Blessed Virgin of the Circus- 19.

Yana lost the baby slowly and gently, over a few days. The relief was palpable. She popped SleepXM most of the time. In the meantime, Mara practiced like a maniac. Fire-breathing, piercing and acro for at least 2 or 3 hours. The lot outside the camper was a great place to put a rehearsal mat down, and the practice trailer was usually available to Mara late nights. She’d kept up most of her basic conditioning, but training was incredibly painful. To have she and Yana go through such a parallel of pain was strange and awe-inducing, though Mara knew that she would never carry a child. Birth didn’t seem so much a miracle to her at this point as it did a tragedy. Always tying women into knots.

Three days later, Yana finally conversed.

“I had a dream the Virgin came to me. She put her hands on my belly and said “be healed.” And then I could feel this thing lifting out of me. She looked South Asian or Indonesian. Her robes were incredible.”

“Oh. I see.” Was all that Mara could reply. “Shouldn’t you, uh, see a doctor or something? Just to make sure?”

“Probably. But since when have we had health insurance? Since when did we go offsite for anything besides food? Since when did the outside world care about carnie folk?”

“I guess you’re right,” said Mara. “Anyhow, I’ve been talking to the statue less lately. I just wanted to say that. Really, honestly, I’ve seen her, but I don’t know whether I believe in her.”

Yana was silent. Then: “Yeah, I dunno. Me neither.”

Then, the most softness from either of them in years.

“I hope you feel better, Yana.”

**

Mara trudged over to Mala’s tent. She didn’t want to have to do this. Mala greeted her with a grimace, but seemed too exhausted for hatred today.

“What is it?” She said practically, but her immediate sense was that it could be something profitable. This contained and calmed her. She’d wanted a couple of nice new toys for the boys.

“Mala…I need to ask you something. I need a spell. To get rid of somebody.”

Mala’s face softened. “ You've come to the right place. It will be so easy. And you can even pray to your statue.”