Ray Bradbury - Dark Carnival

DARK CARNIVAL

RAY BRADBURY

HAMISH HAMILTON

LONDON

First published in Great Britain, 1948

GRANT M. BEACH

PRINTED IN GREAT BRITAIN

BY WESTERN PRINTING SERVICES LTD., BRISTOL

The Homecoming

Skeleton

The Jar

The Lake

The Tombstone

The Smiling People

The Emissary

The Traveller

The Small Assassin

The Crowd

The Handler

Let's Play 'Poison'

Uncle Einar

The Wind

The Night

There Was an Old Woman

The Dead Man

The Man Upstairs

Cistern

The Next in Line

The Homecoming

'HERE they come,' said Cecy, lying there flat in her bed.

'Where are they?' criedTimothy from the doorway.

'Some of them are overEurope, some over Asia, some of them over the Islands, some over SouthAmerica!' said Cecy, her eyes closed, the lashes long, brown, and quivering,her mouth opening to let the words whisper out swiftly.

Timothy came forward uponthe bare plankings of the upstairs room. 'Who are they?'

'Uncle Einar and UncleFry, and there's Cousin William, and I see Frulda and Helgar and AuntMorgianna, and Cousin Vivian, and I see Uncle Johann! They're all coming fast.'

'Are they up in the sky?'cried Timothy, his little grey eyes flashing. Standing by the bed, he looked nomore than his fourteen years. The wind blew outside, the house was dark and litonly by starlight.

'They're coming throughthe air and travelling along the ground, in many forms,' said Cecy, in hersleeping. She did not move on the bed; she thought inward upon herself and toldwhat she saw. 'I see a wolf-like thing coming over a dark river at theshallows just above a waterfall, the starlight shining up his pelt. I see abrown oak leaf blowing far up in the sky. I see a small bat flying. I see manyother things, running under the forest trees and slipping through the highestbranches; and they're all coming this way!'

'Will they be here bytomorrow night?' Timothy clutched the bedclothes. The spider on his lapel swunglike a black pendulum, excitedly dancing. He leaned over his sister. 'Will theyall be here in time for the Homecoming?'

'Yes, yes, Timothy, yes,'sighed Cecy. She stiffened. 'Ask no more of me. Go away now. Let me travel inthe places I like best.'

'Thanks, Cecy,' he said.Out in the hall, he ran to his room. He hurriedly made his bed. He had justawakened a few minutes ago, at sunset, and as the first stars had risen, he hadgone to let his excitement about the party run with Cecy. Now she slept soquietly there was not a sound.

The spider hung on asilvery lasso about his slender neck as he washed his face. 'Just think, Spid,tomorrow night is All Hallows' Eve!'

He lifted his face andlooked into the mirror. His was the only mirror allowed in the house. It washis mother's concession to his 'illness.' Oh, if only he were not so afflicted!He opened his mouth, surveyed the poor, inadequate teeth nature had given him.No more than so many bean kernels, round, soft and pale in his jaws. Thecanines were nothing at all! Some of the high spirit died in him.

It was now totally darkand he lit a candle to see by. He felt exhausted. This past week the wholefamily had lived in the fashion of the old country. Sleeping by day, rousing atsunset to move about. There were blue hollows under his eyes. 'Spid, I'm nogood,' he said quietly, to the little creature. 'Can't even get used tosleeping days like the others.'

He took up the candle. Oh,to have strong teeth, with incisors like spikes. Or strong hands, even;or a strong mind. To have the power to send one's mind out, free, as Cecy did,while lying on her soft bed, sleeping. But, no; he was the imperfect one, thesick one. He was even he shivered and drew the candle flame closer afraidof the dark. His brothers snorted at him. Bion and Leonard and Sam. Theylaughed because he slept in a bed. With Cecy it was different; her bedwas part of her comfort for the composure necessary to send her mind abroad tohunt. But Timothy, did he sleep in the wonderful polished boxes like theothers? He did not! Mother allowed him his own bed, his own room, hisown mirror! No wonder the family skirted him like a holy man's crucifix.If only the wings would sprout from his shoulder blades. He bared his back,stared at it. He sighed again. No chance. Never.

Downstairs were excitingand mysterious sounds. The slithering sound of black crpe going up in all thehalls and on the ceilings and doors. The smell of burning black tapers crept upthe banistered stairwell.

Mother's voice, high andfirm. Father's voice, echoing from the damp cellar. Bion walking from outsidethe old country house, lugging vast two-gallon jugs of liquid that gurgled ashe moved.

'I've just got to go tothe party, Spid,' said Timothy. The spider whirled at the end of its silk, andTimothy felt alone. He would polish cases, fetch toadstools and spiders, hangcrpe, but when the party started he'd be ignored. The less seen or said of theimperfect son the better.

All through the housebelow, Laura ran. 'The Homecoming!' she shouted gaily. 'The Homecoming!' herfootsteps everywhere at once.

Timothy passed Cecy's roomagain, and she slept soundly. Once in a great while she went below stairs.Mostly she stayed in bed. Lovely Cecy. He felt like asking her, 'Where are younow, Cecy? And in whom? And what's happening? Are you beyond the hills?and what goes on there?' But he walked on to Ellen's room instead.

Ellen sat at her desk,sorting out all kinds of blonde, red and dark hair and little clips offingernail gathered from her manicurist job at the Mellin Town beauty parlourfive miles over. A sturdy mahogany case lay in one corner with her name on it.

'Go away,' she said, noteven looking up at him. 'I can't work with you gawking.'

'All Hallows' Eve, Ellen!'he said, trying to be friendly. 'Just think!'

'Huh!' She put fingernailclippings in small white sacks and labelled them. 'What's it mean to you? It'llscare the hell out of you. Go back to bed.'

His cheeks burned. 'I'mneeded to polish and work and help serve.'

'If you don't go, you'llfind a dozen raw oysters in your bed tomorrow,' said Ellen, matter-of-factly.'Goodbye, Timothy.'

In his anger, rushingdownstairs, he bumped into Laura.

'Watch where you'regoing!' she shrieked from clenched teeth, out of which stuck tiny flat-headednails. She hammered them into doors and upon them hung what a joke! imitationwolfsbane! 'Won't this give Uncle Einar a fright!' she shouted to everybody.

She swept away. He ran tothe open cellar door, smelled the channel of moist earthy air rising frombelow. 'Father?'

'It's about time,' Fathershouted up the steps. 'Hurry down, or they'll be here before we're ready!'

Timothy hesitated onlylong enough to hear the million other house sounds. Brothers came and went liketrains in a station, talking and arguing. If you stood in one spot long enoughthe entire household passed with their pale hands full of things. Leonard withhis little black medical case, Samuel with his large, dusty, ebon-bound bookunder his arm, bearing more black crpe, and Bion excursioning to the wagonoutside and bringing in many more gallons of liquid.

Father stopped polishingto give Timothy a rag and a scowl. He thumped the huge mahogany box. 'Come on,shine this up, so we can start on another. Sleep your life away.'

While waxing the surface,Timothy looked inside.

'Uncle Einar's a big man,isn't he, papa?'

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