One Week Before the Faire
Withoutadoubt,Augustwas the worst month of the year.The oppressive heat of summer in the Midwest hit new peaks.Just the idea of being outside for even an hour was unthinkable.Yet here Lilian Brody was, driving down a bumpy gravel road to spend the day in a Kansas field.
Only one thing could get her out in such heat.
The Heartland Renaissance Faire’s prep week.The week the faire opened its gates for workers to come and set up for the upcoming season.They only had one more week before the September opening and with it, the promise of fall.
Where August was the worst month, September was the best.The pumpkin spice flowed, the heat eased its hold, and the Ren Faire opened to the public.In a few short weeks, the area would be bursting with fall colors.
Lilian parked her car in the lot reserved for faire employees and immediately got to work, lifting one of the many plastic containers out of the trunk.The weight pulled on her shoulder muscles.She really should have reconsidered how many books one person could reasonably carry across the faire grounds, especially considering this was only the first of four containers.
Lingering at the base of the walls was a crowd of people wearing far too much clothing considering the heat index for the day would climb into the high nineties.Women in dresses of brightly colored fabrics, men in tights that showed… well, everything.And bodices.Sooo many bodices.Mixed in were people not in costume as well.Girls in tank tops, men in paint-stained jeans and work boots.People dressed for the kind of manual labor the day demanded.
Despite the heat, everyone wore easy smiles as they chatted with old and new friends.
“Lilian!”A familiar woman with short wavy brown hair broke from a gaggle of corsets.She was dressed sensibly, in a pair of gym shorts and a paint-speckled Beacon Hills Elementary shirt.As an grade school art teacher, Margo had an entire drawer dedicated to art clothes, which mostly consisted of tank tops and cutoff jeans.Her outfit made it clear she was prepared to work, unlike Lilian, who had been far more excited to break out her favorite faire attire: a soft green corset dress with champagne underskirts.
Lilian almost didn’t recognize her friend without her traditional pastel hair color, but the faire dictated that all volunteers have natural hair colors, to appear more authentic.They’d tried to pass a rule about appropriate eyewear that would have restricted Margo’s bright purple glasses, but enough complaints reversed that order before it could take effect.
Lilian and Margo had worked together at the faire for the past four years.First as volunteers at the entrance gate, checking tickets while becoming fast friends.Naturally, they used their volunteer status for free access to the festivities once their shifts ended and quickly became each other’s constant faire companion.After that, they worked a rotation of odd jobs, monitoring children at the Enchanted Forest Petting Zoo and pulling shifts as tavern wenches in Pirate’s Cove.
When Lilian announced her plans to open her own shop a year ago, Margo had jumped at the chance to help her.
“Holy moly.”Margo’s eyes widened behind her thick-framed glasses as she took in the container.“That looks heavy.”
“It is.I miscalculated how many books it can hold with the amount of books I can actually carry.”Lilian let the tub fall to the ground with an earth-shaking thud.Her muscles sang in relief, but it was only a matter of time before she’d have to lift it again.“I have more of these in the car.”
“They have wheelbarrows to help carry in props,” Margo said helpfully.“Let’s see if we can grab one.”
“That would be amazing.”She really hadn’t thought about the logistics of hauling giant tubs of books nearly a mile toward the faire.
Together, they made their way to a station lending out wheelbarrows, tools, and an assortment of other items for employees.Lilian’s muscles screamed in protest as she lugged the books to the station, but once they had a wheelbarrow in hand, things became significantly easier.
They checked in at the main booth, received a pair of badges that read “Vendors” and were handed a map along with their lot assignment for the season.Lilian stared at the badge.
There was her name, written in golden medieval script against the Heartland Faire crest.
“I cannot believe this,” she whispered.
“I know.”Margo beamed.“This is so cool.”
It still didn’t feel real.
She was working at the faire.
Not as a volunteer like previous years or as an actor.She was going to sell books at her favorite place on earth.
It all felt like a silly dream she’d come up with while doing inventory in her mother’s shop.
It wasn’t like she was expecting to make a ton of money from this endeavor.When the idea had struck her last year, it had seemed like a good way to clear out old inventory while making a few extra dollars and having fun.
Definitely more fun than taking stock at her mother’s shop.More fun than untangling the neglected accounting books.More fun than figuring out how they were going to pay for chemotherapy or worrying about if the cancer would return.
Okay, so maybe she was using the faire as a distraction from the real world— but wasn’t that exactly what everyone else used it for?
She shook the intrusive thoughts away and hefted the wheelbarrow up.“Ready to see our new home for the next ten weeks?”
The Heartland Renaissance Faire stretched across thirty acres of what had once been open farmland.Over the years, it had been carefully curated and maintained for the purpose of hosting hundreds of people dressed in Renaissance attire.Unlike most of Kansas, the space was dotted with lush green trees, offering much needed shade during the late summer heat.Well-maintained dirt paths stretched out like vines, connecting themed areas together and leading patrons down mysterious, labyrinthine streets where vendors were stationed on all sides.
