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The Fall of Autumn

  Bobby A. Troutt

  Copyright 2015 by Bobby A. Troutt

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  Table of Contents

  The Rag Man

  The Triple Creek Murder

  I See You

  Hide-and-Seek

  2:00 AM

  The Edge of Night to the Light of Day

  Autumn Harvest

  Apt. 3 Across From Apt. 4

  Witcher’s Lake

  The River’s Edge

  *****

  The Fall of Autumn

  The Rag Man

  Hillus was three years old when his parents were killed in a car wreck in 1941. After their death, he spent two years in foster homes and two years at Oakdale Children’s School and Orphanage in Oakdale, Kansas. Other family members wanted to take him in but they had their own children to take care of and plenty other problems. When he was seven years old, he was adopted by a family that lived not too far from where he was born. However, it was not a good home for Hillus; they abused him from the time he was adopted until he ran away at the age of fourteen. For the next four years, he lived on the streets. He lived anywhere he could including under bridges, in fields and in parks. As a child growing up, Hillus had a lot of anger and frustration because of the situation he was in. He often got in fights with people he didn’t even know. He also had run-ins with the law for stealing and other minor things. He moved around a lot and stayed on the go most of the time. He would either hitchhike or hop a train to get to his next destination. Hillus was afraid to stay in one place for too long; he never did have a real place to call home. Hillus had a lot of hardships and struggles in his life as he grew up and did his best to make it on his own. He was pretty much a loner and stayed to himself. He didn’t have many friends because he moved around so much. Nor did he have much of an education; he could barely read or write.

  One day when Hillus was moving about, he tried to sneak into a circus but got caught by the circus owner. The circus owner gave him a choice to either pay, go to jail or feed the animals. Hillus had no money and he didn’t want to go to jail. So, he decided to feed the animals. The circus owner, at that time, needed someone to help feed the animals and clean their cages. After a couple of months, the circus owner was very pleased with Hillus’ work so he offered him a job. The pay wasn’t much. However, it was more than what he had which was nothing.

  It was his first real, honest job. Hillus traveled around the Midwest with Myers and Mundy Big Top Circus. Not only did he take care of the animals, he helped put up and take down the tents, drove the truck for them and did whatever else needed to be done. The circus became his home and family.

  As time passed, he fell in love with everything about the circus. But, he loved the clowns most of all. He became good friends with Bone, a clown. Bone got his name because he was so tall and skinny. He probably didn’t weigh one hundred and forty pounds. Bone had been with the circus most of his life. His mom and dad did the trapeze until they died. Bone was never interested in doing the trapeze. He loved being a clown; he loved to clown around and make people laugh. Hillus enjoyed watching Bone work and he wanted to become a clown. He asked Bone if he would teach him the ins and outs of clowning. Bone agreed because he could tell Hillus had a knack for it and knew he’d be good at it. Bone always told people Hillus was a natural. Hillus had the look and ability that didn’t come along very often. That was the main reason Bone agreed to train him. He gave Hillus his clown name, The Rag Man, because when Hillus first came to the circus he had nothing but rags on his back. Bone taught him the art of makeup, the fundamental art of stunts and tumbling, designed his clown suit and showed him all the ropes pertaining to clowning. Bone, in a way, became like a father to Hillus.

  Even though Hillus didn’t have much of a childhood, he loved children and he loved to make them laugh. The circus life was good for him. It was the best thing that had happened to him since his parents died. Being a clown in the circus helped him turn a lot of his hurt and anger into laughter and make people laugh, at least for a few moments. Hillus became one of the best performing clowns around. He always told people the reason he was so good was because he had an excellent teacher. He earned a good name for himself because he worked hard and was passionate about his work. Hillus became a circus star. His picture was on all the circus posters. Come and see Rag Man, the clown, was the headline of the circus posters. People from all around came to enjoy the show but they came mainly to see Hillus perform.

  Hillus traveled with Myers and Mundy for about twelve years until Bone died. Hillus took Bone’s death very hard. Bone was the only friend he’d ever had. In fact, he considered him to be a father. After Bone died, Myers and Mundy just wasn’t the same to Hillus. So, he decided to join another circus. Hillus didn’t have any trouble finding another circus job; he received plenty of offers. The problem he had was deciding which offer to take. However, even though he brought laughter and enjoyment to the audience, there was a sad face and a lonely man behind the makeup which no one ever saw but him. The circus was a hard and lonely life and it had taken a toll on Hillus. After thirty-two years of traveling across the United States with different circuses, he realized the time had come for him to give it up. His health had gotten bad. The last few years, he traveled with Carver and Williamson Traveling Circus which traveled about the southeast. His body was tired and worn out but he still loved being a clown. In 1973, he gave up the circus and moved to Memphis, Tennessee where he lived alone. Hillus basically became a recluse; he hardly ever left the house.

  After he quit the circus, the first few years of his life were not too bad. However, about three years later, he started missing the sound of children’s laughter and seeing their smiling faces. Hillus felt in his heart that he needed to go visit children in the hospital. Hillus packed his bags and traveled the southeast visiting children in the hospitals. He took them balloons, toys, dolls and candy. He pushed them around in their wheelchairs and helped them with their walkers. He also had picnics with them in their hospital rooms, read stories to them and sang them their favorite songs. Hillus loved the children and thought of them as his own family. One day, when he was visiting Sutherland Hospital in Montgomery, Alabama, he met Shelly Bean. Shelly was a little different; she was so special to him. He saw hope and a zest to live in her eyes. It was something he hadn’t seen in his life in a long time. Hillus and Shelly became good friends. They spent a lot of time together and became really close, like a father and daughter. Hillus never married or had any children. It could be said, however, that he had a lot of children just none of his own. They were an unusual pair, a dying little girl and a lonely old man with a broken heart. When he traveled to other hospitals to visit, he missed Shelly. Not a day passed by that he didn’t have Shelly on his mind. She was what kept him going. Every time he returned to Montgomery, he always took a little time out of his schedule to spend time with her. Unfortunately, the last time he went to see her, her parents told him the doctors said it was just a matter of time. As he looked into her eyes, he could tell she was barely holding on to hope and her zest of life had dwindled down. She had become weaker and was almost gone. Her parents wanted to take her home but she was too weak to be moved. The next day, Shelly died. The day after Shelly died, Hillus was found dead in an alley; he died a lonely man with a broken heart.