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     entrance so’s everyone could get a gander at him on the way into the big top. I just kept talking and talking to him while
     everyone was running from the tent. The heat of it was fierce. I never stopped talking till the tent finished burning. Took
     about five minutes, no more. That tent was a big sucker. Twice the size of our tent today. Five minutes and it was gone.”
     She snapped her fingers. Her fingernails were long and painted. Margie hadn’t ever seen a red as red as that.
    Something began to form in Charlie’s eyes. Up till now he hadn’t spoken to anyone who’d actually stood watching the whole
     thing. Up till now everyone had been running away or they were being burned or crushed, or they were busy helping the hysterical
     children separated from their mothers, and the just-as-hysterical mothers who were searching for their children.
    Charlie asked, “Did you see anything unusual?”
    Now Dixie squinted at Charlie. “Well… ’course I was concentrating on Gargantua… but everyone was doing the same thing which
     I guess you’d call unusual. They were all running away from the burning tent, afraid to so much as take a quick glance back.
     Even when they stopped running, they didn’t look back. Lot of ’em just put their faces in their hands.
    “The screaming was what made Gargantua crazy. He stood there gripping the bars of the cage like there was no tomorrow—shaking
     them till I thought he’d rip ’em out. In the papers, reporters said he was trying to escape from the fire. Horsetrash! He
     knew he was safe. He’d always trusted me. Some jackass even said the gorilla was laughing, getting his revenge. But no sir,
     not Gargantua. What he was doing was begging me to let him out so he could save those screamin’ kids. He loved children.”
    Dixie stopped talking and Charlie remained silent. Margie closed her eyes. For a moment, their minds were off dead children
     while they felt sorry for a gorilla. Then Charlie asked, “And what did you do next… Dixie?”
    “Next, I went to my wagon, melted down a pot of Vaseline, and saturated the piece of canvas with it.” She stopped and took
     in their confusion. “See, I didn’t notice the canvas stuck to me till I was walking back to my wagon wondering why the hell
     my shoulder felt so stiff. Skin came off with it, though. ’Fraid of that.” She lifted up her sleeve again. “Got this graft
     in Chicago. Not bad, huh?”
    “It looks good,” Margie said.
    “You were burnt too, right?” She gazed at Margie. People had come to think that Charlie’s obsession had to do with his falling
     in love with the girl whose whole back was burned in the fire. Margie just kind of went along with that assumption. She said,
     “Yes, I was.”
    “Sorry.”
    “Thank you.”
    Dixie said, “You get grafts?”
    Margie cleared her throat. “No, I didn’t.”
    “How come?”
    Charlie was staring at her. Margie said, “I never saw the need.”
    There was a silence. Then Dixie said, “They come a long way, honey. Give me a call if you want the name of my man. His family’s
     circus. His specialty is circus. Fixes broke bones, clawed skin, rope burns. Told him a rope burn wasn’t as bad as what I
     had, but he said not to worry. So I didn’t. He was damn good. I was able to rip all those little puffy sleeves off of my costumes
     soon’s he took off the bandages. Amazin’.”
    Margie thanked her again.
    Dixie said to Charlie, “Really think someone started that fire, don’t ya?”
    “Yes, I do.”
    “Hate to think you’re right, mister. At the same time, I never heard of a circus tent catchin’ fire all by itself. But I can’t
     help you there. When you’re keepin’ a gorilla calm, you don’t concentrate on much else.”
    Charlie leaned forward in his chair. Dixie did, too, though she didn’t know it. Charlie’s eyes could draw a person to him
     like he had the person on a leash. Those eyelashes. He said, “Dixie, you were just