Dunk had planned her kidnapping

Tutu felt the movement of Dunk's old truck. She heard the trap trap trap of Esroh's hoofs, she recognized the chirping of Song Bird. But there was nothing she could do. No sound came out of her. She knew how to get her mouth back, she just had to push the straw out with her tongue, then push her tongue through her face and open it up again with a little pain; often enough she had done it before. She did not want Dunk to know about it though, because it might come in handy for her escape that she already thought about. Also, he could not ask her to sing that way and that would save a lot of energy so her pink cotton would not deteriorate more than it already had.

The drone of wheels on the road surrounded her now, having left all the happy sounds of the fair behind. He had given her a small glass of sugar water, no doubt made with water from his slimy pool, but she needed the nourishment.

Dunk had planned her kidnapping weeks before, so he had stolen sugar from the candy maker. Tutu sat there, trying to be reasonably comfortable in her misery. She drifted off without sense of time. Suddenly bright light hit her, the droning had stopped. “Come on out, you Pink Spinner, dance for me, just like I have seen you dance for that flashy Mirror Creep!” The voice alone made her cringe. He stood there silhouetted in the open door of the truck.

She stepped out into the sunshine, carful not to fall down the slippery steps, looked down on herself, saw the tatters, the gray smudges, holes.The weeks it will take to get into my pretty pink shape again.

“Look at yourself, you are hardly worth the effort. Sing and dance for me, maybe I will keep you if you please me.” He looked at her with a disdainful sneer and sat down to lean against a tree trunk.

Tutu Girl started to dance on the forrest floor. Dunk had stopped in dense tree growth, in a little spot where the ferns were not growing, where the sun laughed down at her, almost mockingly. It felt curious under her toes; she had never touched moss before. Strangely spongy. So she started to dance very carefully, silently. Did he not know that her mouth was gone?

He squinted at her, laughed roughly and pointed at her. “You don't like me, do you? Look what I have done for you, take you away from these stupid carnival slaves so that I can show you the world. I'll bet you have never been in a forrest, you know how few will ever have a chance to see such a thing. But you are just an ungrateful little spinner. I think I will not take you with me after all, you are only a bunch of grief for me. I gave you sugar, didn't I? I let you dance. But that isn't enough for you. Well, you can find your way back to your Mirror Boy all by yourself. Maybe he loves you enough to come looking for you. I doubt it very much, you are just not more than a little entertainment for him. You are worth nothing to anybody,” and with that he threw an old small tarp down and rolled away in his dirty truck.

Symbol of waves, stars, sun, seahorses. Divider.