The red-haired clown. A novel. Elena Fedorova

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СКАЧАТЬ she said, having done unquestioningly everything that was required.

      The white-haired clown was defeated. The grateful red-haired clown Charles wanted to accompany his savior to her seat. She pushed his hand away and said: “I can take it from here.”

      “Bravo!” Charles began to shout and to clap his hands loudly. The audience supported him. The girl walked to her seat under the storm of applause. She sat down, straightened her back, turned her head, and said something to a man, who was sitting next to her. He hoisted his eyeglasses on his nose and leaned forward. But new actors ran into the arena: Madame Juju with the pets dwarf dogs…

      The performance came to an end. Charles ran to his show-booth to change his clothes. Somebody loudly knocked on the door.

      “Open,” Charles cried. Somebody knocked on the door again. Then he got up, opened the door, and whistled, having seen a gentleman in eyeglasses, behind whom the cherry bows were hiding.

      “May I talk to you, Mr. Clown?” he asked.

      “Sure,” Charles said, having sat on the top step. “I am listening to you. Speak, Your Honour.”

      Charles thought that this man, dressed in an expensive gray suit, a starched white shirt, white gloves, a tall bowler, and a neckerchief, fastened with a diamond pin, was, most likely, a lawyer, to whom one should address “Your Honour”.

      “My daughter was helping you today at the arena,” he said, drilling Charles with a savage look of gray, like the colour of his suit, eyes.

      “Do you want me to share my fee with her?” Charles grinned.

      “You are stupid, “the man screwed up his face. “You are so stupid that you cannot listen to the interlocutor till the end. I am not some vagabond but a decent, respected man, a successful banker, who has deigned to honour you, a pathetic comedian, with my attention…”

      “I did not ask you to be so generous,” having crossed his legs when sitting down,

      Charles said: “You are too arrogant, Mr. Banker. I like to talk to vagabonds, they…”

      “Young man,” having tapped on the hand with a walking stick with a gold knob, the banker interrupted him. “I would never condescend to the communication with a stupid actor on the margins of the circus, if not for my daughter Simone, “he pushed the girl forward.“I am here only for her. Care to get up, Mr. Clown. Although, the word “Mr.” is too great for you. You are a jester, a poseur, an actor, who has forgotten about his true face, given from birth. I wouldn’t be surprised if you do not know your last name,” Charles slowly got up. Jaw muscles began to move on his cheeks. If not a girl with cherry bows, he would pounce on this dressed up dandy, would drag him in the dirt of the circus, in the horse manure.

      “I am truly sorry.”

      “Goodbye,” the banker said, having grinned. He noticed thatthe clown got tensed, that his eyes began to sparkle, that he clenched fists.

      “Simone, you have five minutes to talk to this…” he looked at Charles with contempt and slowly said: “per-son…”

      “You have a strict daddy,” Charles said, watching the receding banker.

      “He is my guardian,” Simone said.

      “Sometimes, once every six months, he fulfils my whims. And the rest of the time, I live in the boarding house of Madame La Rouge.”

      Charles looked at Simone with interest. She smiled.

      “I would like you to visit me in the boarding house if it’s not too much trouble for you, Mr. Red-Haired Clown.”

      “Of course not,” Charles said, having sat down on the steps again. It was more comfortable for him to talk to the girl. Their faces were at the same level. Charles noticed that her eyes began to sparkle, that her cheeks flushed.

      “Hurrah!” Simone whispered.

      “I would like to ask you to do me a favour,” Charles said, having folded his arms on his chest.

      She looked at him with wide-open eyes.

      “Don’t ever again call me Mr. Clown. Call me by name.”

      She began to nod. Charles held out his hand to her and introduced himself:

      “Charles Benosh is a young, promising actor, who dreams of playing the Prince of Denmark, Hamlet, but who is abandoned by a twist of fate in the circus show-booth Chapiteau. This is my temporary shelter. Do you believe me, Simone?”

      “I believe, Mr. Charles Benosh,” she said, handing him a white piece of paper, on which she had written in a steady childish hand the address of the boarding house and the name Simone Stowasser.

      “Meetings with a family are allowed on Mondays,” Simone said.

      “And are we a family?” Charles exclaimed, having winked her. “I would never have thought that participating in the circus act makes people so close.”

      “It does not make people close this way,” she shook her head, “not earthly but heavenly.”

      “O-o-oh!” Charles said significantly.

      “Fate brought me together with a young philosopher. You are so clever, Miss Stowasser. May I ask, how old are you?”

      “I am not too old. I am just…” she leaned forward and whispered: “I will turn thirteen in two weeks. Come to congratulate me.”

      “Ok,” he answered in a whisper. “I will come.”

      “Thank you, you are… a wonderful man, Charles Benosh,” she said and ran away.

      Charles was long sitting on the steps of his show-booth, perplexedly looking at the sheet, written in black round letters, and was whispering the name of the girl with cherry bows:

      “Simone, Simone, Simone Stowasser… What am I supposed to do with you? Am I supposed to play with dolls? Perhaps…” he sighed. “Time flies so fast: yesterday I was a child, but today… No, it’s better to remember what happened yesterday…”

      Charles saw the multi-coloured tent Chapiteau and froze.

      “I would like to look inside. I would like to take a quick look at what is happening there, to know what kind of miracles are made,” he said.

      The boys, who were standing next to him, exchanged glances. The puniest one dug Charles in the side, having exclaimed:

      “Did you forget that there are no barriers for homeless children?” Charles shook his head. “Then go ahead,” he commanded and was the first to slip into the thickest part of the crowd, thronging at the entrance to the circus. And all the other boys melted into the crowd of spectators.

      Charles found a spot on the stairs between the rows, located right under the dome. From up here the arena resembled a big bowl, on the bottom of which the miracle, the miraculous СКАЧАТЬ