Doubled Headed Man Part One: End of the Freaks

I wish to thank Dwayne Johnson and Peter Dinklage, who inspired this story. If you put Peter Dinklage on the back of Dwayne Johnson, with Peter's face overlooking Dwayne's left shoulder, they look like brothers. I love both of their collections of work, and thank them for all the entertainment I have enjoyed watching their stellar performances through the years!! Thank you!!  Laura Deane

 

Denver, Colorado  September, 1900

 

 

“What! What do you want? What’s so important?”

 An enormous bald man with a billowing black cape stormed toward the table, making Sharon think of a giant vulture descending upon her. She was speechless at the sight.

 “Come on!” he commanded. “Myra said I needed to talk to someone dressed in an orange dress at this restaurant. What’s going on!”

“Uh, I…” Sharon stammered.

His obvious irritation riveted up a notch.

“Spit it out! Did you ask Myra to meet me here or not?” he demanded. “I haven’t got all day! I’ve got work to do!”

“I didn’t ask Myra anything,” Sharon finally sputtered. “She told me I was supposed to meet someone here in a black cape, and I should wear my orange dress. She picked it out of the ones I showed her. I’m as clueless as you are.”

He tried unsuccessfully to stifle an exasperated look and sat down across from her, his cape billowing behind like he’d flown in on a gust of wind. There was a large bump on the back of his left shoulder covered by the cape that seemed to be moving and… making garbled noises.

“How do you know Myra?” he asked, ignoring the movement of the covered bump.

Sharon frowned, gazing first at his disgruntled face and then at the rippling earthquake going on behind him.

“She wrote to my mother. She and my Aunt Abby were friends. My mother is Abby’s sister.”

He pondered her statement. “Then that makes us—”

Suddenly a small head with thick dark hair appeared from under the cape behind the giant's left shoulder and cried, “Cousins!”

“Cousins,” the giant man said at the same time.

“Aunt Abby is… was your mother?”

“You sure are ugly for being my cousin,” the small head said.

Sharon looked at the giant and the small head behind him. “Are you a ventriloquist?” she asked the giant.

The small head laughed and laughed. “As if he could put words in my mouth.”

A small murmuring began in the Buckhorn Exchange Restaurant as people stared at the scene unfolding at their nearby table.

“Have you ordered?” His tone altered slightly. 

Sharon shook her head, No, and tried to figure out who and what were the duo before her.

“I want a steak,” the small head said.

“You’ll get what I order,” the giant said.

The little man raised small arms and began pummeling the giant on his bald head.

“I want steak! I want steak! I want steak!” the small head said over and over again.

“Stop pounding on me or I’ll tell Violet.”

“Is she here?” The little man looked around in fear and ceased his antics.

“Waitress!” the giant motioned for the server. “Would you please bring us some bread.”

The young woman stood with her mouth agape, and after the giant repeated himself several times, she finally backed away. She came back and deposited a basket of bread, her arm extended as far as she could so that she didn’t come near the table. The giant tore a slice in half and stuffed it into the small head’s mouth, nonchalantly finding the open mouth without looking back.

Well, Sharon thought, they are part of Doc Pete’s Wild, Wild West Show. Maybe they’re one of the acts. She wished Myra had given her more of a warning.

As if reading her thoughts, the giant said, “Typical Myra. I’ll bet she’s laughing her ass off in her tent, thinking about us meeting for the first time.”

“Myra has to find ways to make herself laugh to deal with you freaks all day long,” the little man said.

“Who’s calling who a freak?” the giant said irritably.

The small head began demanding steak again, and the giant with a perfectly executed back-handed gesture, jammed another piece of bread into his mouth.

“Look,” he said to Sharon, “I don’t think that waitress is going to come back any time soon while we’re here, so I’ll leave for a few minutes, and you order us a buffalo steak. Okay?”

Sharon nodded. The giant replaced the cape over the little head, and she saw small fists jabbing and poking at the cloth as they exited the restaurant.

The food arrived, the waitress depositing the plates and making a speedy departure. The double headed man came back to sit down across from her. The little head and arms appeared from under the cape. They ignored the whispers and jabbering of the other patrons. The giant cut a small bite of steak and held it up on the tines of the fork. A small hand reached out and took it, stuffing it into his little mouth, smiling in ecstasy and smacking loudly.

“I wish Myra would have told me a little about you,” Sharon said.

“What do you want to know?” the giant asked, placing a large cut of meat into his mouth, and slicing a small bite to lift on the fork to the little man.

“From what my mother could find out, her younger sister Abby died shortly after she and Myra ran off to the west.”

“That’s what Myra told me. She died giving birth to us.”

“So, Myra raised you?”

“Yeah, pretty much. All of the Wild West show people took care of us, too.”

“Do you have an act in the show?”

“We tried that once, but the audience thought we were faking being joined, so they booed us. He didn’t take too kindly to that.” He pointed back at the small head with his fork.

“I pounded you up good for that one!” The little man grinned gleefully.

“So, you are… attached, then? Brothers?” Sharon asked hesitantly.

“Yup"

“What are your names?” Sharon asked.

“I’m Dan. He’s Will. Myra named us after her brothers who died in the War between the States. And you’re…”

“I’m Sharon.”

“That orange color really doesn’t look very good on you,” Will, the little man, said. “Hey, how old are you?”

“Twenty-five. How old are you?”

“Thirty-five. Ha. I’m better than you ‘coz I’m older.”

“Knock it off, Will. You sound like a four-year-old. How long are you going to be with… Myra. With the show,” Dan asked.

“A few days. Myra asked me to come. I guess I was always curious to know what happened to Aunt Abby after she ran away. She was only fifteen.”

“Well, I need to get back,” Dan said, changing the subject. “You want me to take you in the wagon?”

“Sure. I’ll have the waitress wrap up the food. I wasn’t very hungry.” The extraordinary meeting with her cousins had significantly diminished her appetite.

“I’ll meet you outside.”

 

He was gone, and left Sharon to pay the bill. Fortunately, Myra had given her two dollars, apparently knowing what her adopted sons would do.

Two black horses hitched to a sturdy wagon stood pawing the ground, anxious to be off. Dan helped her up onto the seat. He sat to her right and picked up the reigns. “Hahh!” he shouted and they were off.

Will’s small little hand reached out and lightly petted her hair. She jumped at his touch, but slowly relaxed and enjoyed the gentle caresses.

“I didn’t really mean you were ugly or that color wasn’t good on you,” Will said softly.

“I know,” Sharon said.

“Will is quite the lady’s man,” Dan said. "He even got married once."

She looked at the two beside her. “How does that work?” she asked curiously.

“Will does the kissin’ and I do the lovin’,” he grinned wickedly.

She was glad it was near dusk and he couldn’t see she was blushing.

 

“Dan! Am I glad to see you! Borgnine’s hotter than a hornet. Train is pulling out in half an hour, and the horses ain’t loaded yet. And Dorothy won’t budge without you.”

“I’m headed that way now,” Dan said striding confidently through the chaos as darkness was descending. Tents were being pulled down, and people were running in organized panic.

“Hey, Dooley. Hey, Mac.”

Two strong-looking men nodded and fell in step beside him as Sharon ran along behind, trying to keep up. Will gestured with his small arm to hurry up.

“We got most of the tack loaded,” one of the men said.

“Thanks, Dooley. Hi Violet,” Dan said to a seven-foot tall woman who matched his long strides. Dan was tall, but Violet towered over him.

“You been good, little man?” Violet demanded.

Will eyed the flagpole of a woman fearfully.

“Cause you know I’ll pound you if you don’t behave.”

Will pulled the black cape over his head and was silent.

Two male midgets ran up to the giant man. “Hey, Dan. Okay if we get on the train? We’ve loaded all our stuff. We don’t want to get left behind.”

“Sure. Everybody, this is my cousin, Sharon,” Dan said, making introductions as he walked quickly along. “Mac would you take her to the train and find Myra. She’ll ride with her.”

“Yes, boss.”

“Who’s Dorothy?” Sharon asked Mac as they turned in the opposite direction. “One of the men said she wouldn’t budge without Dan.”

“The elephant,” Mac replied.

Sharon found Myra in a passenger car behind the cars that held the horses and animals. She seated herself across from Myra and watched as Dan and company loaded Dorothy into the car in front of theirs. Horses were quickly loaded as well. Dooley, Mac and Violet climbed into the first car, Dan and Will into the second. Within minutes, the train was moving.

“Made that just in time,” Myra said, releasing a pent-up breath. “Train doesn’t wait for anybody. You get left behind and fired if you’re not on time, no matter who you are.”

Around them show performers were settling into their seats, chatting quietly or dosing. Lanterns lighted the space, a soft glow barely hiding the shabby and worn upholstery.

“Why didn’t you tell me about them? About Dan and Will? Give me a little warning?” Sharon asked quietly.

“And say what? By the way, your cousins are joined back to front at the shoulder. Would that have even made any sense?”

“No,” Sharon said. “Why didn’t you tell Dan and Will who I was.”

“Dan wouldn’t have gone. He had other plans. I had to make it an emergency so he dropped what he was doing to meet you.”

“I would have met them eventually.”

“Something said you needed to meet today. So, how did it go? Did you get on okay?”

“Yes,” Sharon smiled. “I really like them. Both of them.”

“That was fast. They usually take some getting used to.”

“It was wonderful for you to take care of them as they grew up.”

“Abby was my best friend in all the world. I owed it to her.”

“Can you tell me more of what happened to Aunt Abby?”

“It’s not a happy story, but I’ll tell you the honest truth. We ran away from home, from Ohio, Abby and me, and headed west, as you know. Hopped a train and ended up in Denver. Doc Pete’s Wild, Wild West Show was in town. We got jobs as cashiers. There were these Siamese twin brothers. They raped Abby one night. She nearly died then and there. The manager, Taylor, told them to clear out. It got heated, and they shot and killed Taylor, then ran off. I nursed Abby through her pregnancy, and she died giving birth to Dan and Will. I raised them after that.”

“Poor, poor Aunt Abby. Do Dan and Will know all of that?”

“They know as much as they want to know.”

‘What do you do in the show?”

“I’m the seamstress. I sew all the costumes.”

“Why did you write to us, to my mother, now? After all these years?”

“Things are changing for Dan and Will. I can’t say what yet. I have a sense about these things. But they needed to have some family besides myself. I’m fifty-two years old, working with the show for nearly forty years. Life on the road is hard, takes its toll. I don’t know what the future holds. I wanted them to know where they came from, that they had a place to go if they needed one.”

“Are you like a teller of the future?”

“No, but I have these inclinations, some call them instincts. I’ve found it best to follow them.”

They were passing through the darkness, clacking along tracks through a night without the moon. It felt oddly comforting to be speaking with Myra in the enclosed capsule of the train car, learning finally about her aunt.

“Somewhere out there, not far from here, I have a little piece of ground on the Colorado prairie,” Myra said, gazing out the window. “I homesteaded it back in years gone by, 160 acres. My adopted daughter lives on the land during the summer and paints. I always thought I would retire there.”

“You have an adopted daughter, too?”

“Yes. Her father came on as the manager of the show about fifteen years after Taylor was killed. I did my best to take care of her. Poor, scared little thing. Her mother had been murdered, and her father was an abusive man. Sara was only five years old, and skittish as a young colt. She’d hide from everybody. The only person she tagged along after was Dan, and he couldn’t be bothered. He was fifteen, and busy with a capital B, taking care of the show’s animals. He was always good with the horses. Still is.”

“And with Dorothy, the elephant.”

“Yes,” Myra smiled. “Good with Dorothy. She worships the ground he walks on. Dan's good with all the animals and those weaker than himself.”

“How does it work with them?” Sharon spoke aloud her thoughts. “Sorry, this is not a very ladylike thing to ask, but how does Will go to the bathroom?”

“They’re joined from the top of Will’s chest down to just above his privates. He wears a diaper and changes it himself. I make his clothes so he can dress himself, easy to get on and off. I make Dan’s clothes, too, to accommodate Will. Will’s feet reach to about Dan’s thighs, his legs don't work.”

“Did you make Dan’s cape?”

“Yes, it helps Dan camouflage Will when he has to be among regulars, away from the show folk. Here among us,” she gestured toward the others in the car, “Dan and Will and all of us who are different are accepted, but out there… people act like we’re monsters.”

“People were staring at us and saying rude things when Will was pounding on Dan’s head.”

“Will’s always been mean to Dan, mostly out of frustration, I think, punching, hitting, pulling his hair. I couldn’t get him to stop.”

“That’s why Dan shaves his head?”

Myra nodded. “And Will would pick fights, knocking people’s hats off, throwing food at passersby, and Dan would have to finish the ruckus with his fists. He grew really street smart, strong, wouldn’t take anything from anybody. It was not easy for either of them, but they’ve managed to make it work through the years. They didn’t really have a choice. Make it work or die.”

“What about Violet? Will seems terrified of her.”

“Ah, yes. Tall, tall Violet. When Violet joined the show about ten years ago, she’d come up behind and pinch or slap Will. He soon quit hurting Dan. Just the mention of her is enough to stop him. Dan will fight anybody if they mess with Will, but I think he was relieved to have someone watch his back, quite literally, and Violet is the only one Dan lets touch Will.”

“Hello, Myra.” A tall man in a fashionable suit stood beside their seats, his hair slicked back with grease, and a small razor thin mustache gracing his upper lip.

“Hello, Borgnine. I thought you were traveling on the next train with all the other higher ups.”

“Have some business at our next stop. Needed to get there sooner rather than later. And who is this lovely young lady?” Borgnine smiled a fox-like smile, showing uneven canine teeth.

“This is Sharon. She’s come to visit me for a few days.”

“Well, we’ll have to get to know one another better,” he said, chafing his hands together in anticipation.

“I heard there was some problem with the boxes in the last car, something about the printing on the tickets.”

Borgnine frowned. “I better go check.”

“You stay away from him,” Myra warned. “He’s the manager and should know better, but he can’t keep his hands off the young women. He’s going to get himself a working over one of these days for taking liberties with the wrong girl.”

Just then, the train rapidly braked to a halt and did not start again. Borgnine hurried past them, muttering about time schedules, and entered the next car where Sharon caught a glimpse of a gray form, Dorothy.

Sharon got up to go see what was happening.

“Stay here, dear,” Myra warned. “We’ll find out soon enough what’s going on.”

“I won’t be gone long,” Sharon said. She wanted to make sure everything was all right in Dan and Will’s car.

She passed through the car where Dorothy was ensconced. Borgnine had left the doors open to the platform leading to the next car. Dorothy’s inquisitive trunk was examining all the steel pieces of the platform’s equipment. Sharon laughed when Dorothy snuffled her as she squeezed by and entered the next car.

“Dan! Will! Everything okay?” Sharon found Dan gently speaking to the horses in their stalls, their long noses quivering.

“I opened the doors to see if I could tell what was going on,” Dan said, “but so far I only see a bunch of lightning and rain.”

“I don’t like storms,” Will said nervously. He tried to look around Dan's broad shoulder at the open prairie beyond the train, rain slanting sideways illuminated with each lightning strke.

Borgnine joined them. “The engineer is worried about the bridge up ahead over the arroyo. Said other engineers warned him there’s been storms in the past few days and he wants to be sure the trestles are sound.”

“Ah, Sharon, was it?” Borgnine grinned a lecherous smirk and took a step toward her.

“Leave her alone, Borgnine” Dan growled.

“What’s it to you?”

“She’s my cousin, and you won’t have an unbroken bone in your body if you go near her. I won’t let happen to her what happened to Carrie.”

“Now, see here,” Borgnine began, puffing out his chest, “you can’t talk to me that way.”

“Sharon, please go back by Myra. I have some business to take care of here.” He glared pointedly at the manager.

“But---”

“Please! Now!” Dan’s tone brooked no argument.

Sharon squeezed past Dorothy and returned to her seat. She started to tell Myra what had transpired when there was a lurch as if they were starting to move and then… nothing. No movement.

Booming thunder rolled over the stationary car, as bursts of lightning ricocheted outside the windows, lighting up the sky, and then, an exceptionally large lightning strike illuminated a huge wall of water careening down the small riverbed toward the bridge...

 

Minutes later Dooley erupted into the passenger car. “Hurry! Dan and Will are trapped under the train car. We’ve got to get them out!”

“What happened?” Myra cried.

“No time to explain,” Dooley said, grabbed a lantern and hurried out.

The other show performers took lanterns, exited the train and stood staring in dejected astonishment at the train car on its side in a raging river, attached to a car halfway off the bridge. Horses were trapped and whinnying in fear. Men took lanterns and followed Dooley across the still standing bridge.

On the far bank of the river, Violet stood with a lantern, the light showing a figure struggling to keep his head above water. Mac had managed to circle a rope around Dan’s chest and under his arms and stood on the bank pulling with all his might to keep their faces above the water line. Another man joined him and helped Mac keep the rope taut.

Dooley returned and hurriedly said, “We need to get Dorothy to help lift the car.”

“How is she going to get over there?” Myra asked. “Can she walk across the bridge?”

“We’ll find out.”

“Come on, Dorothy," Dooley cried. "Dan needs your help!”

At the sound of Dan’s name, the behemoth lumbered down the ramp and across the bridge as if she’d done so all her life. Dooley pointed to the train car from the bridge and commanded, “Lift!”

Dorothy balanced precariously on the narrow rails and endeavored to get her trunk into the right place to provide leverage. She finally managed to lift the car enough that Mac and his companion pulled Dan and Will out of the water. Several of the men dragged them up onto higher ground. A collective sigh of relief escaped the onlookers.

“What in the world happened?” Myra asked one of the men who’d come back.

“Near as we can tell, the engine traveled over the bridge with the two cars that held the horses, and a giant wall of water coming from upstream washed the second car off the bridge, taking the other car halfway down with it. Dooley, Mac and Violet managed to get out of the first car, but Dan and Will were trapped.”

“Why didn’t the rest of the cars follow?”

“I think I know the answer,” another man said. I found the coupling pin that joins the two cars on the floor in Dorothy’s stall when I was helping Dooley unload her. How she got that out…”

“I saw her checking the platform through the open door while the train was stopped,” Sharon said. “She must have found the pin and pulled it out.”

“Thank goodness,” Myra said, “or there would be more in the river. Is anyone else missing or hurt?”

“We’ll check,” the men said.

“They’re going to bring Dan and Will over to us until they figure out the next step,” Violet said, joining them. “Dooley said to get blankets and warm water ready. He’s bringing Dorothy back. Myra, brace yourself. It’s not good. I’m sorry”

The men brought Dan and Will into the passenger car and gently laid them on the floor. Sharon knelt beside them, and gently called their names. Dan’s eyes flew open.

“Will! Is Will okay?”

The somber faces gathered around gave him the answer.

“God! Not Will! Please God, not Will! Somebody try to save him!”

“We tried,” Dooley said, “on the riverbank, but he’d been under the water too long

“I tried to keep his head above the water. I tried! Damn it!”

“There was nothing you could have done differently,” Mac said. “We tried too, but… the way you landed, and the water…”

“God! I can’t even see him!” Dan stormed.

“Maybe best you don’t.” someone said.

“Get me a mirror, damn it!”

One of the midgets found one and handed it to him. He adjusted the reflective surface until he was gazing at the ashen face of his brother, dark wet hair plastered to his head, eyes closed and unmoving.

He slowly put the mirror down. “You should have let me drown too!”

“No, Dan,” the company all murmured. “We need you,” someone said.

Dan turned on his side and rolled into himself in the narrow aisle. He refused to be comforted. "Get away from me! Just everyone get the hell away from me!"

 

“Where’s Borgnine?” someone outside the train asked.

 “Haven’t seen him,” another answered.

“He was in the car with Dan before the water hit,” Sharon said.

“We need to get Dan to a doctor,” Dooley said. “The engine is on the other side of the bridge. One of the cars is hanging halfway off the bridge. Maybe we can get it uncoupled and carry Dan over, have the engineer take him to the next town..”

Myra nodded. As senior member of the show, she was the one to go to if the manager wasn’t to be found. 

“You go with them, Dooley, and let the police know what’s happened.”

“Will do.”

“I’d like to go with them, too,” Sharon said.

Myra gave her approval and entered the car to kneel down and tell Dan what their plan was. He refused to acknowledge that he’d heard. She gently kissed Dan’s then Will’s forehead.

“He’s a strong man,” Myra said as Sharon collected her bags. “But this… I’m glad you’re going with him. I need to stay here until we can find Borgnine.”

“I’m glad you wrote us when you did,” Sharon said. “I’m glad your instincts were so… perfectly right.”

“I wish they hadn't been," Myra said sadly. "But I’m glad we met. Have a safe journey home.”

 

Part Two: 

After Dan travels to Europe and works in Italy for several years to escape his grief, he goes to Harvard University and plays football, and US President Teddy Roosevelt saves the sport from extinction.

 

Part Three

Dan finds love.

Copyright August 2021 Laura Deane

 

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.