Chapter 3
Stupefied, Mona remained where she was for uncounted minutes. Her diamond wristwatch told her it was after midnight. She might have had a good chance of getting home by dawn, or a little later, if she knew in which direction to walk. Mona had never possessed a really good sense of direction. Now, still stunned, she looked around her, and she realized whatever she did, she wouldn't get too far by simply standing out here.
She began walking, though she had no idea which way she was moving. She did know her way down from the promontory where the car had been parked, but once there, she had no idea which way to go. The cornfields and potato fields all looked like one waving mass in the moonlight. The potato fields were easier for her, since potatoes grew underground, but she still had no idea where she was or who owned what. Even worse, she didn't have her purse. She had figured she wouldn't need it, being out with Bobby, who always paid for everything. As a result, she didn't have any money at all. Mona had never felt it necessary to keep mad money in her stocking or her brassiere. Not that keeping money in her brassiere would have helped, since Bobby had made the undergarment all but useless. It dangled from the two loops around her shoulders, but the snaps in back had been broken.
As the early hours in the morning passed, the sky seemingly getting darker and darker, Mona kept walking, knowing she would eventually find some place with a phone. It was quiet, too quiet, save for the night crickets. No cars came along the road she walked on, no lights were visible save for the stars. It was all dense land on either side of her, and with each passing moment Mona was a little more afraid. She rubbed her hands over her forearms, and to her horror she felt the lightest lint-like growth of hair. She was horrified. Bobby had done it! He had terrified her so, the hair on her arms had started growing again.
Reaching down, she touched her thighs. So far, nothing. No hair. Maybe the electrolysist had done a better job of removing the hair follicles from her thighs than from her arms. Or perhaps there were less hair follicles in her thighs to begin with.
Her feet hurt. Her ankles, calves, and thighs were sore, and she felt her heart racing all the more swiftly. Horror filled her.
Now she was sobbing, praying to some unknown, unseen deity for some kind of salvation, little knowing this walk she was enduring was going to be the last good thing to ever happen to her in her lifetime. Mona Kase was about to disappear off the face of the earth.
Her breath was heavy in her chest. She panted, and her eyes, misted with tears, saw something up ahead. She saw structures of some kind, and as she came closer, she realized she was looking at railroad cars. She was near a railroad trestle. She also saw tents, though the tents were being taken down, and it finally occurred to her that she had found her way back to the carnival. Maybe, if she promised one of the workers there some money, he would help her get back home.
As she approached the railroad cars, she realized there were soft lights coming from some of the windows. Staggering toward the nearest car, she almost stumbled over someone, and at the last moment found herself staring down at a misshapen dwarf. Elmo, the dog-faced dwarf, had been another of the freaks Mona had relentlessly taunted when she had looked at them, earlier. He was only three feet tall, with black hair, a hunched back, and he wore heavy boots. His clothing consisted of denim pants and a denim shirt.
Apparently his primitive eyes were better than hers, because he seemingly recognized her immediately.
"Please," she gasped. "I need help. Please.. . I'll pay money . . . anything . . . but I have to find a way back home."
"Sure," Elmo said to her, his voice surprisingly deep for one so short. He took her by the hand, feeling her cringe when he touched her, and he led her to the first railroad car. "My friends, inside, will be the ones to talk to."
Exhausted, barely able to walk, she climbed the steps and walked into the Pullman car with Elmo leading the way. The aisle was still lit up, though faintly, and the curtains had been drawn over the Pullman berths.
"I'll pay anything," Mona told him, "anything."
"I know," the dog-faced dwarf nodded, smiling, and the smile was far from reassuring. Yet Mona was so desperate, she was willing to trust anyone at this point.
"What you need, dearie, is a cup of something warm to drink," a small voice said to her, and looking down to her left, Mona saw Mrs. Imp, one of a pair of very small midgets looking up at her. Her husband, Mr. Imp, was fast asleep in the berth they shared.
"Yes," Mona nodded, and gratefully accepted a coffee poured from a thermos cup. Her throat was parched.
She drank, the coffee neither too hot nor really cool. She drank it all in one gulp and sat on the edge of one of the berths. She began telling Mrs. Imp and Elmo what had happened to her, complaining how no one at home gave a damn about her, when she suddenly passed out.