The Bridge

77

Virgil, Allie, and I walked the streets to the vacant lot where the big tent was set up. With each block we walked we could hear the band getting louder and louder.

Other Appaloosa townsfolk were moving through the streets, too, and we soon found ourselves in a stream of traffic headed for the festivities.

When we rounded the corner we could see the band sitting out in front of the tent playing a lively tune, as two jugglers kept numerous colorfully painted balls in the air.

Beauregard stood next to the tent’s entrance, greeting the crowd with big how-do-you-dos.

He was in costume. His face was painted with makeup. His eyebrows were dark, his face was powdery white, and his cheeks and lips were bright red. He was dressed like Porthos the Musketeer with a huge feathered hat that flipped up in the front, a velvet frockcoat and waistcoat, knee-high boots, a sword attached to his hip, and a handkerchief protruding from under his coat sleeve.

“Oh, goodness,” Allie said with the enthusiasm of a child. “Oh my goodness.”

“Looks like a good turnout, Allie,” I said.

“Oh, it does, Everett,” she said. “It certainly does.”

“I suspect your promotional efforts paid off,” I said.

“There’s Nell,” Allie said.

Nell exited the tent in an elaborate Marie Antoinette — like pannier-hooped dress with a low-cut bodice that exposed a good part of her bosom.

“Oh my word,” Allie said.

“Guess it’s almost showtime,” I said.

Allie excitedly scurried her way through the crowd and over to Nell.

“Guess so,” Virgil said.

“Big to-do,” I said.

“It is,” Virgil said, looking around.

Beauregard saw Virgil and me as we moved closer toward the entrance with the rest of the townsfolk.

“Hello, gentlemen,” he said, over the top of the others in front of us.

Beauregard stepped away from the crowd and got in step with Virgil and me as we moved toward the entrance.

“Marshal Cole,” he said. “And Deputy Marshal Hitch. Welcome. I am certainly glad you came out tonight. We have an exciting show in store for you this evening.”

“Looking forward to it,” I said.

“And you, Marshal?”

“Me, too,” Virgil said.

“Fantastic,” he said, then stopped walking.

We stopped as well, because he was leaning in as if he needed to say something.

“Look,” Beauregard said. “I know we got off on the wrong foot and I know you don’t much care for me. But I just want you to know, as much as you may despise me, I hold no one more accountable for those despicable feelings toward me other than me.”

“Despicable feelings?” Virgil said, looking around at the crowd. “We’re here like everyone else, to see your show. Ain’t that right, Everett?”

“Just like everyone else,” I said.

“Fine and dandy,” Beauregard said. “But I don’t imagine there’s a day that goes by that either of you are even remotely close to being like everyone else.”

The insides of the tent’s walls were painted to look like a European landscape with various villages on the horizon.

Virgil, Allie, and I took our seats and the show began, starting with Beauregard stepping onstage.

“Appaloosa,” he said. “Let’s start by giving yourselves a big round of applause for being here tonight.”

He clapped and most everyone in the two-hundred-plus crowd did the same.

“Let your friends and family know,” he said. “We will be here each and every evening with a variety of new and exciting entertainment, so keep coming and we’ll keep you feeling glad that you did.”

Beauregard went through the list of the evening’s events to be presented. He let everyone know there would be a three-act play, with intermissions, along with singing, dancing, and fortune-telling by Madame Leroux.

Beauregard ended his intro by saying, “Following the play, we have the most magnificent of magic from Dr. Longfellow, so sit back and enjoy... the show.”

The show got under way and for the most part it was very entertaining. The play was funny. Beauregard and Nell were good performers, and Beauregard actually made Virgil laugh.

The first intermission had a rousing singing and dancing number that included Nell showing off her legs as well as her vocal skills. The bit was enjoyable, but I was curious to see what the next intermission brought with Madame Séraphine Leroux.

The second act of the play seemed to go on forever. It was engaging, but I was anxious to see her when the act ended and Beauregard stepped out onto center stage.

“Now, this is something really special,” he said. “Something I know you all have been waiting for. Allow me to introduce to you the one, the only, the mystic, the clairvoyant, the beautiful... Madame Leroux.”

Beauregard held out his hand toward the side wing and Madame Leroux walked onstage.

Virgil leaned forward and looked to me.

I could not take my eyes off of her.

Madame Leroux was a beautiful woman wearing a turban, but she was someone else, someone other than Séraphine. She was an exotic-looking woman, but she was weathered, with a dark complexion, and looked to be maybe sixty-five or seventy years old.

Virgil leaned Allie forward a bit and edged himself over behind her, cupping his mouth as he spoke in my ear. Allie looked back and forth between Virgil and me.

“Nice-enough-looking lady, Everett,” he said. “A little long in the tooth for you, though, don’t ya think?”

He leaned back in his seat but remained looking at me.

I looked at him.

He nodded, offering a slight encouraging smile with his eyebrows raised.