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����The Hall of Wonders

����Written by Thomas E. Fuller

����It was in March of 1867, after the Civil War was truly lost, that Dr. Rembrandt Cavanagh arrived in Charleston. He was what folks used to call a "carpetbagger" - a Yankee who came down South after the War looking for easy pickin's. Folks remembered him as a slim, elegant man, with one blue eye and one green, and the sharpest, whitest teeth anyone ever saw.

����Now Dr. Cavanagh was an apothecary, a provider of prescriptions, potions, and pills. He set up operations down near the docks, figurin' to provide services to the sailors off the Union warships that still filled the harbor as well as selling overpriced drugs to the townspeople of what was left of Charleston. But his plan didn't work. The sailors and soldiers had their own apothecaries, and most of the townsfolk were flat broke.

����Now an ordinary man would have cut his losses and headed out West. But Dr. Cavanagh wasn't an ordinary man. He had a mind as bright and fractured as the gears of a nickel-plated watch. He set all those gears and wheels turning and they ticked and ticked and ticked until finally his blue eye flashed and his green eye flashed and his white teeth shone like a shark's. To sell things he had to give people a good reason to come into his shop. He needed a gimmick.

����So the next day, Dr. Cavanagh rowed out into the harbor and went from boat to boat, talking to the captains and leaving his business card. Then he went back into the city and placed the biggest sheet glass order anyone could remember. After that he hired some men to move his apothecary from the ground floor of his building up to the second floor. Folks thought he'd clearly lost his mind. They didn't know how right they were.

����Soon as the apothecary was moved, the glass workers went in, and there was all sorts of banging and knocking about. And while that was going on, sailors started sneaking into Dr. Cavanaugh's place, loaded with all sorts of little jars and boxes stuffed under their coats.

����Well, all this got the townspeople's curiosity up. Folks who wouldn't normally go down to the docks found all kinds of excuses to wander by that apothecary. But they found the windows covered up with black curtains, and all anyone could see were the sailors and glass workers going in and out.

����And Dr. Cavanagh stood there grinning, with his blue eye flashing and his green eye flashing, his teeth white and sharp.

����Then the sign appeared.

����It was right there in the big front window, smack in the middle of a brass easel. "Ten Days to the Hall of Wonders!" The next day it said "Nine Days to the Hall of Wonders." Then "Eight Days to the Hall of Wonders." Well, you get the idea.

����Finally it was opening day, and most of Charleston was crowded into narrow King Street in front of Dr. Cavanaugh's shop. It was late June and the heat was so fierce you could almost taste it. The door finally opened and Dr. Cavanagh himself came out and told folks they were gonna see something they'd never seen before, or ever would again, and all it was gonna cost them was a single copper penny. Well, he could have told them it was one thin dime or one Yankee dollar or even a gold double eagle and they would have forked it over. Every one of them lined up, dug out their pennies, and marched right into Dr. Cavanaugh's Hall of Wonders.

����Now every room in that ground floor had been ripped out, and there was some kind of magic lantern thing up on the ceiling that made it look like it was underwater. Slowly the walls began to glow and folks gasped and looked and gasped some more.

����What they saw was fish. Hundreds of fish in hundreds of colors, swimming around in little glass tanks that covered the Halls. Now folks had seen fish before on a plate or on the end of a hook, but not swimming around freely inside a room. All those glass tanks were marked with the names of the fish and where they came from. And the only sound was the water splashing back and forth, as if the audience was swimming in the middle of the ocean.

����Dr. Cavanagh suddenly appeared, and without saying a word he pointed to the back of the Hall of Wonders. Slowly, heavy velvet drapes pulled back and it was gasping time again. They saw one great sheet of glass that must have cost more than the rest of the tanks combined. Behind it was nothing but murky emerald water. Dr. Cavanagh then pointed to a sign on a brass easel. There was just one word there:

����"Mermaid."

����Folks crowded forward and stared into the murky depths for what seemed like hours. And just when everyone was nearly cross-eyed, it seemed like something flickered in all that opaque green, a flash of silver like a salmon's tail, a gleam of yellow like golden hair, a hint of a body as pale and perfect as ivory. Then it was gone and Isaac Sims, Dr. Cavanaugh's assistant, suddenly ushered the people out so the next group of folks could come in. And of course, Dr. Cavanagh had them ushered through the upstairs apothecary, just in case anyone needed to buy some overpriced medicines on the way out.

����For the next two weeks, the Hall of Wonders was all anyone in Charleston could talk about. Folks went back again and again, two, three, four times. And the pennies filled the bucket that Isaac Sims passed around. And as Dr. Cavanaugh raised the ticket prices, those pennies turned into nickels, dimes and dollars. But each time, before anyone could get a good look at the supposed "mermaid," Isaac Sims would hustle everyone out again.

����And Dr. Cavanagh would just stand there with his green eye flashing and his blue eye flashing, his teeth white and sharp.

����It could have gone on forever if it hadn't been for the rain.

����It started at precisely half past ten on the 3rd of July 1867. A heavy black squall rolled in from the sea, followed by a drenching shower. The rain pounded and roared as if the very deeps had been lifted up and dropped on Charleston.

����And it stayed that way, never ceasing or abating, for well nigh a month.

����It rained until all the roofs leaked, all the floors oozed, and every street and alley and lane was a fast-moving stream. All the city's cockroaches, flooded from their holes under the low-slung houses, swarmed into the streets by the thousands and drowned. Along with all the rats trying to escape from the waterlogged ships, and all the cats trying to catch the drowning rats.

����As the drenching rains continued, the townspeople started to get a little strange. No one, not even the oldest elder, could remember a storm like this. And when folks get real miserable, they start looking for someone to blame. Something had to have set off all this watery punishment. Couldn't be the town folks, for no town with as many churches as Charleston had could sin that much. Something must be causing it, something that had happened lately.

����Then Miss Araminta Tucker started to have her visions.

����Now, Miz Araminta was a local conjure woman who had had visions all her life. She'd always be seen wandering the streets, chattering away to listeners only she could see. She was a constant source of amusement for the locals - but this time, folks were listening to her.

����"Don't ya idjets know nothin'? It's that mermaid that's causin' all the rain! Don't ya know what a mermaid is?"

����The townspeople just stood there and shook their heads.

����"A mermaid's a person who's been washed out to sea. If they don't drown, they git turned into a mermaid by other mermaids. But once someone's a mermaid, they cain't go back to the human world. They gotta stay in the ocean like other fish. An' that's what that mermaid's tryin' to do. She's callin' on the water to wash her back to sea!"

����Now the rumors and the whispers really got started up in Charleston. Suddenly every tavern and saloon had it's own expert on mermaids and the powers they had over water. Summon it right out of the air, they could. Make it rain forever if they had a mind. Well, if whatever was in that big glass tank wanted out, then out it was gonna come.

����There was no signal, no plan of action or call to arms. Folks just started pouring out into the rain and heading towards the apothecary. Out of Blackbird Alley they came, out of Philadelphia Street and Bottle Alley and Danger Court. All of them heading for King Street and the apothecary.

����They were about a thousand strong when they reached the Hall of Wonders. At the doorway stood Dr. Cavanagh, with his green eye flashing and his blue eye flashing, his teeth sharp and white.

����It's just a trick, he cried, holding his hands up. Just wire and wax and pigs bladders full of air in a tank full of green dye! There's no such thing as mermaids, you fools!

����But the fools were having none of it. Even Isaac Sims, Dr. Cavanaugh's trusted assistant, turned against him. They stormed into the Hall of Wonders and smashed open all the fish tanks. And Isaac Sims strode up to that gleaming glass mermaid tank with a sledgehammer, reared back, and smashed it right in the center.

����Now when folks talk about split seconds, they mean the littlest amount of time possible. But a lot can happen in a split second and a lot did. Some folks swear that right before Isaac Sims' hammer shattered all that glass down into shards, something swam up from the murk. And if it really was wire and wax and pigs bladders, it was an amazing piece of work.

����It balanced on a sleek tail as silver as a hoarded treasure, its body was pale and perfect as ivory, and blonde hair as brilliant as spun gold glittered around its head.

����Then the hammer hit the glass and it exploded in a solid wall of water, more water than could ever have been behind it. And folks swore that whatever was in that tank flowed right into Dr. Cavanaugh's arms. And the waters gushed and roared and swept through the Hall of Wonders and up the chimneys out the windows and doors, driving folks before it like pieces of driftwood.

����When the water finally stopped, folks picked themselves up from off the waterlogged street and stared at the soggy ruin that had been the Hall of Wonders. It sagged and gaped like it was made of wet pasteboard, and there was no sign of the apothecary or the mysterious exhibit. But the rain had stopped and the sun was out, and that was good enough for most folks.

����Then the townspeople looked around for Dr. Cavanaugh. They had every intention of locking him up in the deepest, darkest jail cell in Charleston. But he was nowhere to be found. Through all the streets and back alleys they searched, but there was no sign of him. Finally, the townspeople figured he must have been swept out to sea with the fish. And that was good enough for them.

����Dr. Cavanaugh was never seen again, but his "Hall of Wonders" never really went away. In later years, other people built similar places in other cities, though they called them something different: "aquariums." And people still lined up and paid top dollar to watch hundreds of fish in hundreds of colors swimming around in glass tanks.

����But should you ever go there, look closely behind the biggest tank in the place. If you see a strange looking fish with one blue eye and one green, and sharp white teeth, watch out. For you may have found Dr. Rembrandt Cavanaugh.

����And what's worse, he may have found you.


����- THE END -

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����The Wampas Mask

����Adapted by Janice Butt and Craig Dominey

����Barbara Ann had grown up in the East Tennessee mountains, and she knew everything she needed to do to take care of herself and any family she might have. Tommy Joe had grown up there, too, so it was no surprise when the two of them decided to get married. According to mountain tradition, the whole community came together and helped them build their new house deep in the dark woods. It was just a two room cabin for now, but they planned on adding to it later.

����On the day of the wedding, everybody from the community came to see them say their vows. Barbara Ann brought a loaf of bread as a symbol of the fact that she knew exactly what she needed to do to take care of her family. Tommy Joe brought a side of venison that he had killed and dressed himself to show that he would always be a strong provider for her. After the ceremony, they moved into their cabin to start the perfect life for themselves in the mountains.

����A few days later, Tommy Joe decided it was time to go hunting again. So he got some of his fellas together, and they agreed to meet at his house the next morning. For some reason, the fellas didn't show up, but Tommy Joe decided to go on his own. Barbara Ann tried her best to keep him from going. She pleaded and begged, saying, "Tommy Joe, you know that ol' creature will get ya'. That Ewah will make you crazy if you're caught out there by yourself." But she couldn't do anything to stop him. Everybody knew since the time they were little not to mess with that Ewah in the woods. But Tommy Joe was going out there anyway. It was a good chance for him to show off his hunting skills for his new bride.

����That whole day while Tommy Joe was gone, Barbara Ann worked around the house like she always did. But she couldn't help but worry about her husband out there all alone in those dark woods. She tried to wash a load of clothes, but the smell of Tommy Joe on those clothes kept her from doing a very good job. She tried to bake some bread, but for some reason, it never would rise.

����Suddenly, Barbara Ann heard a blood-curdling wail from deep in the forest. She paced from the kitchen to the porch and back again, about every five minutes, wringing her hands, terrified about her husband's fate. The sun was starting to sink below the rocky cliffs, and darkness was consuming the land. Where could he be?

����Hours later, Tommy Joe finally came stumbling out of the woods. Barbara Ann came rushing out of the cabin, then froze in her tracks. She took one look at him and knew immediately that her worst fears had been realized - Tommy Joe had seen the Ewah. Tommy Joe's eyes were wild, and they flitted from one side to the other, back and forth. His hair stood on end in all directions, his clothes were torn and ragged, and there were cuts and scrapes all over his body.

����It took her a long time to get him into the cabin and settle him down enough to lie quietly in his bed. By that time, all the folks around had heard about Tommy Joe and had raced up to the house with food and offers to help, like they always did. Mountain folk would always come to help their neighbors when there was a death or tragedy of some kind. And this was a death if there ever was one because, from that day forward, the Tommy Joe they knew would never be the same. The Ewah had frightened him to the point of near madness, and he would never again be the strong hunter that promised to take care of Barbara Ann forever.

����Barbara Ann wept for days, and somewhere in the middle of all that grieving, she figured out that somebody had to stop that Ewah before he did this to anybody else. But for the life of her, she couldn't figure out who else could possibly do it but her. She had nothing left to live for, other than to seek vengeance on this creature that had taken her husband away from her.

����In fact, she was so caught up in her anger that she found herself walking down the road toward town before she even knew what she was doing. She was on her way to see the Old Woman who lived in the crumbing old house down by the river. Everybody in town said that the Old Woman was mad. She had what they called "the sight," and nobody, including Barbara Ann, wanted to have anything to do with her. But Barbara Ann marched on, her anger pushing her forward.

����Before she knew it, Barbara Ann found herself on the rickety old porch of the Old Woman's home. The door creaked open before she could knock, and the Old Woman peered out from the darkness of her home, dressed head to toe in a tattered black dress. She was as ugly and scary as the townspeople had said, with scaly skin, long and stringy white hair, and dark, menacing eyes.

����"Come in, young one," the Old Woman cryptically whispered to Barbara Ann. "I've been waiting on you."

����Barbara Ann walked timidly into the house. She could see nothing in the musty darkness except a fire roaring in a massive stone fireplace. The Old Woman offered her a seat by the fire and listened to Barbara Ann nervously tell the story of the Ewah and her young husband. When Barbara Ann was finished, the Old Woman nodded and said, "Yes, yes - I think I can help you."

����The Old Woman left the room for a moment, then came back with what looked like a mask and gave it to Barbara Ann. As Barbara Ann held it up in the firelight, she shuddered - it was the ugliest thing she had ever seen. It looked like a big, furry, demonic cat, with enormous eyes that would pierce a person's soul.

����"This mask has special powers," the Old Woman said. "The Indians used to call it the 'Wampas Mask.' In order for you to get rid of the Ewah, you must scare him first before he can get a good look at you. If he sees you first, his look will drive you stone cold crazy. His greatest weapon is surprise. But if you sneak up on him and scare him first with this mask, he'll never come back."

����The Old Woman suddenly grabbed Barbara Ann's hand and said, "I must warn you, however, that if you put this mask on, you may wish you hadn't."

����Barbara Ann barely heard this last part, for she was about ready to get out of that creepy house. She took the mask, tersely thanked the old woman, and walked quickly out the front door. When she got outside, she thought to herself, "Well, what else am I going to do but try it?" She put the mask on, and to her surprise, it fit real snug and nice on her face. Then she began to stumble toward the deep woods.

����As she stumbled further and further into the woods, she could barely see in the darkness. So she hunkered down behind a bush, because she knew that if the Ewah was around, he surely could hear her.

����After a while, the bright moon came out from behind the tall trees, casting eerie shadows all around her. Before long, the moonlight revealed a path cutting though the woods where she wouldn't make so much noise. So she began to quietly slip through the woods, soft step by soft step, making as little noise as possible, although her heart was beating so hard that she was sure the Ewah could hear it.

����After a few more steps, she heard a strange sound. It sounded like a baby crying. Why would there be a baby out in these woods at night? Then it dawned on her - that was no baby, that was the Ewah! That ol' Ewah is a clever fella, she thought - he was making up the sound to get her to come to him. She knew what he was doing.

����Barbara Ann thought that the sound was coming from over near the pond. So she slowly moved in that direction, her hands clammy and cold, her ears filled with the sound of her own heart beat, and her hair standing up on the back of her neck. She was so frightened that she could barely make her feet move, one in front of the other.

����Then she saw the Ewah. He was stooping over the water with his back toward her, unaware of her presence. Barbara Ann could see that he was huge and fearsome creature. He was over twelve feet tall, and hairy from the top of his head to the bottom of his feet. His hands were more like claws, stretched out with nails that were long and curved. Saliva dripped from his pointed, razor-sharp teeth. His neck was wide, and his shoulders were as big as a board. It was all Barbara Ann could do to stay steady on her feet.

����The Ewah began to slowly turn his head. Any minute now, he was going to see Barbara Ann. What was she going to do? She was so frightened she couldn't move. As his fiery red eyes turned in her direction, Barbara Ann suddenly let out a ear-piercing scream from the very depth of her soul...

����"Ahhhhhhh!"

����When Barbara Ann looked into the Ewah's hideous face, she saw fear. His eyes had closed, and he was backing away. "Ahhhhhhh!" she screamed again. That was enough - the Ewah fell to the ground and rolled over and over again in agony, as far away as he could get. Then he jumped up and ran off into the woods, crashing through the trees and underbrush, his screams tailing off into the darkness.

����She stood quietly for a moment and listened, but could hear nothing. He was gone - she had really scared away the Ewah! Now no one would have to fear him again! She walked back toward her house with steps that were so happy that they barely touched the ground. And when she reached the edge of the woods, the entire community was waiting for her, because they'd heard the screams coming from the forest.

����Barbara Ann suddenly froze in her tracks. What was wrong with everyone? The smiles had suddenly dropped from her neighbors' faces. They began to back away from Barbara Ann, their eyes looking puzzled and afraid. Didn't they recognize her?

����Then she remembered that the ugly Wampas Mask was still on her face. She reached up to grab a hold of that mask to take it off so they would know who she was. But it wouldn't come off - it was stuck. And then she looked down at her hands - to her horror, she saw that weren't hands anymore, but were furry paws, like a cat's paws. Her feet had changed into furry cat's paws as well. She knew at that moment that this was what the Old Woman had meant when she said that she'd regret wearing that Wampas Mask. She would forever be a cat.

����To this day, they say that if you go into those wooded mountains up around East Tennessee, you may find a cabin with a crazy old man inside, pacing back and forth, still terrified of those deep, dark woods around his home. And you might also spot a wildcat that walks on its hind legs and spends most of its nights wandering in those woods, making sure no harm comes to the mountain people.

����And that's the story of the Wampas Mask.

����- THE END -