He stood near the entrance to the circus grounds as before and looked at his watch. It was almost eight o'clock and starting to get dark. Davy was now getting scared. Suddenly, he heard a voice calling his name. He turned to see a young girl with dark shoulder- length hair running towards him. Davy had little trouble remembering girls, so he instantly knew the girl's name; Tanya the gypsy. He frowned and waited for Tanya to run over to him.
"Hello, Tanya." Davy said with little emotion. "What brings you here?"
"Hello, Davy." Tanya said, slightly out of breath, "I've been looking for you."
"Oh, really." Davy replied, folding his arms. "Do you want me to steal for you again?"
"No, I have some bad news." Tanya told him, frowning. "Your friend Peter was bitten by Bobo the talking dog and he's being treated by the circus doctor."
"What?" Davy exclaimed, "Is he alright?"
"It was a bad bite, but he should recover." Tanya said, "Your three friends are with him now. I know you have no reason to trust me, but Michael told me to give you this to show I'm telling the truth." She pulled Mike's wool hat out of her pocket and handed it to Davy.
Davy took the hat from Tanya. It was Mike's all right, he'd recognize it anywhere! He also knew Mike would never give his favorite hat to someone he didn't trust. Davy looked at Tanya.
"Take me the others." He said quietly.
Tanya smiled, turned, and walked away quickly. Davy hurried to keep up with her. They soon got back to Tanya's tent and Davy followed her inside. The only thing Davy saw however was the table, chairs, crystal ball and candle. Davy looked at Tanya.
"Well? Where are they?" He demanded.
Suddenly, a light shone on the bound and gagged forms of Peter, Micky and Mike.
"They are right there, Monkee pigeon." Another female voice told him.
Davy looked from his friends to the owner of that voice. To his shock, it was Maria the gypsy!
"You..." Davy growled.
Maria laughed out loud. "Get him boys!"
Marco and Zeppo moved towards Davy, but Davy was already in action.
He grabbed the small table and threw it at the two gypsies, the candle and crystal ball crashing to the ground. The table slammed into Marco and Zeppo's chests and knocked the backwards to the ground. Shouting in anger, they started to get up, but by then, Davy had run to the back of the tent and began to crawl underneath the canvas.
"Stop! Or else!" Maria yelled at Davy.
Davy looked back to see Maria crouching next to Peter, a knife at his throat.
"Come back here, little Monkee, or he dies!" Maria hissed.
Seeing the knife at Peter's throat, Davy crawled back into the tent and stood up. Kiko and Rocco rushed over and grabbed Davy. He looked at her defiantly.
"Whatever you've got planned, Maria." He said, "You won't get away with it."
Davy would've said more, but a gag was shoved in his mouth, and his hands and feet tied. Marco walked over to Davy and punched him in the stomach. Davy doubled over in pain, and Kiko and Rocco let him fall to the ground. Maria stood over him triumphantly.
"Oh, yes we will, little one, we'll make sure of it this time!"
The gypsies began to laugh, but the merriment was cut short by a voice just outside the front of their tent.
"Maria!" Sam yelled, "What's going on in there?!"
He started to enter the tent. Maria rushed over to the tent flap and gently pushed Sam back outside.
"What's wrong, Sam?" Maria asked sweetly.
"It sounded like a fight in there, Maria." Sam replied, "Some of the other performers told me about the racket. You know I want peace in this circus."
"Oh, that!" Maria laughed, "It was just my Marco and Zeppo. They had an argument and Marco knocked over the table, that's all."
Maria pulled back the tent flap to show Sam the table lying on the ground and Marco and Zeppo looking sufficiently penitent.
"We are sorry, Sam, it won't happen again." Maria cooed.
Sam shrugged his shoulders. "Well, anyway, it's closing time and your boys will be needed to help tear down the tents."
"They'll be there, Sam." Maria smiled.
Sam smiled back and walked away. Maria's smile turned into a scowl at Sam's retreating figure. Sam was a fool, but she and her family needed him-for now-to survive. Maria walked back into the tent.
"That was close, too close, but he is gone." She told her family.
"Now we kill them Mama?" Marco asked with glee.
"No, Marco." Maria replied, shaking her head, "Perhaps later. Right now, we must get them to our trailer, before Sam comes looking for you boys again."
Kiko and Zeppo picked up some leftover tarps that had been lying in the back of the tent. They pulled Mike to his feet and began to wrap one of the tarps around him. But even though Mike's hands were bound behind him and his feet tied, he still put a fight. He head- butted Kiko and knocked him away.
"You want to play, Monkee Pigeon?" Maria sneered at Mike. She nodded to her boys.
They let Mike fall back to the ground then punched and kicked him. Mike groaned through his gag. Maria told them to stop and pick Mike up off the ground. His legs could hardly hold him up as he was turned to face his fellow Monkees.
"Now, boys, does anyone else not want to co-operate?" Maria asked with a nasty smile.
Micky, Peter and Davy, shocked at the brutal treatment Mike received, shook their heads in fear.
"Good. Good." Maria told them, then looked at her sons. "Quickly now, get them all wrapped up and we'll carry them back to the trailer."
Within a few minutes, all four Monkees were wrapped from head to foot with canvas tarps. Then the gypsies quickly tore down their own tent and began to carry everything, including their captives, over to their trailer. The other circus acts were doing the same with their own tents, so nobody paid the gypsies any mind as they carried their extra bundles away.
The Monkees were thrown down onto the floor of their trailer, while the tent itself went into another storage trailer that all the acts shared. Then, while Maria and Tanya watched over their captives, Marco, Kiko, Zeppo and Rocco went to help pull down the main tent with the other men. Maria and Tanya pulled the tarps from the Monkees' faces so they could watch as they counted out all the money they had stolen that night. They also went through the guys' wallets and examined their rings and watches. The Monkees had just had a gig a few nights before so they had a little bit of money on them. Maria scowled at the cheap watches and put them aside. Mike looked at all the articles on the table and noticed that the keys to the Monkeemobile were not among them. Neither was his wool hat. He hoped the gypsies didn't notice so that they wouldn't steal or destroy the Monkeemobile as well.
Maria looked up from the table as her four sons came into the trailer.
"All finished, boys?" She asked.
"Yes, Mama." Kiko replied, "Did they give you any problems?"
"No, they were nice and quiet." Maria smiled. She picked up a few bills from the table and handed it to him. "Go over to Sam and ask him if we can use the truck tonight for a few hours. Tell him tonight is a gypsy holiday and we need to go into the woods for awhile to celebrate. That money will pay for the gasoline we use."
"Yes, Mama." Kiko said and ran out of the trailer.
"Mama, we can't hide them here forever." Zeppo told her, "They might be missed."
"I've been thinking of a plan, my dear Zeppo." Maria told
him. "I'll tell everyone what I have in mind tonight in the
woods." She gave the Monkees an evil laugh.
A little while later, Kiko came back with the beat-up truck and
parked it a little ways away from the trailer. It was a flat-bed
truck with wooden sides used to haul heavy equipment.
It was now dark out and the other trailers were lit up, filled with the sounds of the other performers talking about the day's events. Nobody paid attention to the gypsies' trailer. Truth be told, the other performers generally didn't like to associate with the gypsies anyway and wouldn't have cared what was going on even if anybody had been looking outside at the time.
"Put our guests in the truck my sons." Maria told them.
The Monkees were terrified. They realized that Maria and her brood might be taking them on a one-way trip! Still, there was nothing they could do, being tied up and wrapped in heavy canvas tarp.
Within a minute, all four men were lying on the floor of the flatbed truck. Kiko got in the driver's seat and Maria sat next to him. Marco, Zeppo, Rocco and Tanya sat in the flatbed part and watched over their captives. Zeppo started the truck and drove away from the trailers, into the woods.