..."Mex", the circus manager. Since Muffy had last seen him, shortly before she was shot, all atremble, and so willing, from that big, magnificent cannon (she shivered at the memory), our Mex had suffered a midlife crisis. The gentleman felt himself to be somehow better than his former position implied, that of presiding over a veritable public circus, even though there were certain undeniable gratifications (in addition to staggering profits) to be derived from the adulation and obsequy he received from the community in which his circus was located, Saint Innocent (which was a suburb of Paris, and called by its denizens, "SI".)
Mex's early euphoria at his success ("Making money is so easy it's not funny!" he had been heard to shout in Saint Innocent's town square) had culminated in his turning over ownership of the food concessions that had originally provided the financial base for the circus acts to an employee of the taco stand for a sum appreciably smaller than that he might have gotten elsewhere, for which she was suitably grateful (to show her appreciation, she provided Mex with free tacos for life; though, in friendship to the man, she did lock up the tequila-- it was for his own good, and more power to her, the citizens of SI felt strongly!)
After turning his back on the public circus over which he had presided in Saint Innocent, Mex had briefly attempted to run a more elite show, a circus run, of all things, on a subscription basis!; but alas, without the large audience provided by the general population of SI, the "stock", or standard, acts featured by Mex failed to draw the requisite numbers to "pump" up profitability, and Max's returns had dwindled piteously.
But never one to yield to adversity, Mex had, in record short time, managed to found the company referred to in our prior chapter,
AlexRobertSmithPaineWitterReynoldsDiscoverMorganMerrillQuist.
Now, truth be known, the enormous success of this ambitious enterprise owed itself to the fact that though the name of the firm evoked an image that was most beneficial to it-- that of an association with a number of the titans of capitalism-- the simple fact was that not one among the the string of names adorning the fading sign belonged to any individual the investors who entrusted their funds to this firm believed it did! For example, Smith had formerly been The Tattooed Woman in Mex's circus! Reynolds, the sword swallower! Morgan, the Plus-sized Man! Quist, the bearded lady! and "Discover" was merely a rousing imperative, a suggestion, if you will, made by Mex, a man of the world, to that world! "Discover,,,world!,,,," Mex was wont to say.
(One former circus employee, known for his Flying Leaps and nicknamed Jumping Jack, had angered Mex by announcing, " You don't own me, Mex, IFLY for anyone I want," and thus failed to retain Mex's amity, and a place on the sign.)
Yes, the felicitousness of these coincidences, made possible by a serendipitous decision on the part of the "Unusuals", ("freak" is so crass a word, this narrator feels) to change their names legally, had resulted in Mex's meteoric rise in the world of, to quote his motto as lettered on that abovementioned sign, "Giving investors bull since lo these many years."
It had not, however, resulted in Mex's improving his execrable dental hygiene; and thus Muffy recognized, even before Mex had entered the room, that it was indeed he of the Minotaur breath, Mex himself, who approached. |
