"Time for lunch my brethren!" Tanya called from the other room. Rocco and Kiko tied Mike and Peter back up and started to walk away.
"May we please have something to eat?" Peter asked.
"No more food for you four today." Maria said with a smirk. "You can thank your drummer's little trick this morning for that!" She chuckled and walked into the next room.
When Mike, Peter and Davy were alone in the room, Mike reached over with his bound hands and tried to untie Peter. But Peter pulled his hands away from him and looked sadly at Mike.
"No, Mike. We can't." He whispered, "They might do something even worse to Micky."
Mike looked at Davy and the young Englishman nodded in agreement.
Mike sat back and looked at the ceiling so that his friends couldn't see the tears in his eyes.
A little while later, Maria and her brood came back into the living room. She bent down and untied Davy's hands and feet.
"Get up and clean the kitchen, little one." She ordered gruffly.
Davy stiffly stood up and walked into kitchen, followed by Zeppo. Maria turned to the other gypsies.
"Marco, Kiko, Tanya and Rocco will stay with our guests. I will collect our pay from Sam. I will also let him know we will be having some new members join our group." Maria said with a smile.
She then left the trailer and made her way over to Sam's trailer up in the front of the caravan.
Walking past the other acts without even saying hello, the gypsy matron came over to Sam's trailer and knocked on the door.
"Come in!" Sam called.
Maria opened the door and went inside. Sam was, as usual, sitting behind his desk, counting up the money and writing numbers down inside a ledger book. A half-eaten sandwich sat on the desk by his elbow. He barely glanced up at his visitor.
"Hi Maria." Sam said as he erased a figure on his book and replaced it with another. Probably a much lower number. "I'm just about done sorting it all out."
"Take your time, Sam." Maria smiled, "I have something to tell you anyway."
Sam looked up at that remark, not liking Maria's smile one bit, but finally fixed his book the way he wanted it and put it aside.
Opening the cash box, he counted out a small amount of money and laid it on the desk in front of her.
Without a word, Maria scooped up the money and put it in her blouse as always. Sam finally noticed Maria was by herself, which was unusual. He sat back on his creaking chair and looked up at the gypsy woman.
"What did you want to tell me, Maria?" Sam asked levelly.
Maria sighed theatrically and sat on the edge of Sam's desk next to him.
"It seems, my dear Sam that some members of my clan have fallen on hard times. They wish to join us for awhile in our gypsy act."
"Maria, I can't take any more performers in right now." Sam protested, "Box office receipts have been low and I can't afford…"
"Don't worry about that, Sam." Maria said with a wave of her hand. "You just pay us what you have been."
"That will mean less money for each of you." Sam countered, "Will your family like that?"
Maria shrugged her shoulders. "We are a close-knit clan." She said, "They will just be grateful for the chance to work."
A rumble of suspicion went through Sam's stomach. He had never known Maria and her brood to be so understanding.
They were up to something. He waited a few seconds before answering.
"Maria." Sam said slowly, "I'm just this side of legal. I don't need any more problems."
Maria simply smiled, leaned over and gave Sam a lustful kiss. The circus owner was surprised for a second, then returned the kiss.
The gypsy pulled away from Sam.
"There will be no problems, Sam." Maria smiled seductively, running a finger down his cheek. "No problems at all. They will be joining us tomorrow night."
"Sure Maria, whatever you say." Sam smiled and pulled Maria onto
his lap and the two of them kissed again.
Maria entered the gypsy trailer once again, a big smile on her
face. Her sons and niece were waiting for her.
"So, Mama?" Marco asked, "Did he say yes?"
"Of course he did, Marco!" Maria laughed, "The fool cannot resist my charms."
Maria's brood joined in her laughter. Davy had finally cleaned the kitchen and was slowly walking back into the small living room. Zeppo looked at him.
"All done, shorty?" He smiled.
"Yes, I'm all done." Davy said quietly. "May I please see how Micky is doing?"
"I will go see how he is." Kiko said with a smirk, "You will sit down with your friends."
Davy slowly sat down next to Peter again. Several seconds later, Kiko called over.
"Ah! Your friend is still here!" He said happily, then everybody heard a sound like someone being punched and a muffled groan.
"And he's doing just fine!" Kiko added.
The other gypsies laughed at that, while Peter started to cry and Mike and Davy looked at each other in anguish. Kiko walked back into the living room once again and looked at the three Monkees.
"Do you want one of us to check up on him again later?" He asked.
"NO!" Davy shouted, choking up, "Just leave him be, please?" He asked.
"We'll see." Zeppo replied, retying Davy's hands and feet, "We will
see."
The caravan started up again a little while later. Mike and Peter
were forced to resume their music lessons with Kiko until they could
play the gypsy songs perfectly. Finally, Kiko stood up and beamed
at his two students.
"Well done, boys!" He said, clapping his hands, "I think you will do well tomorrow night, don't you think, Mama?"
"They better." Maria said, looking up from her sewing, "Or one of them dies."
Mike and Peter's hands were tied again as the gypsies went to eat supper. Davy was finally able to pull out a few pieces of bread crust from his shirt pocket and give it to his friends. He had hidden the bread crusts while cleaning the kitchen.
They quickly gulped it all down.
"Is there some for Micky?" Peter whispered.
Davy nodded his head, too upset by the thought of Micky being punched because of him. When the gypsies had finished their supper, Peter was then forced to do the clean up. Marco and Zeppo went to the back of the trailer. Several minutes later, the two gypsies dragged an exhausted Micky into the living room. He could barely walk and couldn't put his arms down all the way, because they had been forced upright for so long. Micky was unceremoniously dumped next to Mike. Though Mike's hands were tied, he was still able to raise his long arms and wrap them around Micky and hold him. Micky gave him a weak smile. Davy simply looked at the floor, unable to look at his friend.
"Learn your lesson, fuzzy?" Maria asked.
Micky could only nod his head. Marco pulled Mike's arms off of
Micky and then all four Monkees had their ropes removed and chains put on them instead. When the caravan stopped for the night, and the trailers unhitched from trucks, the gypsies went to sleep, their prisoners left to get as comfortable as possible on the floor.
When all was quiet, Davy pulled out the rest of the bread and gave it to Mike, who gave it to Micky. He quickly swallowed the dry bread and managed to whisper `thank you' before the four of them drifted off to a restless sleep.