Excerpt: Life on the Road with the Traveling Sideshow

The sharp nudge to her side pushed Tallulah from her half-sleep. She surmised that perhaps she had rolled over onto a branch or rock, but then struck that thought as it the object nudging moved away. Then it returned.
“Is she dead?” asked a curious male voice.
“I don’t think so,” replied another man.
“Doesn’t look like she’s breathing,” the first voice countered. Again, a shoe. Then wetness. Cold wetness.
“Maybe she’s a deep sleeper,” said a voice, female this time.
“Chloe, that’s a waste of good spirits,” first voice.
“She might be thirsty.” Tallulah turned with a groan, wiping the strong smelling liquid from her face, and found a collection of faces looking down over her.
“There she is,” said the man directly over her face. Tallulah looked from one face to the other, four in all, unsure of what to say. The lone woman—apparently named Chloe--eyed her curiously before taking a drink from a non-descript bottle.
“You swallow your tongue or somethin’?” one of the three men asked. He had clear blue eyes, dark hair slicked back and a shaggy beard. “What’re you doing sleeping under our wagon here?”
“Now, Josef don’t be so rude,” Chloe said, crouching down though a bit unsteadily, “She’s obviously alone. What’s your name, girl?”
“Maybe she don’t have one,” the first recognizable voice said. He was standing at her side and possibly the one who had poked at her.
“Of course she has a name,” the man over her said, “God Oscar sometimes I wonder if you have a brain in your head.” Oscar shrugged, his dark hair flopping over very curious dark eyes.
“Are y’all gonna stand around her all day or are ya gonna get back to work?” Josef snapped. Oscar and the man over her head stepped back, and Chloe offered a hand to pull her up.
“Josef, don’t you have a bill to scrutinize or something?” she snapped, “C’mon, love, let’s get you dry and warm. Don’t want you catching your death. Billy, be a dear and let the girls know we have an orphan comin’.”
“At your service,” Billy—the individual standing over her head—said with a low bow and a nudge to the lanky Oscar. “C’mon brother, let’s find a place.” Tallulah got to her feet, shivering in the cool morning air and wrinkling her nose at the smell of the liquid Chloe had poured over her (and occasionally took a drink of).