"Pageant Wagon" is a short story by American writer Orson Scott Card. It first appeared his in his short story collection ''

The Folk of the Fringe ''The Folk of the Fringe'' (1989) is a collection of post-apocalyptic stories by American writer Orson Scott Card. These stories are set sometime in the near future, when World War III has left America in ruins. The stories are about how a few ...

'' (April, 1989), and was followed by a release in '' Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine ''(August, 1989)

Plot summary

In a post-apocalyptic America, range rider Deaver Teague is trying to get to the town of

Moab Moab ''Mōáb''; Assyrian: 𒈬𒀪𒁀𒀀𒀀 ''Mu'abâ'', 𒈠𒀪𒁀𒀀𒀀 ''Ma'bâ'', 𒈠𒀪𒀊 ''Ma'ab''; Egyptian: 𓈗𓇋𓃀𓅱𓈉 ''Mū'ībū'', name=, group= () is the name of an ancient Levantine kingdom whose territo ...

because his horse died. On the way, he is picked up by the Aal family’s

pageant Pageant may refer to: * Procession or ceremony in elaborate costume * Beauty pageant, or beauty contest * Latter Day Saint plays and pageants, run by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints or by members local to the area of the pageant * ...

wagon. When they arrive in the town of Hatchville, Deaver decides to help the Aals set up for the show because he likes them, he wants to see the show, and because they have a beautiful daughter named Katie. Over the course of the day, Deaver learns that the family has a lot of problems. The most serious of them is that the middle son, Ollie, wants desperately to get away from the pageant because his father won’t let him act - making him run the lights and sound board instead. When Ollie takes off with a local girl in an effort to get the family into trouble, Deaver talks the sheriff out of arresting anyone and then offers to take over Ollie’s job so that he can either leave the show or start acting.

Connection to other stories in the series

In Card's story "

West West or Occident is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sunset, Sun sets on the Earth. Etymology The word "west" is a Germanic languages, German ...

", Deaver Teague was found by a group of traveling

Mormon Mormons are a religious and cultural group related to Mormonism, the principal branch of the Latter Day Saint movement started by Joseph Smith in upstate New York during the 1820s. After Smith's death in 1844, the movement split into several ...

s after his parents were killed. Since the boy had no parents the group decided to take him along with them to Utah. At the time, he was unable to talk and they didn’t know his name so he was named after two of the men in the group; Jamie Teague and Brother Deaver. In the story " Salvage", Deaver is a young man who goes diving in a Mormon temple to try to find hidden gold. In the short story " The Fringe", the main character, Mr. Carpenter is rescued from drowning at the last minute by a group of traveling actors calling itself the "Sweetwater Miracle Pageant".

Influences

As with many of Card's other literature, a

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

influence is present in this story.

Characters

Main character

*Deaver Teague

Sweetwater Miracle Pageant people

*Marshall "Marsh" Aal - father *Scarlett Aal - mother *Peter O'Toole "Tooilie" Aal - son *Katie Hepburn Aal - daughter *Laurence Olivier "Ollie" Aal - son *Janie Aal - daughter *Dusty Aal - son *Parley Aal - grandfather *Donna Aal - grandmother

Other characters

*Royal "Roy" Aal - from Royal's Riders *town's people - unnamed *Meech - range rider dispatcher *secretary - in the mayor's office - unnamed *Mayor of Hatchville - also the bishop - unnamed *Nance Pulley *Judge Pulley - Nance's father *sheriff - unnamed

References

External links

The official Orson Scott Card website
{{OrsonScottCardFolk 1989 short stories Short stories by Orson Scott Card Post-apocalyptic short stories Mormonism in fiction