CARNY TALKER 101
Del was in the grips of his speed high, " Likethewayiseeitiknowicouldbeagreattalkerredand-" , Red stepped up, "Kid, kid slow down I can't hear a word you're saying. Easy, easy. Ya gotta know the kayfabe kid. If you're lucky, maybe you can be a talker by the time we leave here. In three days? I wouldn't bet on it though kid. Took me a couple of weeks."
" Look, what do I need to know? What does a talker do?", Del asked, sitting down on the stack of boxes they had unloaded.
Red drew out his pipe, pulled the paper balled up in the bowl out and started the ritual to light the pipe. Drawing slowly on it. Easy, until the smoke coming from the bowl moved continuously into puffs in the air.
"A talker in the carny ain't just a barker for a show, he's the heartbeat of the carny. He bails out a pal in need, he can stop a fight or get us through a town without a payoff so high we'll still be paid. He can't be the center of attention but if he isn't directing traffic, we're cooked kid. Still want to be a talker?", Red looked direct into Del's eyes.
"Yes. Yes, I want to be a talker. How do I start?", Del asked, " how do I study for this?".
Red took a puff off the gar, " You can't learn any one way kid. It's the moment, ya see. Let's say the emby has a B.R. but his pal is a sharpie-"
"What", Del interrupted, " is an emby?".
"An emby is dumb enough to come back and lose over and over.", said Red with the pipe stem in the side of his mouth, " the lifeblood of a carny. Maybe he loves a girl, or a game. But his pal, see, is a sharpie. Maybe he worked at a carny or he knows someone that did, and he knows the real game. You get called over by the Agent, the guy running a game. You have to be aware of every moment. Every move. Every object around all of you. If the agent says Hi, B.C. that means BE COOL. This is a bad situation. So you B.C. and see how the two guys respond. Friendly, but more aware than you have ever been in your life. A B.R. is a bank roll, the wallet, the customer.
To cool everyone out maybe you say to the Agent, "What happened here?", but there's something you know that the B.R. doesn't.
You know how you will respond when the Agent does.
"I do?", asked Del, puzzled.
Red took another drag from the pipe, and let the smoke slowly leave his mouth.
"Yep. You agree. Ya hafta to agree with ANYTHING and EVERYTHING the Agent says. You can't ask him another question, you can't shift the burden on him. You are adding to whatever he says happened. You are pushing the story, not just accepting it. You are gotta watch your partners back.
"You can't just squeeze one of your ideas in, kid. You have to make your story so real a sharpie would buy it. You have to know how to use silence to create tension, noise as a diversion, a pretty girl for agreement and to be prepared for anything. Be alert, or you and the agent could get your asses kicked. You treat the B.R. stupid and he'll pick up in it right away. Ya gotta know every angle to be a talker.
"I've seen guys working here 86'd for not knowing how to spot patterns in the way people talk. Maybe they reveal they have a kid and you can give them a doll to make the problems go away. Or maybe it's his dame and he has to show off, got me? You have to know the patter of the fortune teller and the girls selling their keys.
"86'd is booted off. I don't want you booted off. Or left in some hospital. So let's take this one step at a time", Red said " first off at lunch go over to the hootchie cootchie show and listen to L.C. He's the best talker we got".
Del looked over to the dancers tent and saw the prettiest girl he thought he had ever seen walk inside. Hard to say, she was a ways away, with make -up, Del had to squint. But he knew.
That tent was full of women!
Carny women. Strippers. Hookers. Women on the road like him.
Except they had done it.
Women.