Chapter 32 Section thirty-two

At dusk, outside the desolate town, the amusement park stretches along the railway.The booths flickered with lights and music in vain.Not a single person, not a single family hangs out on a Monday night.In the distance, the gray sea is rolling with violent waves, like a slightly open pale white jaw. Karim is close to the amusement park.A huge Ferris wheel was slowly rotating, and it was surrounded by small lights, but only half of it was alternately shining, as if it was a short circuit, trembling and flickering.Some electric bumper cars crashed randomly, and uninspired entertainment activities were carried out under the wind-blown tarpaulin: lottery, video games, tragic drama... Karim didn't know which one was better to investigate in the church or in the amusement park. make him more depressed.

Without confidence, he began to question the juggler.He described a boy named Jude Itello, muttering the date: July 1982.Most of the time, people are indifferent, and their indifferent faces are no more expressive than a crumpled mummy.Sometimes he heard complaining, incomprehensible babbles.At other times, he got some skeptical comments: "Fourteen years ago? Can you still find it?" Karim felt a deep disappointment in his heart.Who can remember?How many Sundays had Jude actually been here? Out of sheer persistence, the Maghreb traveled all over Paradise.He convinced himself that the boy might have liked this or that fun show, or got on well with some entertainer...but when he was done, it was nowhere.He looked towards the sea, where the waves were still rolling around the foundations of the embankment.It reminded the police of a tarred sea.He seems to have come to a no-man's land, where there are no more clues to collect.Memories of children flooded his mind: Pinocchio's Magic Kingdom, where mischievous children would fall for traps, be drawn to fantastic amusements, and be turned into donkeys.

What has become of Jude? The policeman was just about to get back to the car when he suddenly saw a small circus at the end of a clearing. He told himself that for the sake of the investigation, every foundation had to be laid.So he approached the canvas-domed shed.It wasn't really a circus, more like a flimsy tent with a few failed shows.Above the rickety mast hangs a plastic banner that reads in a spiral: FIRE SHOW.It's the same show again.With two fingers the policeman raised the curtain that served as the door. Facing the dazzling show that awaited him inside, he stopped.The flames, the dull grinding sound, the smell of gasoline wrapped in the air current.For a moment, the lieutenant imagined a machine of great excitement, intertwined with fire, muscle, torches, and human body.Then he realized that he had just seen a fire-breathing ballet performance.The men were topless, their bodies gleaming with sweat and essential oils.They spit their flammable saliva on angry torches.They moved in an arc, another gulp of petrol, another spout of flame.Some men bowed, others leaped over their backs, uttering their dazzling witchcraft.

Karim sat on the wooden step seat and watched the performance of the trainee fire-breathing dragons for a while.He felt he had to stay here and ask these people.As for why, he didn't know.Finally, one of the fire-breathing performers noticed him.He stopped performing and walked towards him, holding a light black torch with a few sparks jumping on it.He should be less than thirty years old, but his face seems to have been eroded by double the years, with brown fluffy hair, brown skin, and brown pupils, looking like an annoying person who is always doing bad things. "Are you one of us?" he asked. "Your people?"

"Yes, juggler. Are you looking for work?" Karim pressed palms together, palms together. "No, I'm a policeman." "Policemen?" The man approached him and stopped. "Dude, you don't look like one in this line of work." The cop could feel the man's burning chest. "That depends on how you look at the business." "What are you trying to do? You're not even from our place?" Karim didn't answer.He scanned the patched canvas dome and the buskers at center stage, and thought that in 1982 this young lad would have been around fifteen.Was it possible that he had met Jude?No, it's impossible.But there was still an impulse in him tormenting him.He asked, "Fourteen years ago, were you already here?"

"Yes, there are plenty of opportunities here. The circus is my friend's." Karim repeated: "I'm following a trail of a child. At that time, he may have been here. In July 1982, to be exact, for several Sundays. I'm looking for someone who will remember him." The fire-breathing performer saw the sincerity in Kareem's eyes. "Dude, are you kidding me?" "Do I look like I'm joking?" "What's the name of the child you're looking for?" "Jude, Jude Itello." "You really think we'll remember a kid who came to our circus fourteen years ago?"

Karim stood up and turned away from the step seat. "Forget it." The young lad suddenly grabbed his coat. "Jude came in a few times. When we rehearsed, he stood in front of us. He was hypnotized, like a stone doll." "what?" The man climbed another step, level with Karim.The police sensed that he smelled of oil. The flame-breather said again, "Dude, it was a hot summer, and the rails were almost melted. Jude came here four Sundays in a row. We were almost the same age, and we played together. I taught Jude to breathe fire, and made some small things. Things kids would do."

Karim stares at the young fire-breathing performer. "Fourteen years later, do you still remember this child?" "That's exactly what you want, isn't it?" The policeman raised his voice: "I asked how you still remember this." The guy jumped onto the tamped ground, put his heels together, and brought the torch as close to his lips as possible.He spat out a few drops of fueled saliva, and the torch turned iridescent, and sparks rained everywhere. "Dude, it's because there's something special about Jude." Karim shivered slightly. "The face? What's on his face?"

"No, not the face." "what is that?" The young man spat out the flames a few more times, then laughed. "Dude, Jude's a little girl."