The House of Freaks

A tall woman standing on a platform strung with lights that would be gaily colored were they all in working order. She is naked and entirely hairless, but her body seems to be smudged with some sort of bluish grime. You feel that there must be more to see, but you'll have to peer closely at her to find out what it is...

The inside of The House of Freaks holds true to the shabby promise of the exterior. It's spartan, but for the various freaks. You notice that the northwest corner of the tent is partitioned off by a silver curtain that hangs in grime-streaked shreds. An unpleasant blue light seeps through a rip in the canvas on the south wall. Peeling black paint marks out a doorway on the eastern wall; in better days, the scattering of faded pink and green sequins lushly decorated the door-flaps in glittering stripes, and the neon arrow calling attention to the entrance glowed with a violet luster. The lacings that hold the southwest corner of the tent have partially rotted away, and the canvas hangs open near the ground.









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Used with permission. Copyright © 1994 Daria Laur. All rights reserved.