February 17, 2013
11-11:20
Water for Elephants
Pages: 196-209

Camel isn't doing too well but Jacob and Walter do their best to help him and let him sleep on the cot and stuff but they still give him alcohol but the real stuff this time. Marlena has still not left her room and Jacob continues to think of thier last conversation. Walter is able to contact Camel's son and his son has agreed to meet them in Providence. In one of the stops, Lucinda drops dead and uncle al arranges a funeral for her. He turns it into a huge spectacle by placing her body in thehippopotamus car and having it be drawn by 24 black horses and there is a huge procession of the members of the Benzini Brothers show where there are women dressed in black and weeping and men crying and grieving but it's all for show because uncle al promised $3 and a bottle of Canadian whiskey to the person who put on the best show.  They make their way back to the circus and a lot of the cows has followed them. When they get back to the tents, uncle al makes a speech about how they should cancel the show out of respect for Lucinda but the show must go on and she wanted that and it was her last wish and blah blah blah. So many people showed up that the workers had to lay straw out on the  sides so everybody could sit. Jacob is working in the menagerie when Marlena comes in with her pink sequins and takes the horses out for her show. Jacob is determined to see it and sneaks to go see it. He sees it and thinks its magnificent and like nothing he's ever seen befor and has dreams of Marlena and admits that he will never think of the horses the same way again because they are like an extension of Marlena. The next day, August and Marlena are at their usual table for the first time since Marlena's accident. Jacob goes to sit with them and they start talking and he tellsMarlena how he saw the show for the first time and he's never seen anything like it before. August asks him how this is possible since it was her act that made Jacob want to work here. Jacob says that he lied and has never seen the Benzini Brothers show before and says he had never even heard of it and says that ringling their greatest competition was great. Everyone is looking at Jacob and August is too bad Jacob is ready for a fight but August just bursts out laughing and says that he has misjudged Jacob and everybody else turns back to their food with looks of apprehension. With Lucinda dead, then show is short on freaks. Uncle al and August look one diligently but have no luck since they are either happy where they are or have heard of uncle Al's reputation. Uncle al gets so desperate he asks a lady in the audience who turns out to be the wife of the police superintendent. Uncle al gets a black eye and they start taking everything down immediately. The crowd looks very angry and has rifles and baseball bats and Walter is searching frantically for Queenie. The train is starting to leave and the angry crowd is approaching so Jacob picks up Walter and throws him into the car and then jumps in after him. Walter is very upset and says how his mother sold him to the circus when he was 14 because he was not cut out for farm work and how his dog was all he had. Out of spite he tells at Camel saying that how he walked out on his son is bad too and camel is sad because he didn't realize he told them about his son and camel thinks his son wants nothing to do with him and they spend the rest of the night crying.

I think it's very nice how Jacob and Walter are helping camel. Jacob is helping him because camel helped him get a job when he first got on the train and Walter is doing it out of respect for Jacob and out of respect for camel because camel is older than him. Also, it's horrible that Walter's mom sold him just because he was a a little person. I understand she probably needed money but still that is her son.

I read alright but was interrupted a bit.