she began and found her throat and mouth suddenly dry. She licked her lips and began again. “My son, Caleb, is missing, Mr. Harmon. I believe that he may have run away.”
“Forgive me, ma’am, but I hardly see…”
“…With your circus,” she added, and was relieved to see his eyes widen with surprise even as his brow furrowed with concern.
“It would not be the first time,” he said more to himself than to her as he stood and walked to the glass doors, keeping his back to her. “What does your husband think happened to the boy?”
“My husband died when Caleb was four. He’s eleven now. This past year he has…” She searched for words. “There have been some occasions when he has tested the limits that our culture sets for young people.”
“He’s been in trouble,” Levi Harmon said.
“Nothing serious,” Hannah hastened to assure him. “Then last month I found one of your circus posters folded up and hidden under his mattress. When I asked for an explanation, he told me that he wanted to join your circus. He had actually spoken to one of the men you employ to care for the animals.”
“And what did you say in response to this announcement?”
“I tried to make him see that the poster was nothing more than paint on paper, that it made the life seem inviting but it was not real. That nothing about the circus is real.”
She saw him stiffen defensively. “Oh, I know that it’s your livelihood, Mr. Harmon, and I mean no disrespect. But for people like us—for a boy like Caleb—it’s a life that goes against everything we believe.”
“What happened next?”
Hannah was surprised that he did not question her further, but rather seemed determined to get at the root of her story. This was the part that was hardest for her because in the seven years since her husband had died, she and Caleb had never had a harsh word between them. “He became quite unlike himself,” she said almost in a whisper. “He was sullen and stayed to himself. I went to our bishop but he said that time was the great healer.”
“And you believed that?”
“For a while,” she admitted. “But when nothing changed I decided to go against the bishop’s advice and take action.”
He turned to look at her. “What did you do?”
“I took Caleb to your circus, Mr. Harmon.”
Levi tried and failed to disguise his shock that she would do such a thing. “You saw the show?”
“No. I took him to the grounds after the matinee yesterday. I wanted him to get a glimpse of what living the life of a circus worker would really be.”
“My performers and crew are well cared for, Mrs. Goodloe. They have chosen this life for any number of reasons and…”
“I did not mean to imply otherwise, sir. However, a young boy’s eyes are often clouded by the color and excitement associated with that life—the parades and the applause and such.” She stood up and moved a step closer as if she needed to make her point and yet the tone of her voice remained soft and even solicitous. “I wanted Caleb to see that a life of traveling from place to place could be a difficult one.”
He could find no argument for that. Instead, he turned the topic back to her reasons for coming to him.
“That matinee was our last show of the season down here,” he said. “At this moment the company is on its way to our headquarters in Baraboo, Wisconsin, with stops along the way, of course.”
“And I have reason to believe that my son is on that train,” she said. “I have come here to ask that you stop that train until Caleb can be found.”
“Mrs. Goodloe, I am sympathetic to your situation, but surely you can understand that I cannot disrupt an entire schedule because you think your son…”
“He is on that train, sir,” she repeated.
“How can you be so certain?”
“Because besides the fact that Caleb was not in his bed when I went to wake him this morning, there were two other things missing from his room.”
Levi waited but she had his full attention. He had never met a woman whose outward demeanor was so gentle, even submissive and at the same time, her eyes reflected an inner strength and certainty that she would not back down.
“About the time he began to have problems within the community he began wearing an old hat he found once. A fedora, I believe it’s called. That hat was not on its usual peg this morning.”
“So, the boy went out and wore his hat,” Levi said, resisting the patronizing smile he felt about to reveal.
“That’s true,” she said, “but he had also taken a jar of coins that he’s been saving for months now, adding to it almost weekly after taking on odd jobs for others in the community.”
Levi flashed back to his own packing the day he decided to run away. He, too, had taken money carefully squirreled away for months as he planned his escape. “Still, neither of those items ties my circus to his plan. He could have just…left.”
She smiled and it was unsettling how that simple act changed everything about her. Suddenly, she looked younger and more vulnerable and at the same time, so very sure of herself. “Caleb would never leave without a plan,” she said. “From the time he was four or five, Caleb has planned his days. Then it was that he would spend the morning at play and then have the noon meal with his grandfather before spending the afternoon helping out at his uncle’s carpentry shop. Once he entered school he would write out a daily schedule, leaving it for me so that I would not worry.”
“Am I to assume there was no schedule this morning?”
“No. Just this.” She produced a lined piece of paper from the pocket of her apron and handed it to him. In a large childish script the note read,
Ma,
Don’t worry. I’m fine and I know this is all a part of God’s plan the way you always said. I’ll write once I get settled and I’ll send you half my wages by way of General Delivery. Please don’t cry, okay? It’s all going to be all right.
Love, Caleb
“There’s not one word here that indicates…”
“He plans to send me part of his wages, Mr. Harmon. That means he plans to get a job. When we were on the circus grounds yesterday, I took note of a posted advertisement for a stable worker. My son has been around horses his entire life.”
Once again, Levi found it difficult to suppress a smile. “I believe that posting was for someone to muck out the elephant quarters,” he said and saw that this was news she had not considered.
“Oh. Well, Caleb also saw that posting although he tried hard to steer me in the opposite direction and frankly, it did not occur to me that there might be a connection until I arrived at the grounds before coming here and saw the sign lying in the sawdust where the tent had been.”
“And
