Geek Love

Chick works tirelessly on Arturan surgeries, as well as the general medical needs of the Admitted. Chick also cares for the twins in their pregnancy. Iphy reads constantly and tries to conceal that Elly is regaining her mental faculties. Chick asks Oly not to tell Arty, since Iphy fears what Arty will do. Oly asks Chick if he’s the one making Elly more responsive, but it had not occurred to him that he could do such a thing.

Oly decides to ask Chick to do something that she has been thinking about for some time. Oly asks Chick if he can take sperm from Arty’s testicles and transfer it to an egg in her own body, so she can have a baby. Chick is unsure of whether he can accomplish this, so he “practices” on one of the big cats, transferring sperm from one of the males to an old female tiger who has never been impregnated. Chick succeeds in this, so he agrees to Oly’s request. The conditions are perfect, with Arty happily talking to Sanderson, genuinely relaxed and enjoying himself. Oly is in the room and the miracle is achieved.

The twins give birth to their baby, a massive twenty-six pounder that Iphy names Mumpo. Chick handles the delivery so the twins suffer no pain and the baby stays safe. Mumpo is endlessly hungry. Oly says, “He was a bottomless craving and he was cunning. Arty saw it immediately. Iphy knew. I knew. Lily and Al refused to notice. Chick knew and didn’t care. Chick loved the big glob” (301). Arty has the baby brought to him and he and Mumpo stare at each other with hate. Arty never sees the baby again.

Oly wakes up one night with Arty furiously trying to thrash at her with a stick as he sputters insults. Al pulls him away as Arty howls that Oly is “knocked up.” Chick has told Arty that Oly was pregnant, though he had not told him how, so Arty believes that the baby’s father is the Pin Kid. Al wheels Arty back to his own van and everyone settles back down. Oly is amazed at this evidence that Arty felt the need to hurt her for what he thought was a betrayal: “He must love me, I thought, amazed. A faint whiff of nausea hit me at seeing pain as the proof of love. But it seemed true. Unavoidable” (304).

Oly begins to feel very nauseated from her pregnancy, so Chick uses his powers to make her feel better. Chick says that Arty did not believe that the baby is his, and that the Pin Kid is gone, which Oly frantically confirms. The Pin Kid apparently left suddenly, not taking his trunk, so Oly is worried. Arty refuses to see Oly, though he agrees to let Chick into his rooms. Chick reports to Oly that Arty is beginning to believe that Chick impregnated Oly with Arty’s sperm, since Horst has told Arty that the old tigress is indeed pregnant. Arty begins to allow Oly to perform her chores for him again, but he forbids any talk about her baby or the Pin Kid.

Elly is clearly “coming back” to herself, though Iphy continues to try and conceal it. Mumpo is so insatiable that Iphy and Elly must both nurse him constantly. Al wants the baby to be exhibited in a show booth, but Iphy wants to wait until his first birthday. Oly spends more time with Iphy as her pregnancy advances and is even more convinced that Elly is just pretending to be non-responsive. Iphy has become more like Elly, Oly thinks: stronger and meaner.

Arty is again preoccupied with the administration of the Arturans, obsessing over news reports of preachers and groups that are trying to imitate his success. Oly does not pay much attention to Arty, as she is consumed by fear as her due date approaches. Oly does not fear pain or death, but something else—some nameless fear.

Oly gives birth to her baby, whose only uniqueness is a small curly tail. Oly fears that Arty will not love the baby because she’s too normal, but Lil tells Oly to “love her” anyway. Oly, as the narrator, says that she’s wondered since if those were Lil’s last sane words. (312)

Oly feels a fierce need to protect her baby, who is named Miranda. Arty has no desire to see Miranda and treats Oly coldly, filling Oly with intense fear: “Across the lot, Leona the Lizard Girl was floating […] in the murk of her jar. Miranda […] would be as helpless as Leona against Arty” (313). Chick tries to reassure Oly, saying that Arty would not hurt Miranda since he feels guilt over what he did to Elly. Arty has been encouraging Chick to work harder to return Elly to her formal mental state.

One day, as Miranda toddles around the family van, she falls and splits her lip. Just at that moment, as Miranda is screaming, Arty comes to see her for the first time. Arty leaves in disgust. Oly frantically goes to Chick, who tries to reason with Arty, but Arty insists that Miranda be sent away. A trust fund is set up for Miranda and Oly takes her to the convent where she will grow up. 

Oly recounts the day the family and the carnival were finally destroyed. It begins as an ordinary day. Oly prepares Arty for his show. Suddenly, Lil is yelling for Chick, who runs to the twins’ van.

Oly rushes to the van herself, where she sees a tangled mess of limbs and hair and a pair of scissors in a fist. Iphy’s face emerges and Oly sees Elly’s face as well, with the scissors sticking out of Elly’s eye socket. Chick tries to revive Elly, but Iphy has killed her. In a flat voice, Iphy says that Elly has killed Mumpo. Lil finds the baby in a heap on the floor. Chick sobs that it’s his fault for having “brought back” Elly. Iphy quietly says Arty’s name, then dies as well.

Chick also says, “Arty,” and runs out to the midway. Oly runs after him and sees Chick standing still, clenching his fists with his eyes closed. In the distance, Arty’s tent, with Arty and his Arturans inside, explodes into flames. The fire rushes down the booths and tents, incinerating everything. Oly feels Chick’s essence pass through her, then he pulls away: “The flames spouted from him […] bursting outward from his belly […] and my world exploded with him […] as they died—my roses—Arty and Al and Chick and the twins—gone dustward” (319). Many carnival workers and customers die in the conflagration. Watching it all, Oly grinds her teeth to powder.

Horst survives and handles the many necessary arrangements. The remains of the Binewskis, including the contents of the jars in the Chute, are given a “decent” cremation. Sanderson dies, and Horst thinks to gather all his notes and tapes before they’re found by reporters. The Arturan organization is dismantled. Oly recuperates in the hospital and Lil is placed in a mental hospital. Horst rents a room for Oly in a building in Portland and changes her name to McGurk.

Before he leaves town, Horst tells Oly how he found Lil after the firestorm. Horst had just found Al dead on the ground by the generator truck when Lil ran up to Al’s body. Lil hiked up her skirt, opened up Al’s pants, and rubbed herself against him, saying “Broken…Al…after all our work…we’ll start again…Al…you and me…Al” (321).

After seven years, Oly brings Lil to her apartment building from the mental hospital. Oly adapts to living outside the carnival, among norms, in a stationary home.