P.T. Barnum's Oddities

Chapter 6: Anne and W.D.

Practice. Practice. Practice.
It had been a year since Anne had put her hoop up.
Ever since, she'd been practicing non stop. She'd flip, she'd turn upside down, and if she fell and got the wind knocked out of her body, she'd get back up and practice even harder.
Even W.D. wanted to learn. So they'd practice. Wherever they could.
They'd do stunts, flips, and balance on different things.
"Been a long day, Annie." W.D. said, hoisting his baby sister on to the roof of a restaurant they'd been balancing on all day. "I think it's time we go eat."
You could probably hear their stomachs growl from a mile away.
They helped each other down and began to head down the street, hanging their heads low in hopes that nobody would care for their brown skin.
Every here and there they would snatch something from a farmer's stand when the shopkeeper wasn't looking.
But it wasn't till Anne reached for a juicy red apple until a shopkeeper yelled, "Hey, stop those thieves!"
Anne and W.D. took off running, looking everywhere but in front of them for places to hide.
And they didn't stop until they both ran into something rock solid, making them fall into the dirt road.
"Orphans!" They looked up and saw a police officer glaring down at them with a look of disgust. They tried to taking off but the police officer had thought ahead.
Grabbing them by the collars of their shirts, he began to drag them toward the station, muttering something about blacks these days and how they're turning this world upside down.
Anne positioned her face so that she was looking at ground, her bare feet pounding the dirt floor beneath them. She began to sob.
"What's cryin' going to do?" She thought to herself. "Tough girls don't cry."
But she continued to let the tears roll out of her eyes.
She cried.
And she cried.
And she cried.
She cried about her Pa. About how he got killed and she didn't even meet him yet.
She cried about her Ma. How she got taken away and was either sold to god knows where or killed.
She cried about her brother. How he shouldn't have to work and care for her as hard as he does.
She cried until the police officer smacked her in the back of the head roughly and told her to stop.
And in that moment, in that very tragic moment, Anne realized something.
Even the toughest girls have to cry.