trustn still held some meaning for her, even if they didn’t mean much
to some of the people with whom she worked in the county and state
bureaucracies. She had not yet been a public employee long enough to
be tainted by the inevitable corrupting influences that were attendant
to any government program. She cred.
On Monday, June 23, when the carnival came to Rockville, Maryland,
Janet Middlemeir presented herself at the office-trailer that provided
working space for Mr. Frederick Frederickson, the silver-haired owner
and operator of Big American Midway Shows. With characteristic
directness and crispness, Janet stated her intention of going through
the lot from one end to the other, until she was fully satisfied that
the thrill rides and the other large attractions were safely erected.
She would not approve the opening of the carnival if she felt that it
represented a threat to the well-being of the citizens of her county.
She was pushing her authority a little bit, perhaps even exceeding
it.
She wasn’t entirely sure that the carnival’s equipment came under her
jurisdiction, even though it stood on the county-owned fairgrounds.
The law was vague on that point. No one from the county Office of
Public Safety had ever inspected the carnival before, but Janet felt
she couldn’t shirk that responsibility. Just a few weeks ago a young
woman had died when a carnival ride had collapsed in Virginia, and
although that tragic accident hadn’t happened on the lot of Big
American Midway Shows, Janet was determined to put Big American under a
microscope before the fairground gates swung open.
When she stated her intentions to Mr. Frederickson, she was afraid
that he would think she was trying to shake him down, and she didn’t
know quite how she would handle him if he tried to bribe her. She knew
that carnivals employed a man whose job it was to bribe public
officials, they called him the “patch” because he went into town ahead
of the show and patched things up with the police and certain other key
government employees, lining their pockets with folding money and books
of free tickets for their friends and families. If a patch didn’t do
his job, the police usually raided the midway, closing down all the
games, even if it was a straight carnival that didn’t dupe the marks
out of their money, unpaid and angry about it, the police could shutter
even the cleanest girly shows and legally declare the thrill rides
hazardous, quickly and effectively bringing the carnival to its
knees.
She didn’t want the people at Big American to think she was after a
fast buck.
Fortunately, Mr. Frederickson was a well-educated, well-spoken,
courtly gentleman, not at all what she had expected, and he both
recognized and admired her sincerity. No bribe was offered. He
assured her that his people were as concerned about the health and
safety of their customers as she was, and he gave her permission to
poke around in every corner of the midway for as long as she liked.
Frederickson’s superintendent of transportation, Max Freed, issued her
a badge with the letters VIP on it, so that all the carnies would
cooperate with her.
For most of the morning and afternoon, wearing a hard hat, carrying a
big flashlight and a notebook, Janet prowled the grounds, watching the
midway rise like a phoenix, inspecting bolts and rivets and
spring-locked joints, crawling into dark, tight places when that was
necessary, overlooking nothing. She discovered that Frederick
Frederickson had been telling the truth, Big American was conscientious
about maintenance and more than conscientious, downright fussy, about
the erection of rides and sideshows.
At a quarter past three she came to the funhouse, which appeared to be
ready for business a full hour and fifteen minutes before the gates
were scheduled to open. The area around the attraction was deserted,
quiet. She wanted someone to give her a guided tour of the funhouse,
but she couldn’t locate anyone associated with it, and for a moment she
considered skipping the place.
She hadn’t found even one major safety problem anywhere else on the
midway, and it wasn’t likely that she would uncover a dangerous
construction-code violation here. She’d probably just be wasting her