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But that was more than a hundred years ago.”
    “Grandmother Purdue made the quilt to commemorate the Big Fire.”
    “Yes, the design was flames,” Maddy recalled. “Yellows and reds and oranges.”
    “Faded a lot,” sighed Maud Purdue. “But it’s all I’ve got to remember her by. She asked me to give it to Bobby Ray when he grew up.”
    “It’s a wonderful keepsake,” Maddy assured her. “ But puzzling why Harry Periwinkle would want it.”
    Maud shook her head. “Never did like that boy. Told Bobby Ray not to pal around with him, that he was trash. But my son didn’t listen. Him and Harry and that Watson boy were thick as thieves. Romping through the watermelon fields. Hiking on weekends. Camping out at Gruesome Gorge in the summer. Fishing in Edwin Baumgartner’s pond. They caught a ten-pound bass there once.”
    Maddy could see that Maud Purdue wasn’t going to fetch the quilt from the attic to show it to them, so she eased toward the door. “We’ll go now. Just wanted to deliver that cake. And offer our condolences.”
    “No need for that. Bobby Ray’s been dead for nearly thirty years now. Least that’s what the bearded scallywag told me.”
    The visitors offered a chorus of goodbyes as they walked to Bootsie’s Jeep Cherokee. Maud Purdue gave a final wave, then turned back to the kitchen where the upside down watermelon cake was waiting.
    As Maddy eased into the backseat of the Cherokee, she glanced up at the eaves of the two-story house. Through the branches of the giant oak tree that dominated the front yard, she could see a small attic window. The mysterious quilt lay just beyond.
    ≈≈≈
    Aggie was delighted to see Sprinkles the Clown again. Even there at the campground on the Bentley farm, he still wore his white greasepaint and red nose. He introduced them to a tall man with slicked-back hair and a walrus mustache. “This is Big Bill Haney,” he said with a flourish. “He’s the ring master, lion tamer, and strong man. What’s more, he owns the circus.”
    Freddie Madison glanced at the side of the gaudy circus wagon. The wording proclaimed: HANEY BROS. CIRCUS AND PETTING ZOO . He wasn’t sure what there was to pet, the animals consisting of a lion, tiger, and other dangerous creatures.
    Turns out, it was Happy the Elephant. A third guy – a leathery-skinned roustabout they referred to as Bombay – brought the dusty pachyderm around from behind the tent for Aggie to pet. Mr. Sprinkles gave her a pack of peanuts and showed her how to feed them to Happy.
    “ Ohhh, look at his long nose,” she thrilled as he took peanuts from her hand.
    “That’s his trunk,” said the elephant handler. He also doubled as a mind reader known as Swami Bombay. He claimed to be from India, but Freddie thought he looked Mexican. “He uses that trunk like a hand. He could thread a needle with it.”
    Freddie knew that was a slight exaggeration, but he merely smiled as the circus performers entertained his niece.
    Mr. Sprinkles was also a gifted acrobat, which he demonstrated by walking on his hands.
    To his surprise, Aggie emulated him. As the star pupil in her gymnast ics class at Madison Elementary, she could walk on her hands, do back flips, and complete straddle vaults on a horizontal bar.
    “Excellent,” applauded Mr. Haney. “When you grow up we’ll have a place for you here at the circus.”
    “Oh boy!”
    “You too,” joked the ringmaster-lion-tamer-owner. “We can bill you as the Alligator Man.”
    Freddie couldn’t help but laugh at this reference to his scarred and scaly skin. “I may need a job. Can’t go back to firefighting.”
    “ Lots of ways for a man to be productive,” said Swami Bombay. Maybe he was a mind reader after all.
    “When do you perform in Burpyville?” asked Aggie, remembering the itinerary outlined by the clown.
    “Next week,” said Haney. “We’re putting on six shows at the Bur pyville Shopping Center. Free passes if you two decide to drive over