Tragic Events - Part II

A tall, mustached young man with a kindly face steps out of the vehicle

He smiles at the girls

'Hello'

And presents them with the first candy they had ever tasted

A Twix bar

Which they share in silent, odd delight

The girls do not feel at all uncomfortable when the man lifts them

Gently into the dark, spacious trunk

In the following days the girls are transferred into the trunks or several other cars

By many other kindly candybar offering men

Until they reach their final destination

At the lake side lodge in Manitoba

The underwood lodge is a collection of cosy

Water front cabins with an attached trailor park along the shores of lake Winnipeg

It is also the world headquarters of Budding Flowers Entertainment

Specializing in the production and distribution of photographs

And VHS tapes for clientele with unique tastes

The girls are welcomed by Mrs Deborah Bouldger

The 52-year-old proprietress

"Well, hello, girls"

A women of enormous proportions

Who lives with her own three children in the main lodge of the underwood

Upon finding that the girls have no names she christens them Eva and Lynn

Names, which neither she, nor the twins themselves are ever able to keep straight

'Eva, Lynn'

The twins days of the underwood are relatively comfortable

They are well cared for

The food is delicious and there are many other girls their age

Once a week, photo sessions take place

Convivial affairs that involve make-up (smile)

A wide variety of dress up costumes and inventive new games

Every few days Mrs Bouldger introduces the girls to one of their many uncles

"Eva, Lyn, say hello to your uncle Mark"

"Hey"

These uncles, seemingly endless in number

Travel from all over the world to visit their nieces

The girls don't always like their new uncles

But Mrs Bouldger is always quick to remind them that

"family is family" and "blood is thicker than water"

The conjoined sisters are not popular amongst the other girls

However, one gentle resident

A few years their senior befriends them and takes them under her wing

"Hello, what's your name?"

Her name is Sandy

"I'm Sandy"

She has soft, blond hair that reaches down to her knees

Everyone says she looks like a mermaid

Dressed daily by Mrs Bouldger

In trade mark fishnet stockings and vintage attire

Sandy is by far the most popular girl of the underwood

She has so many uncles that the twins lose count

Every night after dinner and chores

Sandy talks the young sisters into bed

And tells them fantastic stories until they fall peacefully to sleep

"And after the three long weeks at sea Jean Luke, the sailor finally spotted land"

But these happy times do not last

Shortly after the twins' third Christmas under Mrs Bouldger's care

Sandy disappears, never to return

The twins remain in the underwood

For the greater part of two, long, miserable years

Without Sandy to protect them

They are ostracized and abused by the other girls

"What are you looking at, four-eyes?!"

The photo sessions involve fewer fancy costumes and over time

Their uncles become more peculiar

'Did I ask you to talk?'

The twins begin to notice the disturbing tendency for girls

Much like their dear friend Sandy

They quietly disappear from the underwood around their 12th or 13th birthday

The sisters brace themselves for something terrible

One autumn, when the girls are eleven

An old man, who speaks only Spanish

Takes the twins into a large, orange van and drives them to their new home

"Step right up, step right up, see amazing human oddities"

"Freaks of nature, be warned, people with heart condition"

"Children, women, we will accept no responsibility"

"For fainting, reoccurring nightmares, or death"

Dillard and Fullerton, elusive and illogical traveling show

Is the 12th largest touring circus in North America

Former insurance salesman, Dillard and Fullerton

Distinguish their enterprise by procuring

The most shocking specimen of the grotesque and unusual

Their small administrative staff works tirelessly

To combat legal actions and public allegations

Of animal cruelty and human slave trafficing

Life in the circus is harder than their time at the underwood

There is always work to be done

In addition to their chores of laundry and sweeping

Mr Dillard insist that the twins spend many hours each day practicing their act

"What are you staring at for?"

The girls are frightened of the clowns

Several of whom, by amazing coincidence, also happen to be their uncles

'Hello, hello, hello'

But still, overall these early days at the circus are happy time for the twins

Every night to the delight of audiences across the country

The girls appear in the center ring, singing and strumming the ukulele

At the top of Bimba and Kimba

The world's only known conjoined twin siamese elephants

The twins feel they have found true soulmates in Bimba and Kimba

Who they affectionately refer to as 'Elephant, Elephant'

This special bond is reciprocates by the pakaderms

Who fondly nozzle the girls with their trunks

And seem to delight in giving them rides

The twins and the elephants are inseparable

With the help of the Alphonso de Ares tin, the animal trainer

The twins tend to the elephants, feeding them and grooming them daily

But one terrible August morning

Bimba and Kimba refuse to take their food

Due to the unsanitary conditions of their quarters

And an improper diet of popcorn and cotton candy

The elephants have contracted a rare form of elephantine diphtheria

Compounded by early onset Alzheimer's disease

For the next two weeks can only stand by helplessly

As their companions become sicker and weaker

And begin displaying obvious signs of memory loss

The last few days are almost unbearable

With Bimba and Kimba's confused

Sad eyes looking up at the girls with great anguish, but no hint of recognition

And on one, grim, September day

The sisters 16th birthday

Elephant Elephant dies

The funeral is held at the same day a grizzly affair

Had an industrial trush compactor behind a Home Depot in Fort Dodge, Iowa

The twins are devastated

Without Bimba and Kimba life is but a terrible and meaningless void

They resign themselves to living out the rest of their hollow existence in solemn mourning

The emotionally exausted sisters fall from favour within the circus

No longer willing to sing and play their ukulele

The girls are dressed in a pink tutu and forced to balance on the giant red ball

An impossible task for the conjoined sisters

"Get on that damn ball!"

The audience roars with laughter each time they awkwardly fall

Their discomfort is increased by a pair of radical groups

Who have taken an interest in the twins

Every night in most major cities, protesters assemble

Nosily waving signs and chanting slogans in front of the Box Office

The first faction claims to represent an organization called "F-A-S-S-E-N"

The Foundation for Always Separating Siamese Twins Everywhere Now

Citing the bible, F-A-S-S-E-N members believe

That it is the will of the Lord that all conjoined twins be separated

And allowed to live individual lives

Wielding symbolical surgical saws and blunt carbon knives

F-A-S-S-E-N members tried the ticket buyers for supporting the abomination of God

The second group operates under the acronym S-P-L-I-T

The Society for the Preservation of Linked Identical Twins

A reactionary organization

Working to discredit the claims of F-A-S-S-E-N

S-P-L-I-T believes that conjoined twins

Will play a critical role in the second coming of Christ

The twins are terrified by both groups

The knives and saws make them very nervous

And S-P-L-I-T members make threats to kidnap the girls

And take them to where they will be kept safe in a place of darkness until the rapture

One day before a Sunday matinée in Sacramento

A chaotic brawl erupts between the two factions

And one F-A-S-S-E-N member gets allarmingly close to the twins with a hacksaw (it's the will of the Lord)

Stricken with fear, the sisters decide that they are no longer safe at the circus

That night, they make a resolution to leave the Dillard and Fullerton travelling show

Foever