Coming To Reason (A Long Road to Love) (18 page)

Instead of throwing fairy dust, Tiny stomped all over the
ashes of Miss Schnell and then gave the demon-turned-actor two thumbs up.
Carrie doubted anyone else got the joke, but Carrie laughed herself into
hysterics. She loved having these two on her side.

Once Tiny had resurrected all the employees except Miss
Schnell, he approached Dan and Destiny in their paper clip cage. Tall
interceded and tried to distract the angel by plucking her tail feathers.
However, Tiny continued his efforts to get Dan and Destiny out. He climbed all
over the cage, pulling at what looked to be fragile paperclips with the
strength of steel.

Frustrated, he leapt onto Tall’s back and pounded the boss
of Hell’s head. The demon struggled to get the chicken off and, in the process,
proved his acrobatic skills as well. During a great deal of this scene, Tall
and Tiny flew through the air with no apparent wires, but logic insisted they
existed. Or perhaps Tall and Tiny
could
fly—a possibility Carrie wouldn’t
rule out.

She wondered if the mechanizations that enabled them to fly
were visible from Dan’s seat on the stage, but by his bewildered stare, she
didn’t think so.

Eventual
ly
, the chicken won the battle, but at the cost of most her
feathers and significant weight loss. She now had an hourglass figure in a
sparkling evening gown. She-Tiny ambled to the cage, reached through, and held
out her hands. When Dan and Destiny took the offered silk-gloved hands, the
paper clip cage fell apart with the tiny slivers of aluminum showering the
floor.

Tiny then gathered all the employees into a tight group,
tugging and pushing them when they didn’t wish to move closer to one another. Then
she grabbed her iPad and held it up for the defeated boss to read.

His eyes rounded and then he bellowed, “Teamwork? Never!”
He crumpled as if in pain.

The angel moved towards him, but he rose, once again the
disfigured demon, and sent a blast of fire from his mouth twenty feet across
the stage, obliterating all the employees in a cloud of smoke.

The angel ran to the dust pile, displaying her pain in
fabulous mime. The slow change of mood from grief to fury had the whole
audience laughing. It ended with a mimed plead to God and a huge bolt of
lightning exploding down upon Tall, scaring the crap out of the entire
audience.

Carrie must have jumped a foot out of her chair. Once she
recovered, total darkness blanketed the audience. Nervous titters sounded
through the auditorium.

She almost screamed when a hand touched her arm, but a
sense of peace and safety flowed from the familiar hand. Dan and Destiny had
returned to their seats. She placed her hand over Dan’s, glad to have him
beside her. A moment later, the auditorium lights came up, indicating
intermission.

Destiny escaped her chair and hugged Carrie. “I thought it
far more frightening, yet wonderful, than any ride I’ve ever been on! I can’t
wait to see the show on video.”

Dan kissed his daughter’s head and nodded in agreement.

“Video?” Carrie asked.

“They promised us a DVD of today’s performance so we could
see what it looked like from the audience,” Destiny said.

Dan chuckled. “I think they made the offer so the people would
play their part rather than gawk at all the stuff going on.” He lowered his
voice. “You can add engineering geniuses to their many skills.”

***

During the second act, Tiny offered Carrie a giant
engagement ring and suffered a broken heart when she refused. He blamed Dan for
his disappointment and threw what appeared to be water on him,
only
it had
somehow transformed into soft blue sponge balls. Destiny pocketed one to keep
as a souvenir.

Discovering a ball missing, Tiny insisted upon frisking all
three of them. Somehow, he found a rubber duck, a bowling ball, and a bat on
Carrie. While achieving this amazing feat, he placed a slip of paper in her
hand.

From Dan, he pulled a naked Barbie doll, which caused him
to shake his head in disgust, a lady’s shoe, and a machete. From Destiny, he
pulled seven bouquets of flowers and, final
ly,
the blue sponge ball.

Her pout at losing her souvenir broke his heart and, in
mime, he offered her any one of the eight items he’d taken.

She chose the ball.

He kept trying to get her to take a bouquet, but she
insisted on her first choice. Then he offered her his giant engagement ring, taking
a moment first to mime-apologize to Carrie, reminding her he’d asked her first,
but she’d refused. Life must go on, and he had a heart and needed love, too.

All of this conveyed in perfect mime.

When he turned to Destiny for her answer, she handed him
the sponge ball and took the engagement ring.

He twirled in happiness and placed it on her head, then
threw the bouquets to various ladies in the audience. Holding the ball, he
offered it to Carrie.

She placed a kiss on it.

The audience applauded with their own love for Tiny.

They ended the show with the fishing tale in which a giant
whale swimming above the audience ate Tiny. Tall mourned his loss until the
little guy returned through an impossib
ly
small bucket on stage.

Once they were reunited, Tall faced the audience. “Never
take friends for granted. They are a gift from God.”

Two beams of light closed in on their faces as the stage
dimmed. Then in unison, they disappeared.

The crowd demanded fifteen curtain calls. Tiny got them to
stop by making all the abducted employees come up and take a bow while Tall and
Tiny sat in Dan and Destiny’s seats.

Tall leaned over to Carrie. “Did you read Tiny’s message?”

“Definite yes for me, but I haven’t asked Dan and Destiny.”

“She’s his daughter, right?”

“Yes.”

“You two are a much better match. Glad you escaped the
demon unharmed. But, he wasn’t a total waste. He inspired Tiny to write our
best show yet.”

His words shocked her. “Trent and I are still dating.”

Tall’s eyes rounded in either shock or horror.

“Serious
ly
?”

What had him so upset? Then she realized. Trent would not
be amused in the least at being personified as a demon. “Don’t worry, I will
never mention your new skit. To be honest, he’s been rather demonic late
ly
.”

“Stay here and someone will lead you backstage,” he said before
he bounded onto the stage where Tiny performed very nice pirouettes.

Tall snared him by his belt and carried him off like a
briefcase, both men waving goodbye.

Dan and Destiny returned and Carrie told them about their
invitation to dinner. Both smiled at the news.

“I’ll need to call Giuseppe’s and cancel,” Dan said.
“Unless you think they might like to go there.”

“I think they’d love it, but will Giuseppe mind Tiny? He
behaves like you saw him on stage 24/7.”

“My friend loves to laugh.”

A clearing of a throat brought their attention to the black-suited
manager. “If you will follow me, I’ll take you backstage.”

When they entered the dressing room, Tiny tugged at his wet
hair as if it fought for possession of the brush. Destiny went to his rescue.
“Here, let your fiancée help.”

He handed her the brush, but, the first time she attempted
to use it, he flew backwards and rolled across the floor.

Horrified, she ran to him.

Tall came out of the bathroom dressed in slacks and a tweed
jacket. “Andy, the floor isn’t clean.” He walked to Dan. I’m Hamon, the rug is Andy.
I gather you two have signed on for dinner with us?”

Dan shook his hand. “We’re honored.”

“This is his typical behavior, so can you suggest a
restaurant we won’t be tossed from?”

“Let me make a call.” Dan pulled out his cell phone and hit
a speed dial number. “Giuseppe, there’s going to be five of us. Can we have the
balcony?” He looked up at Tall. “How soon will you be ready to leave?”

Tiny popped up. “Now.”

“We’ll be there in five… Better make it three, my guests
look hungry.”

Everyone in Giuseppe’s stared in shock as Tall and Tiny
entered the restaurant.

Giuseppe’s son led them through the kitchen to the balcony.
In an attempt to prevent Tiny from causing too much trouble, Carrie held onto
his right hand and, with expressive eye movements, got Destiny to snare his
left.

Instead of being outraged, Tiny preened as he pranced
through the restaurant with his female escorts. Carrie mental
ly
high-fived herself
for her clever containment. Tall followed in their wake.

When they arrived at the long table set up on the balcony,
she released Tiny’s hand. A second later, the mischievous prankster set a plate
of her favorite appetizers on the table.

Giuseppe’s wife’s eyes rounded. “How?” She turned around,
looking for some rational explanation.

Tall sat down. “I apologize, but Tiny picked them up as we
walked through the kitchen. He thought you had prepared them for us.”

The woman laughed. “We had, but—”

“Carrie and I held his hands!” Destiny objected.

Tall opened his mouth, paused, then replied. “Yet, he
managed.”

Tiny began a self-examination. His arms moved in and out of
his jacket, giving the impression he had at least a dozen hands hiding within.

“Oh, you are delightful,” Giuseppe’s wife declared, pulling
Tiny into her big-bosomed chest. He stopped wiggling the moment his head rested
on her soft pillows. His eyes closed, and he quieted.

Carrie recalled him telling her about the day the doctors told
his parents he’d never be taller than four feet. They put him on a train by
himself, promising to follow, but they never did. Instead, an eight-year-old
Tiny had to fend for himself on the harsh streets of London. The sensation of
mother
ly
love must have mesmerized him.

Dan cleared his throat as a warning, but of what? The next
moment, Giuseppe arrived at the table bearing additional appetizers. “I made
three, but one is—”

He stopped, stared at the plate, already half-empty, and
then glared at his wife cuddling Tiny. He spoke in rapid Italian, so Carrie
hadn’t a clue what he said, but from the annoyance in his tone, she suspected he
filed a complaint something like ‘stop mauling our patrons and the next time
you take a platter, let someone know’.

His wife released Tiny and stood, responding in angry foreign
words before she stormed up the balcony stairs. With dramatic posturing, Giuseppe
stared up at the sky and had another conversation, which sounded like he held
God responsible for the whole mess.

Their outburst shocked Carrie, but unlike during Trent’s
meltdowns, she didn’t sense any true anger from either of them, just a great
deal of exuberant emotion.

Tall turned his head so his smile wouldn’t be noticed. She
suspected he understood Italian. Once Giuseppe left, Carrie decided to confirm
her theory. “When you perform in other countries, do you speak English or the
local language?”

“The local language if I speak it well enough. In the
Netherlands, the audience seems happier if I speak English.”

“How many languages do you know?”

Most of the European block, Russian, Japanese, and two
African languages. We spent several months in South Africa two years ago.”

“Until they kicked us out,” Tiny complained.

Tall grimaced. “Tiny assaulted a guy who claimed he’d never
seen a white pigmy before. The jerk happened to be the president’s son. Authorities
arrested Tiny and closed down our show for cultural indecency. I feared someone
would kill my partner before the English ambassador could get him released.”

Tiny jutted his chest out in pride. “I took the racist out
in less than five seconds. He didn’t realize I had begun the attack when I did
a hand stand on the bar. Then I landed a hard kick to his head. The pig hit the
ground a second later.”

“Wouldn’t the son of the president be black?” Destiny
challenged.

Tiny snorted. “Yes, but he held all pygmies, whites, and
little people in contempt. So he deserves the title of racist.”

Destiny chuckled. “I’ll bet he’ll stand back when he
insults little people in the future.” She gripped Tiny’s arm. “You have the
most muscular arms,
if
this is your arm. I’m no longer sure what’s real
or not when dealing with you. I could have sworn I held your hand.”

A mischievous smile lit his face. “No. Carrie had hold of
me, but I gave you a fake hand to hold.

Tall raised at brow at Carrie. “You gave yourself away with
all those eye movements.”

“Well, I’m not telepathic. I had to communicate with
Destiny.