Ascension (24 page)

András had pulled Margit and Etel in the opposite direction. He briefly considered scaling the other animal chute, but the fire had burned hotter there and the bars were too hot to touch. He opted instead to try for one of the exits near where the fire had started. When people had seen the fire, they had instinctively gone in the opposite direction, which was partly why they were being crushed over where Salvo was, but this impulse afforded András, Margit and Etel a greater chance of escape. If they could run the gauntlet of the flames, they would be able to pass through the exit relatively easily.

They ran as fast as they could, first Etel, then Margit, then András. When they were halfway to the exit, one of the sections of bleachers collapsed, sending chairs raining down on them. András was knocked to the ground, and when he got up he saw Etel lying in front of him, unconscious. He picked her up and continued towards the exit. He did not know that his shirt was on fire, and he could not see Margit.

Outside, Cole Fisher-Fielding could tell that the big top was about to come down. The canvas itself had not burned through yet, the fire still feeding on the flammable waterproofing. Once the support rigging that held the canvas aloft burned, the canvas would fall as a sheet of fire. Then Cole heard someone shout that the fire had spread to the menagerie. The animals were trapped.
He knew the trainers would rush to the menagerie right away, but he himself did not budge from his task of trying to help people through the side walls. People came before animals.

Inside, the fire had spread to the ground. The chairs and seat wagons, thick with years of coats of paint, ignited quickly and burned hot. Salvo and Anna were nearly out, three-quarters of the way down the chute. Its barred roof was seven feet off the ground, and they scuttled across it as though climbing a horizontal ladder. The cries of those pressed against the bars of the chute were drowned out by the roar of the fire and the commotion of the crowd. Salvo wanted to help those trapped, but there was nothing he could do. If he tried to pull them up onto the roof, he himself could be pulled down.

A hand grabbed his foot, he shook it free. Then, suddenly, a child’s face was in front of him. He looked down to see a young woman, trapped against the bars, holding the child up to him. Without thinking he took the child, a boy, maybe five years old. There was nothing he could do for the mother. He continued, close behind Anna. He was slowed by the boy, losing the use of one hand, and Anna got further ahead of him, and then she reached the end of the chute. Here the canvas was secured to the metal of the chute with rope-ties. Anna loosened the knots and squeezed under the canvas to freedom. Salvo was seconds behind her. Holding the boy like a sack of potatoes he breached the tent and fell to the ground.

He got up and ran away from the tent, catching up to Anna. He collapsed to the ground beside her and looked back, just as the fiery canvas descended upon those still inside. The boy in his arms was crying. The menagerie must be on fire also, he thought, mistaking the screams of humans for the trumpeting of elephants.

András had emerged from the tent, moments earlier, and he quickly saw that Margit had not made it. He carried Etel to safety and, finally realizing that his shirt was on fire, dropped to the ground and rolled, tearing the shirt from his body. He smelled burning flesh, unsure if it was his own. People ran by, some trailing flames, others untouched by the fire. Ten feet from him a man lay unconscious, smouldering.

András struggled to his feet, summoning strength to go back into the tent. He suspected that Margit had been felled when the chairs toppled on them, and that she could be lying just inside, maybe under a chair. People were streaming out of the exit, and as he attempted to go in someone bumped into him, sending him flying. When he got up he saw Margit being helped out by a man in a sailor suit. He ran up to her, helping the sailor lift her to a safe distance.

“I called to you,” she said, “and you ran past me.” She passed out, her ankle jutting to one side, broken.

Cole Fisher-Fielding was still trying to get more people out when the big top had collapsed. A shroud of flame descended on those still inside, intensifying and then silencing the cries of the trapped. It had been only twelve minutes since the fire had started, and it was all over. A singed giraffe ran by him, falling down awkwardly. Cole ran over to the menagerie, hoping something of use could be done there.

Most of the animals were still locked in their cages. Elephants, zebras, camels, lions, panthers, giraffes, gnus, deer, ostriches, horses, apes—they were all still inside. The elephants that were in the ballet had been saved, and the giraffe Cole had seen had somehow managed to jump out of its enclosure, but the rest were trapped. Handlers worked furiously to get the animals out. Some of the elephants obeyed their trainers and went through
the flames, but many of the other animals refused to be moved, stubbornly afraid. One old elephant, startled and disoriented, ripped the arm off a man who was trying to lead it to safety. The beast remained in the elephant pen, its trunk wrapped around the dismembered limb, and not even Emil Narwha could convince it to come out. Several of the dangerous cats were pulled to safety, their cages mounted on wheels and easily rolled free of the fire. A pygmy hippopotamus knew enough to submerge itself in its pool, and if the water didn’t boil, Cole thought, she would probably survive.

Cole and the animal handlers worked as fast and as long as they could. When scraps of canvas began to fall, igniting the straw on the ground, he ordered everyone out of the menagerie. One man who worked with the apes wept without shame as his animals burned. Emil Narwha had to be forcibly restrained to prevent him from going back in after his remaining elephants, but he broke free of his captors and bolted into the tent. He never came out.

Anna Ursari’s first thought after escaping the big top was for Mika and Elsabeth. She was so concerned for their safety that it was a long time before she even noticed that Salvo carried a wailing boy in his arms, and even then she didn’t pay this much heed until they had located the girls, safe in the care of their circus guardian.

When fire crews arrived there was little they could do to save anyone. Later they began the grim task of recovering bodies. This fire was not like a normal fire. Usually, people died of smoke inhalation. Here, they were roasted alive. More than one veteran firefighter could be seen retching at the edge of the woods. It was even worse in the makeshift morgue; people attempting to identify the bodies of loved ones were forced to hold perfumed handkerchiefs to their faces.

In total, 112 people and fifty animals died. The sound of gunfire could be heard from the area where the animals had been moved. Salvo saw one elephant, its skin half peeled from its flanks, being led in the direction of the shots, and several minutes later he heard three successive blasts of a rifle. He felt sorry for the creature and would never again look at an elephant with hatred in his heart. Salvo did not yet know that his friend Emil was dead. When he found out hours later, he would collapse to the ground, his hands beating futilely at the trampled earth.

András and Etel were at a ramshackle infirmary, receiving treatment for their wounds. Margit had been taken to the hospital to have her ankle set, and would undoubtedly wait there for quite a while, as her injury was not life-threatening. Etel had a large bruise on her head, and she, András and Anna all had minor burns and blisters. Salvo was the only one of them who had managed to escape unscathed; not a hair on his body was harmed.

The same was true of their rescued boy. After seeing that the others were being attended to, Salvo took the boy around to the various aid stations and meeting places that had sprung up. He hoped he would be able to find someone who knew the boy’s family. He had little hope of finding his mother. Already they had begun to bring bodies out of the area where the chute had been.

The boy could be of little help. Aside from his name, which was Daniel, he didn’t or couldn’t say much. He didn’t appear to know the names of either of his parents, or his last name, or where he lived. Salvo supposed the boy was in shock and assumed that he would remember this information later. Either way, he was unsuccessful in locating anyone who knew the child, and he didn’t want to take him to the police. He had saved this child, and it was his responsibility to see that he ended up in the proper place. Where that was, he wasn’t sure, but he didn’t trust the police here
any more than he had in Budapest, and he wasn’t about to just hand the boy over. This was, however, exactly what Anna thought they should do.

“He is not our child,” she said, when he returned.

“What would you have me do?”

“He must have parents.”

Salvo looked at Daniel, who was fast asleep on the floor. “I think they are not alive.”

Anna swallowed. “He is not our responsibility.”

Salvo nodded, but they both knew that he was.

Elsewhere, Cole Fisher-Fielding was attempting to ascertain the extent of the disaster. He did not yet know exactly how many people had been killed or injured, but he knew that there had been nearly ten thousand people under the big top that afternoon, and he knew that a significant number of them hadn’t got out. So far, he hadn’t heard whether anyone from the circus had been killed in addition to Emil Narwha. Not everyone was yet accounted for, but many were, a consolation that did little to alleviate his worry. He knew that there would be tough questions in the days ahead, and that things were going to get worse before they got better. He also knew this was very likely the end of the Fisher-Fielding Circus Company.

T
HE
F-F
WAS IMPOUNDED
—neither performer nor equipment nor animal permitted to leave town. After extensive interviewing and an exhaustive investigation, the cause of the fire was still unknown. Arson was suspected, and the women’s toilet area was assumed to be the starting point, but investigators had no solid evidence and no suspects. Soon their questioning turned to those who ran the show. Where were the fire extinguishers? Why weren’t there sufficient exits? Most importantly, why had the big top burned so quickly?

When they learned that there had been no extinguishers, the men whose responsibility it was to set them out were arrested on charges of criminal negligence. When they learned that the canvas of the big top had been waterproofed with paraffin and gasoline, they arrested Cole Fisher-Fielding on the same charge. He protested; the F-F had applied to the army for permission to use non-flammable waterproofing and had been refused. Materials were in short supply, and military needs took precedence over the circus.

The Ursaris could not believe what was happening.

“I do not understand,” András said, “how these Americans can drop bombs like that on Japan and hold no one responsible, but for this accident they will put an old man in jail.”

“It is as always,” Salvo answered. “People want someone to blame.”

“Cole Fisher-Fielding did not start the fire,” Anna said.

“People are angry,” Salvo said. “Their anger will lessen, and they will let Mr. Fisher-Fielding go.”

Etel looked up from her seat on the floor of the railcar. “It burned so fast.”

No one spoke. After a while Anna picked up Mika and Elsabeth and left for the cookhouse. Salvo and Daniel stayed behind for a bit, then followed.

Etel stayed in her place on the floor, saying nothing. No one had yet noticed that she hadn’t smoked a single cigarette since the fire. András was lost in his own thoughts, János asleep on the bed.

When Anna and Salvo returned to the railcar, Margit was back from the hospital. She had been there a week with her broken ankle. She was packing her suitcase, hastily throwing her meagre belongings into it.

“Margit, be reasonable,” András implored.

“There is no reason to you. You left me to die. I want no part of you any more.”

“I did not know you had fallen.” András tried to place a hand on her arm, but she pulled it away.

“You never looked to see. I watched you. You fall, get up, look only for Etel, run right by me.”

“I didn’t see you.”

“I called out. I screamed loud as loud can be. You did not turn.”

“I didn’t hear you.”

“No, you did not want to see or hear me. You made your choice, András. You left me to die. You are dead to me.” She threw her suitcase out the door and hobbled past him.

“Margit—” Salvo began.

“I will go with you no more, Salvo Ursari. Thank you for all you have done for me in the past, but I go with you no more.”

“What about János?” Anna said. “He is your son.”

Margit looked at the boy, appearing as though she might soften or even break her resolve. Then her face hardened. “Very little of him has anything to do with me. He is his father’s son. Let him bear this.” She continued out the door.

“Go after her, András,” Anna said.

András did not move.

“András?” Salvo said.

“Yes.”

“She is leaving.”

“Yes.” András’s voice broke.

“Aren’t you going to go after her?” Anna asked.

“No.”

“Why not?”

“Because she is right.” András turned to face the wall. “I did not see her. But if I had, I would have done what she accuses me of.” He would not look at them. His shoulders shook, but he made no sound. Salvo and Anna backed out of the railcar, children in tow.

They went to a shady section of grass and let the four children play. Salvo sat leaning against a tree, and Anna rested her weight on his side, her head on his shoulder.

“If I went, would you come after me?” she asked.

Mika laughed as Daniel threw a handful of grass into the air. Elsabeth was sniffing the earth like a dog, and János the baby lay on his back staring up at the sky, gurgling contentedly.

“You would never go,” Salvo answered, finally.

“No,” she said, “I wouldn’t.”

They learned the next day that Margit had gone to Los Angeles with one of the vendors. They were both charged with obstruction of justice, as performers were under orders not to leave town, but the charges were eventually dropped.