Elephant Song

NINE

For three days Packy sat in the house, staring through a window toward Table Lake. During that time Little Will and Shiner Pete would walk the forests, and climb the hills, exploring.

They were high upon one of the Snake Mountain's foothills when Shiner Pete pointed toward the west. "Look."

Little Will looked past the lake and the jungle beyond to see white-capped peaks in the distance. "Pete, they look just like the white tops." She looked at him. "We're still a show, aren't we, Pete?"

He sat down on the grass and wrapped his arms around his knees. "I don't know."

She sat beside him. "You said the show couldn't be killed."

"Maybe I was wrong." He shook his head. "Waxy's down. He's so down. Everybody is."

"Pete, just who was Karl Arnheim?"

"All I know is he got us in the fix we're in. Every time I ask Waxy about Arnheim, he don't want to talk about him."

"Neither does Packy."

They sat in silence for a long time, looking at the white-topped mountains. Little Will lowered her glance and stared at the jungle betweeg the mountains and the lake. "Pete, what do you think happened to Waco and Fireball?"

"Dead most likely." He pushed himself to his feet and held out his hand. "Come on. Let's go back. This is getting to be as much fun as staking babies out on anthills."

"Number Ten is back down."

Moments after word of Number Ten's return had spread throughout Miira, Little Will, Packy and the others from Number Three gathered in the square marking the center of town. The sun was hot and the air quiet as Waxy Adnelli stood before a box and shook a handful of papers in the air. "I got this stuff from Warts down in Tarzak." He put the papers upon the box and began reading.

"Across that ocean next to Tarzak is another continent. Number Two went down there. Number Two's radio was working..."

And the inhabitants of Miira learned that car Number Two was located across the sea upon a continent the troupers in Number Two were calling Midway. One hundred and nine troupers went to the big lot when Number Two hit. Among them, Bone Breaker Bob Naseby, the show's surgeon, was fatally injured when Two plowed up some real estate upon touching down. This left the total medical knowledge on Momus in the hands of Butterfingers McCorkle, Bone Breaker's flunky, and Mange Ranger. Leadfoot had given Number Two instructions on how to get to Tarzak. Boat building was already in progress.

And the inhabitants of Miira asked about friends, loved ones, family, enemies that had gone down with Number Two.

Fish Face Gillis, kid show director, dead.

Na-Na, the two-headed lady, dead.

Pod, the three-legged man, lost a leg.

Dog Face Dick, the wolfman, alive.

Big Sue, the giantess, alive.

Teena and Weena, midgets, both alive.

Amazing Ozamund, magician, alive.

Madam Zelda, fortune teller, alive.

Slippery Sash, escape artist, dead.

Electric Lips, barker, dead.

Motor Mouth, barker, alive.

Mootch Movill, shooting gallery concessionaire, alive...

After he had read out the list of living and dead, Waxy continued with Wart's report.

Number Ten said that there appeared to be a possible route through the Upland Mountains north of Kuumic, and through the swamp and jungle from Kuumic to Miira. The grades appeared to be gentle, with no swamps to drain, and only one major river crossing.

An expedition from Kuumic had made it across the desert to Tarzak, provisioning themselves with cobit root along the way. They protected themselves from the desert sun by using loose hooded robes made from their clothing. The expedition reported that there were large numbers of fissures along the route (confirmed by Number Ten) that gave off a hot, constant flame. It was supposed that the fires were fed by some enormous natural gas reservoir. The expedition used these fires to cook their cobit and to keep warm during the desert nights.

Farther around the planet were various and sundry islands of assorted sizes, and then a huge, jungle-covered continent with high mountains and wide plateaus. Number Ten then crossed a wide sea, then returned to this continent. Since it was between Midway and the western continent, the mass of land where nine of the Baraboo's ten cars had put down was called the Central Continent. Midway is midway, while the continent west of the Central Continent was called the Western Continent.

After some commentary regarding the originality of the continents' names, Waxy continued.

The sea west of Central was called the Western Sea, while the body of water between the Central and Midway continents was called the Sea of Baraboo. Before landing back in Tarzak, Number Ten noted what appeared to be an enormous geological rift that split the northern third of the Central Continent. The high peaked cliff visible across Tarzak's harbor was the southern end of this rift. Leadfoot Sina, chief pilot of Number Ten, reported that this might mean shaky times in Tarzak town.

The measurements taken by Number Ten showed that there was no measurable winter on Momus, the Moman year was eight-tenths of an Earth year long, divided into three hundred and four days of roughly twenty-three hours each. Warts had divided the three hundred and four days of the Moman year into ten months of five weeks of six days each.

The year began with the month of May, followed by: Rain, Mud, Wind, Thunder, Hail, Flood, Quake, Layup, and Winter. The days were called: Workday, Bluesday, Herdsday, Quads-day, Payday, and Funday.

To fill in the remaining four days, Warts had created an eleventh month, The Season, consisting of the days of Put Up, The Stand, The Show, and Teardown. Midnight of Teardown, the fourth day of The Season, would be the anniversary of The Crash.

Waxy lowered the paper from which he had been reading. "This four-day month called The Season. Warts's put out the call for everyone to show at Tarzak for parade."

There was a grumble among the inhabitants of Miira. Packy Dern walked forward into the square and shouted: "The bullhands'll be there—with bells on!" He looked around at the now silent crowd, then he turned to Waxy. "How long do we got before The Season? What day is it?"

Waxy studied another sheet of paper. "Let's see, this is the two hundred and sixty-eighth day since the crash, which makes... ummm, this the month of Winter. Bluesday, the eighth of Winter. That means there're twenty-two days before The Season."

Packy looked around at the faces. "My road gang. Get it together. We're moving out in two hours to join the boss hostler's gang to finish gettin' down Slowdown Cliff. From there we go on to Tarzak to make parade."

THE CALENDAR OF MOMUS

Months: 1 May 2 Rain 3 Mud 4 Wind 5 Thunder 6 Hail 7 Flood 8 Quake 9 Layup 10 Winter 11 The Season 1 Put Up 2 The Stand 3 The Show 4 Teardown

Days:

Workday 1 7 13 19 25

Bluesday 2 8 14 20 26

Herdsday 3 9 15 21 27

Quadsday 4 10 16 22 28

Payday 5 11 17 23 29

Funday 6 12 18 24 30