September 20th, 2023
Read the first 20 pages or so. I like it so far, especially the way it’s written. Bradbury paints a good picture. I wasn’t sure when it was written, but I instantly got the feeling of an 50’s setting, or before. It has that old suburban feeling. It starts off weird, too. A strange man selling weirdly carved lightning rods gives two boys, Will Halloway and Jim Nightshade, a free one. They are neighbors and born minutes apart, one before midnight 10/30, one after on 10/31, and in a few days to be 14. This salesman then claims that Jim’s house will be struck that night. Will, worried by this news, forces the more lackadaisical Jim to put it on his roof. Jim wanted to see what would happen. Then they go to the library, at 8 at night for whatever reason, where we meet Will’s dad, the janitor. Then they run-off. Not much plot yet, but I like it.
September 21st, 2023
Kind of a weird few chapters and not much occurs. Some creep is putting up posters for a carnival, despite it being late October. Charles Halloway sees this, and the kids find a poster while running around town. Will sees his dad hiding a poster and then burning it, wondering why he won’t talk about it. We learn that his dad is in his 50s, kind of old. We also learn that Jim is an only child, his dad dead and his mother losing two other children. There was also something about a porn theater or something weird. Who knows.
September 23rd, 2023
Things get real weird. First, a train arrives at 3am. The boys sneak out of their house and investigate. It is for the carnival. Weird creepy people start setting up tents in the night. From the library, Charles sees the boys running home. Turns out the storm never happens. Maybe it’s a metaphor. The boys go to the carnival the next day but it seems normal except for one thing: the hall of mirrors. Will has a bad feeling when looking at the maze, and Jim confirms it. Will sees his teacher go in and tries to stop her, but she doesn’t listen. She comes out screaming for help, who knows what happened. She seems to have seen herself, but a young version. When it gets later, the boys sneak onto an “out of order” ride, the carousel, and someone grabs them. I guess this is “Cooger” or something, and then “Dark” sends the boys out while the carnival is closed during the dinner hour. These two men own the carnival. Jim decides to climb a tree and spy, and of course Will has to follow. They see the carousel operate and Cooger, somehow, appears to get younger and younger until he is finally a boy of 12. What the hell?
September 25th, 2023
The form of the boy is the missing nephew from the teacher from earlier. The boys follow him back to the teacher’s house. What is his goal? Jim wants to go in and investigate, and Will reluctantly follows. The teacher suspects nothing, but the boys recognize Cooger’s eyes in the boy’s face. Jim and the boy have some sort of nonverbal understanding and he agrees to come back. The boy wants to take his aunt to the carnival, who knows for what. The boys go home and are in trouble for being late. Will waits for it to get late and waits for Jim to signal. There’s no communication, but he sees Jim sneaking out all by himself. Will follows him back to the teacher’s house. Jim wants Will to leave and it gets revealed that Jim wants to use the carousel to become older so that he can leave. The boys get in a fist fight and Cooger comes out, throws jewelry at them, and yells for the cops to accuse them of robbery. Cooger runs and the boys run after him to the carnival. He gets on the carousel and it spins forward, aging him up. Will tries to stop it but breaks the control and it goes out of control. It eventually dies, and a 120 year old decrepit creature of a man is lying, alive, on the ground.
September 26th, 2023
The boys freak out and call the police. The cops and some paramedics come and they go to the carousel. No body. Something draws them to the freak tent. Inside they see all sorts of weird things and people. There is a strange, crazy dwarf. Will soon recognizes him as the lightning rod salesman, completely deformed. Deep inside they find Mr. Dark with Mr. Cooger, tied to an electric chair dead. Somehow, the electric chair brings him life, and he says some creepy things. The cops think it’s all an act. It seems clear that the boys have made themselves a target. Jim is still bitter about Will messing everything up. They have the cops drop them off at the station where they lied and said they lived near. However, outside the station, the hear Miss Foley (teacher) talking to Will’s dad. For some reason, she is under the sway of “the nephew” and is telling him about the burglary. Will then jumps out and confesses to the crime. Charles takes the boys home, but he can tell that they didn’t do it. He sends Jim to bed, climbing up the roof. Then father and son have a conversation like they’ve never had. Will asks his dad why he’s not happy. They talk about being good, being bad, happiness, sadness. Will still can’t bring up the carnival other than asking his dad not to go. Then they both climb the roof and go inside.
September 27th, 2023
The boys both wake in the middle of the night sensing something is wrong. There is nothing but silence, but it feels ominous. They both look out and see an evil balloon floating towards them. The balloon carries what was thought to be a wax figure, the Dust Witch. This blind witch is scanning the town for the boys. Now she feels them and marks Jim’s house. Once she leaves, they wash it off. Will, in his room, acts quickly. He “forces” the witch to come back, but leads her to an empty house. Then, on the roof, he tries to fire his bow and arrow at the balloon. It snaps, but he jumps for the balloon and tears it. It flies away, and the boys both dream of a funeral for the balloon. Next day, the boys go off to the police station as planned, but on the way see a little girl crying in the rain. Jim refuses to acknowledge it, but Will sees her and knows she’s Miss Foley, turned back in time by the carousel. She stays put until they can come back and help her, and they go to Foley’s house to find it empty. Then they hear a parade. The carnival is coming to town, looking for them. They hide, go to find the girl, but she’s gone, likely taken. Then we see the boys hiding under a grate on the main street as the parade goes by. A little boy spots them and it seems the gig is up.
September 30th, 2023
The dwarf/salesman spots the boys, but is so deranged he can’t process the information. Charles Halloway leaves the bar as Mr. Dark comes in and goes to the cigar shop where the grate is. He sees the boys and freaks. They beg him not to look and Mr. Dark approaches him. He shows the tattooed boys on his hands telling hm they won a prize and are being searched for. Halloway plays it cool and manages to piss off Dark. The Dust Witch comes by but Charles scares her off by being over-the-top and smoking his cigar. For some reason, maybe bravado, he tells Dark his real name and that he’ll be at the library. He spends the rest of the night researching. Eventually the dwarf tells Dark about the boys but it’s too late. The boys had left and eventually made it to the library. Will has a new respect for his father. In the library, Charles has all sorts of books on devilry and carnivals splayed out. He finds out newspapers about the Dark and Cooger carnival coming to town all the way back to 1840. Clearly they use the carnival to stay immortal. Until the boys killed Cooger, that is.
October 4th, 2023
Somebody quietly enters the library. Charles tells the boys to hide and then tries to act casual. It’s Mr. Dark and the facade is gone. He wants the boys, he knows who they are, and he knows they’re here. Lots of dialogue. Dark messes with Charles’ head and goes off to find the boys. He tries to scare them, telling them what he did to their mothers. He finds them. He grabs them and Charles comes running up to fight. He throws a punch but Dark grabs his hand and smashes the bones, possibly breaking the arm. Dark and the boys go past a window, where they see the mothers. Dark, loving a coincidence, waits for the moms. However, they don’t look up. The Dust Witch then blinds, deafens, and mutes the boys and puts them in a sleep. Dark then sends her to stop Charles’ heart. It is working until Charles opens his eyes and sees the Witch. He starts laughing. The Witch recoils and as Charles laughs harder, she becomes impotent and flees. Part 3 starts next. Didn’t think the boys would get caught like that.
October 6th, 2023
Finished this last night and today. It’s good. The boys are marched as part of the parade, completely under the mind control of the Mr. Dark. At the carnival, he hides the boys in the back of the mirror maze. The Witch shows up and Dark learns she has not killed Charles. It seems like he will punish her through the final act of the carnival, the trick shoot. A real bullet is swapped with a fake and the “shootee” will “catch” the bullet with their teeth. The Witch doesn’t want to do it, but Dark is in charge. No one volunteers to shoot, until Charles appears. Since he has a bum hand, he calls out for Will to help. The crowd then starts calling for Will, who somehow appears, still in a fog. Dark’s plan is falling apart. He gives the bullet to put a mark on, and he marks a crescent. Dark allows this, does the swap and all that. He then marks the fake bullet also. He then reveals the symbol: a smile. He shoots and the witch falls dead. The carnival is then closing and lights are going out. They look all over for Jim, and reluctantly enter the mirror maze. After nearly succumbing to the horrors inside, Will lights a match, Charles sees something and laughs, and the maze crumbles. Jim is still missing. They hear the carousel and run. He is still in a spell and grabs on. It spins and Will grabs him. Jim is fighting and can’t decide whether to ride or let go. He lets go, but doesn’t get up. He seems dead. Charles has learned the secret to fighting these guys and makes Will ignore the dead Jim and have fun. He has to slap the fun into him. As they sing and dance and Charles plays harmonica, Jim starts to wake. It works. Then a small boy runs up screaming for help. He pulls Charles away, but Charles is wise. He knows it is dark. Charles grabs the boy and hugs him. By showing love, the carnival starts to fall apart. This act ultimately kills Dark. The freaks all run off into the hills, now free but scared. Charles and the boys smash the carousel and run off into the night.