Annabelle 2/5

That night, Billy Barty and the rest of the sideshow are standing around the living quarters looking concerned. London sees the gathered crowd and asks what’s up. Billy Barty says that they are worried about Annabelle, who seems to be down in the dumps. Oh good, Annabelle is the fat lady so I can start calling her by name. Anyway, London steps into her cubicle to check on her. She puts her book down and invites everyone in so they can all chat. She asks why everyone looks down, and Billy Barty says “We’re sad because you’re sad.” Aww, how sweet, I knew that whole “one of us” thing was taken out of context. Back to Annabelle, she let’s her coworkers know that Nels is her brother. Ouch, I’m sorry she has such an awful niece, nephew and sister-in-law. Of course, she doesn’t know that yet since he didn’t know she joined the circus and she didn’t know he was a businessman. The editing keeps switching from Annabelle to Billy Barty who is either reacting to what she is saying or considering his grocery list. She recounts what happened at lunch and that all she wants is a little love or recognition from her brother. “I would have walked right over to him and given him one of my extra special patented bear hugs,” she says before she smothers Billy Barty in her arms. But since Nels failed to do that, Annabelle concludes that Nels must still be ashamed of his sister and her “bulk”. I think it should probably be noted that although Annabelle may be quite large by 1879 standards, she has what I would describe as a 2009 midwestern female build. In other words, she would be out of a job nowadays unless she put on ten or fifteen hundred pounds.

Billy Barty asks what’s wrong with how any of the freaks look, but London says it is the outsiders who are making those judgments with their “crazy notions”. True, but you all are trying to capitalize on those notions, so are there any victims here? Billy Barty stands by his indignation, saying that when Nels looked away from his sister he looked away from the entire circus and they should skip town. London shoots down Norma Rae’s idea, saying they have a contract with the town. Billy Barty tells Annabelle that the whole circus is her family and there’s a group hug moment. Aww. Annabelle picks up her book and resumes reading. Somber music plays as

Now we’re outside the boarding house. Nice edit there, show: I wasn’t finished. Anyway, Willie is hanging signs around town advertising the circus. Harriet comes outside and he asks her opinion of the ad. She compliments her “little pumpkin seed”, gives him a kiss, and tells him to plaster the town with posters. He asks if he should put them on the outhouses, which offends Harriet at first until he explains that everyone will see the posters there. If you want to be really effective, put the posters on the inside of the door – what else will people look at in there? Willie runs off as Harriet walks over to the Mercantile. Nels is sweeping the porch as his wife begins to prattle on about how much she loves seeing “Oleson’s Mercantile” on the posters. “Nothing warms the cockles of my heart like a good steady flow of cash.” Lovely. Nels isn’t in the mood and starts to head inside. Harriet stops him and asks him to deliver a banner to the big top. He says he has to make a delivery to the school for the blind and it has to be done right now. Harriet has caught on that Nels has been deflecting everything circus related since they arrived in town and he has been acting so “queerly”. Really, honey? Before he can respond, she decides to take the banner over herself. As she walks down the porch steps, she starts laughing at a “wonderful idea” she just had. She suggests hanging the banner on the backside of the fat lady. For a moment it looks like Nels contemplates shoving his wife off the porch, but she walks away before he has time to act.

London compliments Harriet’s banner as she finishes hanging it on the big top. Charles wanders over and notices that setup is moving along quite nicely. London mentions that the Ingalls kids are doing great work along with all the children. Charles also compliments Harriet and her sign before asking London for a favor. He asks if any of the performers would be interested in visiting the school for the blind and London suggests Annabelle. He sends Charles to the performers’ living area then starts to check how setup is going. As London passes Laura, she asks where the sad clown has run off to since she hasn’t seen him all day. London tells her that he usually wanders off during the day and sometimes doesn’t see anyone. Laura throws a pity party in the sad clown’s honor as London tells her he has never heard him speak and only once heard the clown clear his throat. Obviously tired of the line of questioning, London reminds Laura that if she is here to help, she should get back to work. She heads off to her next task.