The Second Dream
The first occupied stall was crowned by a banner that declared Greed. On the stage, Captain Farnam sat at a table, spooning gold coins from a bowl and eating with ravenous appetite. His teeth broke as he ate and fell in bits onto the table, but he cared not.
The next exhibit was titled Envy. Here Captain was dressed in a magician’s tuxedo. From a top hat, he produced a dove whose wings were bound so it could not fly. Captain returned the bird to the hat, plucked flames from thin air, and threw the fire onto the dove.
Horrified, I ran back to the entrance and halted at the sight of rain.
Instead of bearing the words Admit One, the ticket in my hand said Compassion and on the flip side Revenge.
I wiped my thumb across the latter and erased it.
The old woman selling tickets took mine, and the storm stopped.
I stepped outside into sunshine. The ten-in-one was gone with all the carnival except for the ticket seller.
She said, “Compassion is not that easy, dearie,” and she too disappeared.