The Trapeze Swinger

1.7

Lou and I walked side by side the next morning, a reunited team on our way into battle. I had three baggies of heroin tucked into the waistband of my underwear, three clean needles in my jacket pocket, and nothing but panic on my mind.
As we reached the divide between our two respective funfair attractions, Lou patted me placatingly on the shoulder before heading off towards The Switchback. His shoulders were slouched, demeanour abnormally subdued, and I kept sneaking worried glances at him over my shoulder as I walked up toward the row of sideshow booths. He was still acting strangely after yesterday, that much was for certain, but as to why I couldn't say.

Entering through the back door into the dim interior of the kiosk, I unlocked the metal shutter and rolled it up with a loud clattering sound before lifting up the box of plush toy prizes to the bench. Multitudes of sightless plastic eyes stared at me as I began to hang them on the hooks that lined both the walls on either side of the booth. Once those were filled, I went around to the front of the desk to place the last few prize toys along the overhanging roof, standing precariously on my tippy toes to try and reach.
The particularly hideous Bugs Bunny plush I flapped at the metal hook did not seem to want to obey my bidding however, staring malevolently at me as it repeatedly plummeted towards my face. I caught it, frustratedly holding it's neck in both hands as I looked into it's crossed eyes.

"Don't fuck with me, you radge cunt," I hissed at it in my best Lou impersonation, before there was a sudden voice behind me.

"Need some assistance?"

I yelped, whirling around to see a grinning 2D standing only a meter away. Sure my cheeks were going scarlet, I slowly released the Loony Tunes star from my chokehold and nodded. The boy snickered as he grabbed the toy from me, hanging it in it's rightful spot with ease. Together we worked together to hang them all up, with me passing them to the tall boy and him fitting them on the hooks.

"Thanks Stu," I mumbled once we finished, the two of us standing side by side to admire our handiwork.

"Don't fank me just yet: you gotta help me out now," he laughed, placing a hand on the small of my back as he steered me over to the booth just beside the Quick-Shot. My heart leapt as I realised we'd be working right next to each other from now on.

He unlocked the back door and held it open for me, waiting until I'd entered the dingy space before following. I rolled up the shutter for him, and the two of us looked around at the cluttered filthy interior of the room in dismay.
Whoever had been the previous employee assigned to the unpopular sideshow booth had clearly loved only two things in life; hot chips from the burger stand and beers in a can. Empty packaging from the two items littered the floorspace, as did the rings for the tossing game, and shattered glass, seemingly from the multiple empty spaces in the rows of empty milk bottles that sat on the back table for the rings to be tossed onto.

"What the fuck," I said into our horrified silence, looking over the abundance of trash 2D had been left to deal with.

"That's what I was finking," 2D sighed dejectedly, the energy seemingly knocked out of him.

Guilt itched at the back of my neck as I watched him pick up a neglected broom from the chaotic floor, half its bristles fallen out so that it resembled a row of ill-kept whale teeth.
                   Wanting to bring back his smile like sunshine, I decided to point this out to him.

"A whale with a bad dental care plan?" I suggested, waving a hand towards the wide broom head.

To my surprise, he looked genuinely disturbed for a moment while he looked at the cleaning implement in his grip, shuddering before catching sight of my confused expression. Beginning to sweep, he looked bashful as he confessed, "I fucking hate whales."