Chapter 1
The early morning sun laid in dapple patches upon the grassy ground that laid in front of the small group who had entered the Renaissance Faire. People jumped and bustled about dressed as historical figures and fairies and elves and everything in between – like a plague doctor who roamed around silently within a group of four – who was trying their hardest not to bound about the grounds, the Faire’s enthusiasm was infectious!
A light breeze blew past the faire goers and made the ancient oaks shiver, and made the hem lines of the dresses worn by the women at the faire bellied in a line so graceful. The plague doctor glanced back at their group, two people – a male and a female – the male was dating the plague doctor but sampling some of that female on the side. They weren’t friends, they cared for each other about as much as a Jew and a Nazi.
Above the three of them hung little trinkets, moons, stars and other things the fairies had hung. The plague doctor looked up at them before snapping a picture on their iPhone. The female in the group giggled at the plague doctor. The plague doctor sighed and took a deep breath.
Lauren Saucedo, the plague doctor, wanted to punch that bitch in the face. It was so typical of her, always making fun of her. “Lor, do you really believe that any of this happened?” said the gruff, boorish voice of her own boyfriend, she sniffed his breath and grimaced, she could smell a funky odor, like wet clay. She turned and saw her boyfriend, Matthew Sandford. “History isn’t this gay.”
The female Jennifer Rao stood there, laughing at Lauren. The smell that wafted from her tanned skin was skunky and it was obvious she was higher than high. Jennifer was not a fan of Lauren. She said nothing, did not tell Jennifer to shut up nor did she answer Matthew, and led them deeper into the fair.
Lauren was tooted at from pan flutes and plucked from lutes – it was pretty magical, even Lauren had to admit to that. Lauren took a picture looking down one walkway path lined with shops and vendors.
If Lauren hadn’t been wearing a Schnabel, she would have drawn her fingers across her brows and pinched them together. “While I know the renaissance happened, I prefer the dark ages,” Lauren said, taking more pictures here and there. Her voice from inside the mask sounded cruel. The chatter was loud around the three of them. “Then again, I’m all about the plague.”
“Oh, holy shit! Is this a symptom of Scoliosis? Seriously, no one gives a rats ass what you’re all about!” sneered Jennifer as they walked into a sun-dappled open area with fairies playing lyres and tooting on pan flutes. Lauren was confused, how is being all about something have anything to do with Scoliosis? Lauren looked at Matthew and wondered what exactly he saw in Jennifer. Jennifer looked at Matthew. “How do you two even talk to each other without killing yourself?”
The plague doctor rolled her eyes, as Matthew grabbed Lauren’s hand and led her to an incense stand. “They’d fill those freaky beaks with things that smelled good, right?” asked Matthew. Lauren was shocked! He grabbed two sticks of incense – jasmine and lavender – and shoved them both in the breathing nostrils of her mask. Lauren ripped the mask off her face and coughed as she watched Matthew reach for a lighter. She gave him a stinging look of disapproval.
Lauren wondered why she stayed with a jackass like Matthew, she wondered why she allowed him to treat her the way he did. Feelings come and go, unless you don’t feel them, then they stay, and hurt, and grow pear-shaped and weird, and that was exactly what had become of Matthew.
Lauren never expected her boyfriend to be a history buff like herself, never in a million years. But a gentleman was what she had expected. “Ha! I made the plague doctor choke!” laughed Matthew, pointing a finger at Lauren. He grabbed her hand once more, and they moved down the aisle. Everything around them smelled of animals and wet straw.
“That’s not how they stuffed the beaks,” said Lauren, seized with anger as she dodged around the aisle packed with sweaty human vermin. But she let out a sigh, like a newly opened can of beer.
Jennifer took in a deep breath, and closed her eyes, frustrated and taking in the scents of incense and mutton. Oh, poor dear little Lauren, she was so tragical. “Who cares?”
“Disease historians.”
“That’s not a real thing,” said Jennifer, beyond annoyed that Lauren would even think that sort of bullshit would even exist in the first place. She grabbed the beak. And gave it a little shake. It came off of Lauren’s head, and she threw it to the dirt covered ground. “No one cares about bird doctors!”
“That mask was pretty nerdy,” said Matthew with a shrug, he seemed almost bored with Lauren now; he kicked at the dusty ground, covering the mask.
“How can a mask be nerdy!?” groaned Lauren. She didn’t mind it when people would call the mask creeptastic, but nerdy? “And how is being a fan of something that killed so many people be something you see as nerdy!?”
“Because it’s medical!” screamed Jennifer as she shoved Lauren to the dust covered ground. The mask less plague doctor looked up at Matthew; Matthew and Jennifer turned their backs and walked deeper into the faire. Lauren wanted to cry, wanted to scream, but she decided on being the bigger person.
Lauren balled her black gloved hands into fists, but took a deep breath. “Matthew, can we go to the maypole ride and ride it, just us?” she said, embarrassed by the fact she was currently being seen with Jennifer.
Matthew threw his head back and laughed, as if his girlfriend had just told the funniest joke in the universe of comedy. “You can ride that yourself!” he grinned. Matthew laughed once more. “You can find us when you’re done on that kiddie ride!”
“We need to talk, Matthew,” hissed Lauren.
“Then talk!” said Matthew, still grinning. There was time to wonder if she’d gone insane and was hallucinating all this in some madhouse somewhere. “Or cat got your tongue?”
Lauren’s face twisted up like something was torturing her deep inside. “Privately.”
“Whatever it is you have to say, you can say in front of Jennifer.”
“Matthew, I want to break up.” She turned and left, walking down a different aisle. Matthew called out to Lauren, but Lauren didn’t stop, didn’t even show that she heard his pathetic words, allowed the words to be swallowed by the throng of faire goers. He hung his head, he shouldn’t have done and said those things to her, shouldn’t have let Jennifer do that to her. Look at what their so-called fun had caused.
Lauren laughed softly. Lauren had always seen herself as the ugly girl, the horrible girl, she was never the second choice and certainly never the first.
Lauren was the leftover. Not clever. Not skinny. She was talentless. Lauren often wondered why she was even there. She just wasn’t good enough! There was nothing nerdy about being into the Black Death.
About the doctors that treated that disease.
She’s not for everyone and she knew it. People always found her different and strange, she loved to read medical books, watch films featuring real death, and loved all things strange and unusual. People fear the unknown and they never knew a girl like her. She saw she had gone to a mask stall, and in front of her was a plague doctor mask. She picked up the mask. “Am I wrong to break up with him?” Lauren asked the mask. She stroked the beak, and it seemed alive with magic. “I feel like I am.”
