Something Naked This Way Comes

The train arrived at midnight, and the posters followed. By morning they were pasted all over town, from the corridors of Pinkwhistle High School to the walls of Doc Topper's Olde Fashioned Malt Shoppe. Even Peggy Jackson, Pinkwhistle's first ever lady mayor and reckoned by most of the town's inhabitants to be as damn fine a politician as she was a blonde, got one on the front door of her office, a neat little two-room affair on the other side of Main Street from the malt shop.

"Come one, come all, to Trickett and Trapp's celebrated Carnival of Shadows! Come and see the incredible Maze of Mirrors, the Wax Museum, the Haunted House, the Illustrated Women, the Fortune Teller and the world-famous Hootchy-Kootchy Dancers of the Orient! And don't miss our very special, one-time-only, Midnight Show! Tickets half price for pretty girls!" And below, in small but unmissable print "18+ only".

The sun was beginning to set, and the chill of autumn hung in the air, as the first townsfolk began to arrive at the muddy field on the outskirts of town. What they saw astounded them. A city of mysterious delights, a maze of tents and lanterns and stalls and sideshows, smelling delightfully of popcorn and candy and perfume, jangling with the sound of circus bells. Mr. Trapp was on hand by the gate, a goateed man in a three-piece suit, so short he was almost a dwarf, and he uttered a shrill cry of delight at the sight of his guests.

"Welcome, all!" he cried. "Oh, what a pleasure to have you! Please, please, we're open for business! Come in!"