Freezer Burn

PART FIVE
A New Climate
Thirty-seven

“So, you just sort of slipped on the ice and ran into the motor home?”

“Yes. It’s all my fault.”

“Naw. Naw. It happens.”

The sheriff poured Gidget another cup of coffee and made to adjust the blanket, trying to steal a look at the front of the wet black shirt, the two nipples poking at the fabric. As he moved the blanket, Gidget shifted in the chair and crossed her long legs. The blue jean pieces still clung to them. Her legs were coated with dirt and little bits of sticks and leaves, but she looked all right to him.

“This your carnival?”

“My husband’s. I’m afraid it’s all over now. I don’t want anything to do with it. Jesus, not after…”

“The other fella?”

“He worked for my husband. They were supposed to discuss business. It’s all my fault. Jesus. Did they find him?”

“Not yet. And it isn’t your fault. It’s the weather’s fault. You remember that, little lady. It’s the weather. You’re not responsible for anything.”

“Thanks, Sheriff… I can’t thank you enough.”

“Don’t thank me. The river’s to thank.”

“I don’t remember much.”

“It washed you and that freezer up near a fish camp. You was clinging to that freezer like nobody’s business. Couple niggers seen you and brought you in. By the way, that two-headed nigger. That real or some kind of made-up thing?”

“It’s real. He’s a Siamese twin.”

“I didn’t think that stuff was real. This freezer, we got it out back. That man in there. That a real man?”

“I don’t think so.”

“That could cause some problems.”

“Listen, Sheriff, you got to do what’s right, but my husband bought that thing from another carnival. He’s had it for a long time. It’s just an exhibit. If it was ever anybody it was somebody long ago and ain’t nobody to anyone now.”

“We ought to take fingerprints.”

“I know. And you can. But I’m telling you. It ain’t nothing to nobody but me. If it gets confiscated, I wouldn’t have any way to make a living.”

“Then you’re going to keep the carnival?”

“No. Just the exhibit, if you’ll let me.”

Gidget moved her shoulder slightly and the blanket slid off and showed not only her nipples against the shirt but more of her long legs and the bottoms of her buttocks.

“I’d do almost anything to keep from the red tape, Sheriff.”

“Yeah?” the sheriff said.

“Yeah,” Gidget said, and pushed the blanket completely off and let it rest on the back of the chair.

The sheriff went over and locked the door.