Other performers milled around or made last-minute changes to their outfits to ready themselves for their next plunge into the illusory, aerial world inside the tent. With their heavy makeup and shiny costumes, in contrast to Shadow, they looked somewhat crude close-up. Mirrors were propped erratically at various angles, making the performers appear to possess multiple selves as their faces were reflected at odd angles. The impression they created in the eerie yellowish light of the improvised powder room was of ghosts floating.
Shadow was still fussing with her face powdering, adding layer after layer until her face became a mask. I decided that for now I would leave her face-to-face with her own mirrored illusion and not accost her until after the show, then maybe even take her out for a nice dinner so she could start to regain some of her vanished pounds. Shadow would not be performing in such a dingy place unless she had run out of money. Had she come here for work since our last show together was ruined?
My magician friend had been able to leave Shanghai and get this job in Hong Kong, though it was barely above being a street performer. I had come out the better of the two of us, because I had more money than I could spend, at least for now, but I guessed that she barely made enough to feed herself.
I’d find out more after tonight’s show.
Back in the tent and seated among the audience, I patiently waited through the clowns, animals, and magicians for the long-awaited entrée—the trapeze. Like last night, Shadow, now “Melodie,” and her aerial partners started their performance with immaculate precision and the audience became instantly enthralled. Though the performance was the same as last night’s, I had a sense of foreboding, an inexplicable feeling that something was going to go wrong. I had no idea what. But as a spy, I had stayed alive by not ignoring such feelings.
Seeing Shadow, I thought of our days together back in Shanghai, when I’d performed my contortionist knife-throwing with her as my target. And I thought of how she’d paid me back in our last show together. She was supposed to jump into a water tank and then appear dry among the audience. Instead, she pretended to drown and then disappeared.
So tonight, would she again ruin the show to spite the other girl, probably her new rival?
Soon we collectively held our breaths as we watched the beautiful daredevils flipping, twirling, somersaulting, and crossing high in the air. Lively music mixed with gasps and scattered applause.
Finally, when burning hoops were put out for the climatic act, I felt my neck tightening and my armpits sweating. I already knew the procedure: Shadow would jump through all the hoops unscathed, the light would go off seemingly by accident, then back on. All that would be visible of Shadow would be her costume on the floor until, seconds later, she’d reappear on the trapeze waving at the audience.
When the flaming hoops had appeared, something different happened. The girl suspended on the wooden plank next to Shadow held up a megaphone and addressed the crowd, “Ladies and gentlemen, those of you who have already seen our unbelievable Miss Melodie should know that she is also invulnerable. So, should we take down the safety net?!”
Voices exclaimed simultaneously. “Yes, take it away, that’s more exciting!”
Other voices gasped. “Oh, no, don’t! What if she falls?!”
The other girl said, “She won’t. Melodie is the best. Just be ready to watch the surprise of your lifetime!”
I couldn’t tell from Shadow’s expression if she looked confident or alarmed. Did she expect this, or was it a malicious trick by her partner? Several workers appeared and removed the safety net. The band struck up the same rousing tune as last night, Shadow’s cue to start. Like last night, Shadow performed a few flips and twirls in the air to build up the audience’s anticipation for her ultimate show—sailing through the rings of fire. All eyes were fixed on her, anticipating the impossible aerial choreography about to unfold.
Alas, this time the light went off only a second after she had leaped toward the hoops. In another second it was back on and, of course, Shadow was not to be seen frolicking in the air between the hoops. Her costume was on the ground, just like last time, but this time it appeared as if she was still in it, sprawled motionless. I fear that this was not another trick but something gone seriously wrong!
But I was not sure. I hoped that the body on the sawdust was just a dummy—like in her famous show in Shanghai. In a moment, two uniformed men rushed out with a stretcher, and a collective scream burst out from the audience. No doubt the manager had seen what had happened and did not want the audience to think that there had been an accident. Just then the orchestra changed to play an extremely cheerful and playful tune. The clowns from the warm-up show reappeared with two pretty girls dancing around the ring, trying to cheer up—or distract—the audience.
Things happened so fast that I wondered if Shadow had really fallen or if my eyes had deceived me. Could it have been only my imagination? I looked around and saw that except for a few, the audience now seemed quite happy watching the clowns and the girls in front of them. Their fears of a few moments ago had already faded into the air like a whiff of incense smoke.
Ignoring the clown’s ad-libbing, I slipped through the audience so I could go backstage to see how badly Shadow was injured—if at all. But two burly men stood blocking the back entrance.
One yelled to me. “Just leave.”
“But, I want to see if Sha… Miss Melodie is all right.”
The other grunted, “Nothing happened, you got it?”
19
Hospital Visit and a Plan
The next morning, I dashed down to the street to buy newspapers to read about last night’s calamity. Only one minor newspapers reported the incident.
The audience attending Shen’s Circus last night witnessed a tragedy when the lights failed, and magician and trapeze artist Melodie, performing without a net, fell to the ground.
Melodie was badly injured and is now being treated at Kwong Wah Hospital. It is rumored that Shen’s Circus, a family business, will now close down permanently. After years of financial struggle, they can no longer afford to pay the staff and feed the animals. There is suspicion that they plan to declare bankruptcy so as to avoid paying Melodie’s hefty medical bills.
This was the second time tragedy struck the circus in less than a decade. Five years ago, the Shen’s youngest daughter, also a trapeze artist, fell to her death during a Chinese new year celebratory performance. Mr. Shen, director and head of the circus, had then thought of closing down the circus but continued because he didn’t have the heart to abandon his loyal staff and hardworking animals.
However, since his daughter’s death, the circus, seemingly cursed, has been on a downward spiral. That was why Mr. Shen was willing to hire Melodie, an expert in both magic and trapeze, to be their major attraction—and their last hope. Until now, Shen had never used any outside performers.
Doctors stated that Miss Melodie is in critical condition but would not give further information.
After I finished reading, I set out to visit Shadow in the hospital. I hoped this would not be our last meeting and eternal farewell. I desperately hoped not, because this sad event made me realize that since we were both completely alone in the world, we should be friends instead of rivals. After all, we were what the Chinese describe as “sharing the same fate and living a lonely, isolated life at the margin of the world.”