Chapter 7

The next morning's show sold out early, and many of those showing up were repeat customers. They hung around at the booths, and traded for beads, silk, ceramic and halvah and date bars served by a couple of attractive wives in silk costumes.

After the show, John announced a hiatus for a week. They would refine or introduce new acts, and allow word of their presence to spread, bringing in everyone from a few days around. (Also to give the audience time to gather more barter for admission. John was a canny businessman, he had learned many tricks and techniques from the old Caravan master.)

For the next week, the caravan troupe bartered and traded, turning their wide and varied admission into wealth which was transportable, non-perishable, and high value. Vedeya found a source of sandalwood perfume, and Zithrusa discovered some glassware, cups and bowls and ewers, that John thought were crude and murky looking, but which were the latest and the best in this era. They were carefully packed in woven baskets which had a bold red and yellow stripe around them, so the drovers would know to take extra care. John told Vedeya to find other perfumes, as he thought they would be of great worth in the west.

Here, the dry air quickly desiccated the dung and sewage, rendering it innocuous, but in a damper climate, it would really be a problem. John remembered with distaste the stench in the city in India with the rubber market, how it smelled like a sewage treatment plant combined with a milking shed. That reminded him, and he had the older not-quite-adults help him in a shares project, turning the rubber into balls. They could use them for juggling, or sell them at a premium.

John remembered kites, and also had some of his people begin to manufacture linen kites. He only included twenty feet of twine with each one, but with the steady desert wind, it was enough to start with. When the week was over, there was still much that could have been done, but they could get to it next week. The troupe traveled up and down the few streets of Kashgar, making noise and creating a scene. Tomorrow morning! Another show.

There were people camping in line, well, to be fair they were from out of town, and didn't have enough to barter to find a place indoors anyway. John told Zithrusa and Talus to ease up on the trader's grip, and let them in for what was more in line with their resources. Having the townsfolk shut out today would make them desperate to attend the following week for the 'final shows'.

The caravan troupe would use today's show to refine and practice their new routine. John went down the line doing a head count, it was perfect. He told Zithrusa his idea, and that if anyone made any effort at all to barter their way in, they should be allowed to see the show. He suggested they move most of the sweets outside to sell to the frustrated locals, using most of the wives, and adding several booths to meet the expected demand.

The show today was hastily adjusted to be more low-brow, using an earthy humor more appreciated by the rustic out-of-towners. Pratfalls, playing that one of the acrobats had broken wind, a fallen pair of trousers, more audience pandering, turning to them to include them in a joke or pointed ridicule of another troupe member were all part of the schtick.

The roars of laughter coming from under the big top drove the people hanging around outside crazy with curiosity and envy. The drovers and guards had to be vigilant to prevent people from sneaking in, although they let several enterprising little boys wriggle under the barrier.

John announced that the final two showings would be held in one week, and the anticipation and delay would work well on the psyches of the townsfolk. Vedeya used the week to use up all the sweets ingredients except for the honey, which she kept the extra back for trade goods. She would have to stock up on sesame in Samarkand, and if the supply of dates ran low, they could switch to fig bars. John had a recipe which baked a thin crust of sweet-bread around the fig past, which was then cut into squares.

The happy rustics returned to their abandoned flocks and fields, chattering about what a wonderful show they had seen, and the barter they had paid to see it was only half of what the outside booths had gathered for the same show! Zithrusa hadn't even tried to sell the sweets to them, they lived too close to the margin. She knew, having been much like them herself, before she met John.

Another week of trading and refining their stock, concentrating it into goods with good trade value to the west, and raw materials which could have a lot of value added to it. Zithrusa got more raw silk, it would only get more expensive the further west from Kashgar they went, and John stocked up on wood, which would be scarce further into the desert. He had been too busy for much carving, but he wanted to try his hand at Vedeya nymph carvings. He also had a creative urge to do the two wives in a sapphic embrace. John wondered if there was a poet yet by that name living in a place called Greece yet.

John and the young escapist, Tsee, came up with a new routine, an aerial escape while suspended above the ring upsidedown, and John coached him that the more difficult his release seemed the more the audience would appreciate it, not logical but what it was. He didn't need to slow down the admission line, but it was a fact he had picked up in his old life, that the longer people had to wait to see a Broadway show, the higher reviews they were likely to give it. Something about the investment in time, and perceived return.

Of course, making people wait for puerile crap wouldn't make them appreciate it any more.

John made sure that all of his people had the new Indian Steel weapons, and distributing them freed up a camel for additional goods. Silk thread and more perfume. The troupe practiced their weapons technique and more little nomads learned the sudden slash with their new daggers, to go along with the mantis sway. The adults also learned a technique, depending on what John found when he assessed them for innate talent. Some were given pokey swords, and sent to train with Zithrusa.

Some were found to have what it took for sudden slash style, and sent to train with Tuk. Chou and Chin were given short curved swords to use with their sudden slash style, and all the children's daggers were replaced by ones of Indian Steel sharpness.

Their old daggers were traded off for whatever they could bring. Even little Talus sported a dagger which on him seemed a sword, and Tuk made certain he knew what to do with it. Even the wives of the guards and drovers had at least daggers, and if they were found to have the talent, they were trained with a sword style as well.

Farish and Lishta found a few sets of throwing knives, and although they each had a dagger and knew how to mantis sway, they preferred to throw the knives in a fight. John pointed out to them that you run out of knives eventually, no matter how many you start out with. So they practiced the up close style as well.