Gas Station Carnivals
Gas Station Carnivals is a horror short story written by American writer Thomas Ligotti, published in his 1996 collection The Nightmare Factory[1] and reprinted in his 2006 book Teatro Grottesco.[2][3]
Plot summary[edit]
One rainy November evening, the unnamed narrator of the story sits alone in the Crimson Cabaret club writing in his notebook and orders a cup of tea to console his aggravated stomach condition. He is met by his acquaintance Stuart Quisser, an art critic who sits with him ordering a glass of wine. They begin to chat and the narrator recollects an incident where Quisser drunkenly insulted the Crimson Woman, the proprietor of the cabaret, at a party several days prior. Quisser explains that he stopped by to offer an apology, but cannot find her.
The narrator chides Quisser for insulting the Crimson Woman and cryptically warns Quisser that the Crimson Woman has "connections" and that he should beware of her. Quisser responds that the waitress serving their drinks is a loyal employee of the Crimson Woman and perhaps she would relay his apology to her secondhand. However, the narrator indicates that the Crimson Woman was so humiliated by Quisser's insult that she removed all her old paintings which previously decorated the inside of the cabaret and replaced them with new ones, and Quisser notices she repainted the stage where various entertainment acts are performed for patrons.
Abruptly, Quisser changes the subject and asks the narrator if he remembers the "gas station carnivals." The narrator is initially unsure, but continues to listen to Quisser to distract himself from his upset stomach. Quisser begins to recall his memories of the gas station carnivals. When he was a child, Quisser would accompany his parents on long cross-country road trips and often make stops at gas stations in remote rural areas off the highway. On occasion, such a gas station would have a carnival located alongside or behind the filling station. The carnivals were always rundown, dilapidated wrecks that offered only barely functioning amusements to guests. As Quisser continues, the narrator pieces together the true nature of the gas station carnivals, though he says nothing to Quisser.
Quisser explains that the one constant of the carnivals was the "sideshow" performance, a tent where would be performed various bizarre acts for the audience, often by gas station attendants whom Quisser could identify based on their soiled jumpsuits worn underneath their performance costumes. Though the acts would vary at each carnival, one act was always the same: "The Showman." Quisser would invariably always catch the Showman act in progress, never able to watch the beginning or end of the performance. The Showman would stand on stage with his back turned to the audience, never turning around and revealing his face. The only definite features Quisser remembered was the Showman's shock of filthy red hair and his fingers, green with mold that clutched the sides of his cape. Though Quisser was filled with dread, his parents forced him to watch until Quisser asked to leave.
Quisser then reveals he would see the Showman outside of the gas station carnivals at various times and places, such as at school or across the street, always out of reach, and he felt that if he ever would see the Showman's face, he would die on the spot. The narrator, fed up with Quisser's story, finally reveals the true nature of the gas station carnivals. They are a sophisticated delusion, brought on by the Crimson Woman's "art magic" in retribution for Quisser's insulting her. Quisser at first denies it and insists that they were real, but the narrator highlights the surreal absurdity of the whole story and, as Quisser's father had died and his mother was no longer mentally competent after suffering a series of "psychic catastrophes," Quisser is the only one who could bear witness to the carnivals.
The narrator continues, revealing that the delusion is retroactive, as even though Quisser claims he has known about the gas station carnivals for decades, he only began to imagine them after he insulted the Crimson Woman a few days ago. The narrator states that other patrons in the cabaret have also fallen victim to the art magic, and again warns Quisser about the danger of the Crimson Woman. He also speculates that the waitress has been poisoning his tea, exacerbating his stomach condition. He begins to theorize that the art magic may even be being performed by multiple unknown entities, not only the Crimson Woman.
Quisser, though remaining doubtful, begins to come around to the narrator's explanations and wishes to break free of the delusion. Quisser leaves to go use the restroom while the narrator observes the other patrons of the cabaret and ponders as to how heavily they have been affected by the pervasive art magic, and why the art magic had come there. The waitress asks if the narrator would like another drink, and the narrator tells the waitress to refill Quisser's wine glass. However, the narrator notices that Quisser's glass is gone from the table. Suspicious of the waitress, who insists that the narrator sat alone the whole evening, the narrator searches the restrooms but doesn't find Quisser, and no other patron of the cabaret saw him that night.
The next day, the narrator finds Quisser at an art gallery but Quisser clarifies that he had been ill at home the night before and did not meet the narrator at the Crimson Cabaret. Angered, the narrator accuses Quisser of lying but Quisser replies that his mouthing off would get the narrator into trouble, like when the narrator insulted the Crimson Woman at the party. Quisser warns the narrator of the Crimson Woman's power and connections, mirroring the narrator's warnings the previous night. The narrator is confused and the situation is only made worse by the increasingly contradictory accounts of who said what to whom at the party by the narrator and Quisser's social circle, reaching a head when the narrator finally attempts to apologize to the Crimson Woman, who barely recognizes the narrator. Furthermore, the waitress at the Crimson Cabaret has replaced all the Crimson Woman's paintings with her own.
The narratives and delusions swirl and mix over the narrator and his friends, leaving their memory and account of events muddled. He begins to see the delusions of the gas station carnivals, including the Showman who is always just out of reach, never revealing his face. Trapped by the art magic, the narrator wonders what he and everyone have done to deserve this fate.[4][5]
References[edit]
- ↑ Ligotti, Thomas (1996). The Nightmare Factory. Little, Brown Book Group Limited. ISBN 978-1-85487-436-8. Search this book on
- ↑ "Teatro Grottesco". brainwashed.com. Retrieved 2021-07-17.
- ↑ Ligotti, Thomas (2008). Teatro Grottesco. Virgin Books. ISBN 978-0-7535-1374-3. Search this book on
- ↑ http://www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/titlecovers.cgi?283831
- ↑ https://www.ligotti.net/showthread.php?t=2447
thomas ligotti short story[edit]
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