Settle into sawdust

Long, sandy stretches of black darkness lie out beyond the lights of the carnival. It’s long past the time of customers, when bleary-eyed children crawl over the Ferris wheel like spiders gone mad on cotton candy. Their high-pitched voices grated your nerves all afternoon. But after the kids are gone, the bottles come out, and the clowns and dancing girls strike up a music that fades the world into a childless place again. It’s woody, and mostly on the quiet side, although your clown friends in Dame Satan strike up a peppy number from time to time. As the evening pulses on, the Last of the Blacksmiths arrive up from somewhere by the ocean and wreck your heart with grief. That leaves only the ladies. Caitlin Gutenberger sings with Two Sheds, and it’s enough to shuffle your soul down to the dirt and sand and greasepaint. And the Chapin Sisters! My God, how they sing like birds as you drift off to sleep! Tomorrow the Ferris wheel will spin its evil circles again. But tonight your sleep is filled with dreams of flying.