The Museum of Extraordinary Things
Page 33
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He came to New York because during his self-education he had studied Walt Whitman and had idolized him, as I did. Due to his reading, Mr. Morris was certain that it was only in the city of New York, so abundant with energy and life, that he would be accepted, able to exist as any other man, despite his differences. He would make his way along the great avenues and the rivers pulsing with commerce; he would walk among the shipbuilders and the workers. Instead, he was locked up on his second day in the city, arrested for creating a nuisance. It was there in jail that my father found him, huddled in a cell, blood streaking his hair. Mr. Morris had been beaten nearly senseless on Broadway in front of a massive crowd, his abusers cheered on by those who were convinced he was a monster. The constables had been of the same opinion, and had kept him cuffed and chained.
I was in the back of the carriage on the day my father went to the holding cell known as the cage in the Tenth Precinct on Twentieth Street in Manhattan. I was nearly twelve by then and nearly a woman, and I already had begun to accompany my father on business forays. Maureen said my presence gave my father credibility, a word I’m sure he never imagined she knew. I think Maureen hid how bright she was because of her position in life; a housemaid had no right to address a learned man. She had no rights
at all.
My father had informants in police stations and hospitals who, for a small fee, would contact him when a particularly interesting specimen was found. Raymond Morris was brought out to our carriage, confused and covered with welts. I lowered my eyes, so as not to gawk, which would have been unseemly, especially when I considered my own abnormalities. Mr. Morris was unique, however, and I couldn’t help but peek at him. I suppose he got into our carriage because it was the only option. The Professor rolled a cigarette, which he offered to his new companion as he discussed terms of employment. Oddities profited here in our city, my father said. Raymond Morris laughed, just like any man. I was sitting behind them, even more silent than usual. I admit my first reaction upon seeing this wonder was sheer terror. To my surprise Morris had a deep, resonant voice as he answered my father’s statement with a recitation.
“Now I see it is true, what I guess’d at,
What I guess’d when I loaf’d on the grass,
What I guess’d while I lay alone in my bed,
And again as I walk’d the beach under the paling stars of the morning.”
In response, my father snapped, “Don’t speak in riddles, speak plainly.”
But I knew those words to be Whitman’s and I could only imagine what Raymond Morris had guessed at before he’d come to our city and seen firsthand what cruelty could be. Perhaps I took a step away from my father on that day, and began to side with the wonders he employed.
“Do you want the work or not?” my father said coldly. “I don’t wish to waste my time.”
“Frankly, sir,” Morris said of the employment he’d been offered, “I have no other choice.”
We traveled back to Brooklyn without any further conversation, though there were dozens of questions I might have asked. Raymond Morris was left at a boardinghouse where many of the living wonders resided, along Sheridan’s Walk, a stretch that ran from Surf Avenue to the ocean, and would in a few years be totally in the shadow of the Giant Racer Roller Coaster. The Professor paid a full month’s rent. “I’m trusting you,” he told Morris, making it clear that as an employee Morris was expected to report to the museum the following day and each day after that. “I don’t expect you to let me down,” my father advised. Indeed, he seemed quite convinced the new man would not run away. Morris knew what awaited him on the beach and on the avenues, a crowd of abusers, nothing more. As we drove off my father was whistling. “That’s money in the bank,” he said. “A true one of a kind.”
I looked behind us and watched the figure of Raymond Morris on the steps of the boardinghouse, a stranger to Brooklyn and to our world. I prayed that he might indeed run away, and that he might find some empty stretch of marsh or woods where he would be allowed to be
a man.
THE FOLLOWING WEEK the season began. From my window, I could see the human curiosities gathering in the yard, served coffee and tea by Maureen. There were old standbys who returned year after year, as well as fly-by-night acts, some of whom barely lasted a season. We’d had several pairs of Siamese twins, as well as an alligator man, whose skin was covered with bumps he tinted green. There’d been dwarfs and giants, fat women as well as women so thin one could nearly see through their pale flesh. I was interested in every one, for each had a story, a mother and father, a dream for the future.
I was in the back of the carriage on the day my father went to the holding cell known as the cage in the Tenth Precinct on Twentieth Street in Manhattan. I was nearly twelve by then and nearly a woman, and I already had begun to accompany my father on business forays. Maureen said my presence gave my father credibility, a word I’m sure he never imagined she knew. I think Maureen hid how bright she was because of her position in life; a housemaid had no right to address a learned man. She had no rights
at all.
My father had informants in police stations and hospitals who, for a small fee, would contact him when a particularly interesting specimen was found. Raymond Morris was brought out to our carriage, confused and covered with welts. I lowered my eyes, so as not to gawk, which would have been unseemly, especially when I considered my own abnormalities. Mr. Morris was unique, however, and I couldn’t help but peek at him. I suppose he got into our carriage because it was the only option. The Professor rolled a cigarette, which he offered to his new companion as he discussed terms of employment. Oddities profited here in our city, my father said. Raymond Morris laughed, just like any man. I was sitting behind them, even more silent than usual. I admit my first reaction upon seeing this wonder was sheer terror. To my surprise Morris had a deep, resonant voice as he answered my father’s statement with a recitation.
“Now I see it is true, what I guess’d at,
What I guess’d when I loaf’d on the grass,
What I guess’d while I lay alone in my bed,
And again as I walk’d the beach under the paling stars of the morning.”
In response, my father snapped, “Don’t speak in riddles, speak plainly.”
But I knew those words to be Whitman’s and I could only imagine what Raymond Morris had guessed at before he’d come to our city and seen firsthand what cruelty could be. Perhaps I took a step away from my father on that day, and began to side with the wonders he employed.
“Do you want the work or not?” my father said coldly. “I don’t wish to waste my time.”
“Frankly, sir,” Morris said of the employment he’d been offered, “I have no other choice.”
We traveled back to Brooklyn without any further conversation, though there were dozens of questions I might have asked. Raymond Morris was left at a boardinghouse where many of the living wonders resided, along Sheridan’s Walk, a stretch that ran from Surf Avenue to the ocean, and would in a few years be totally in the shadow of the Giant Racer Roller Coaster. The Professor paid a full month’s rent. “I’m trusting you,” he told Morris, making it clear that as an employee Morris was expected to report to the museum the following day and each day after that. “I don’t expect you to let me down,” my father advised. Indeed, he seemed quite convinced the new man would not run away. Morris knew what awaited him on the beach and on the avenues, a crowd of abusers, nothing more. As we drove off my father was whistling. “That’s money in the bank,” he said. “A true one of a kind.”
I looked behind us and watched the figure of Raymond Morris on the steps of the boardinghouse, a stranger to Brooklyn and to our world. I prayed that he might indeed run away, and that he might find some empty stretch of marsh or woods where he would be allowed to be
a man.
THE FOLLOWING WEEK the season began. From my window, I could see the human curiosities gathering in the yard, served coffee and tea by Maureen. There were old standbys who returned year after year, as well as fly-by-night acts, some of whom barely lasted a season. We’d had several pairs of Siamese twins, as well as an alligator man, whose skin was covered with bumps he tinted green. There’d been dwarfs and giants, fat women as well as women so thin one could nearly see through their pale flesh. I was interested in every one, for each had a story, a mother and father, a dream for the future.
