read Poe?”
    Jonah winced at Rafe’s condescending tone. Sometimes the man could be so arrogant, while at other times he was completely a man of the people. He had so many faces, Jonah was kept guessing which one he’d see at any given time.
    “Yes, Mr. Smarty. I can read, and I been to school too.” Claudia put him in his place with a rare glare. “Got a used book of Mr. Poe’s stories from a peddler once. Spent all I’d set aside, but it was worth it.”
    “It could be very dramatic.” Jonah was glad to support Claudia, since she’d stuck up for him.
    “Indeed. I can see it now—a series of tableaux illustrating various macabre highlights from Poe’s works.” Rafe removed his hand at last, and Jonah relaxed his shoulder. The showman moved to the head of the makeshift table and gestured with his hands as he painted a picture for them. “Dramatic lights. Eerie music. A damsel in danger. Fake blood dripping from a knife clutched in a murderer’s hand. It would be very effective.”
    “Neither the Orcullys nor the Albertinis have anything like it,” Mindy said. “And it would be cheap enough to put together. The freak tent’s too big for the few attractions we have left. Split the space and charge twice as much per head.”
    Jonah glanced at Sam. He felt bad every time Sam or Claudia was referred to as a freak. Although Dimitri, the “Signortoris,” Miss Jamie, and Fatima, the exotic dancer, were all called attractions too, they offered performances that required some level of skill. But to be stared at simply for being different seemed so wrong and struck Jonah too near the heart.
    Sam nodded in agreement with Mindy. “A show will bring more people inside.”
    “Will we get paid more?” Claudia asked.
    Rafe chuckled. “My blooming rose, always cutting to the thorny heart of the matter.”
    “How much?” she pressed. “I may be country, but I ain’t dumb.”
    “Let’s set up the show first and see how it goes.”
    Jonah couldn’t imagine how they could put together yet another attraction when almost everyone in the carnival was already working two or three jobs. When Jonah wasn’t calling for the freak show, he often ran the pony ride for Jamie. After doing their tricks in the ring, even the miniature ponies had more work to do, plodding in a circle with squealing children on their backs. It was Jonah’s duty to put the little ones on and off and make certain no one fell.
    “Talbot.” Rafe’s voice snapped him back to the moment. “You’re theatrically inclined. You put something together.”
    “Me, sir? I’ve never read Poe.” Such lurid, gothic stories had been taboo.
    “You can borrow my book,” Claudia said. “You’ll love the stories. So dark and creepy, they give me