The Monkees hoped it was the police coming to rescue them. Maria looked anxiously outside.
"I don't see any police, but keep them quiet. I will see what is going on."
Maria stepped outside and looked up and down the line of trailers.
Several others were doing the same. Finally she noticed a truck in the back that looked like it had broken down, and a few men in the circus's support truck were driving over to them.
Maria breathed a sigh of relief and went back to her own trailer.
"One of the trucks has broken down, that is all." Maria said as she came inside. "We'll have to wait until they fix it."
The gypsies were relieved but the Monkees were very disappointed.
Willie of Willie's Tow Service and Repairs slowly drove along the
stretch of highway leading north to and from Las Vegas. He liked to
drive through there because he almost always found a tourist coming
to or from the city either out of gas, water or anti-freeze. Still,
he was a kind-hearted man, always charging a fair price for his
services, never gouging his customers. When he came upon the
caravan, Willie saw an opportunity to make a day's pay with one
stop. He pulled his tow truck over to a truck that had its hood
up, steam coming from its radiator, got out and walked over to
several men looking at it.
"Hi, there!" Willie called out, "Need help?"
One of the men, using a gloved hand, quickly opened the radiator cap and stepped back.
"We could use some water for this radiator." One of the man replied. "It seems none of the trailers has any to spare."
"Or wants to give any to us." Another man replied.
"I'll be right back." Willie replied, and ran back to his truck.
He soon brought back a plastic container.
When the steam had died down, Willie helped one of the men pour water into the radiator. He closed the hood of the truck.
"Anything else?" Willie asked.
"Could you put more water in all of the trucks?" A man standing off to the side and fanning himself with his hat asked him. "We have a ways to go in this desert."
"Sure thing." Willie smiled and went down the line of trucks, filling each of the radiators with water so they wouldn't overheat.
When he was done, Willie went back to the man who had asked him to fill the radiators; he seemed to be the one in charge.
"Is that it?" The man asked Willie.
"Yeah, they're all filled to the brim." Willie replied, "Need anything else? Gas or air?"
"No, we're ok now." The man replied, "How much do I owe you?"
Willie told him the price and the man, wincing a little, paid him.
As Willie put the money in his pocket, he looked at the trailers.
"If you don't mind me asking, what is all this?"
"This is Sam the Man's Traveling Circus Caravan." The man said proudly, "I had a sign on the side of my trailer, but it um, must've fell off. I'm Sam, the owner." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper. "Here. This is where we're playing next. It'll get you a discount off a ticket."
"Thanks Sam." Willie replied, looking at the paper. "I like circuses."
"Thank you for coming to our aid. See you later." Sam replied, then walked back to his trailer.
Willie went back to his tow truck and watched as the caravan slowly
started its way up north. He looked at his watch and noticed it was
lunch time. Making a u-turn, Willie drove away to the nearest diner.
Tom's Diner was situated a little ways off the highway a few miles
from where Willie had found the caravan. Leaving the windows open
he went into the diner. Unknown to Willie, a gust of wind grabbed
the flyer sitting on the seat of his truck and blew it out the
window. Willie took off his cap, waved to the waitress and looked
for a place to sit. There were a few people sitting in the diner,
mostly tourists either excited about going to Las Vegas or
disappointed about losing their shirts. Looking around, Willie saw
two police officers sitting in a booth having coffee. They saw him
too and waved him over. He sat down next to them.
"Hi, Dan and Dick." Willie said happily, "What's new?"
"Nothing much." Dan, a ten-year veteran with brown hair and a mustache replied. "Just doing highway patrol."
A waitress came over and asked Willie for his order.
"I'll have the blue-plate special today, Grace." Willie said, "Plus coffee for me and these two gentlemen."
The waitress nodded and walked away. Dick looked over at Willie.
"You seem to be in a good mood today, Willie." He remarked.
"Oh, yeah!" The tow-truck driver replied with a smile. "A little while ago I came across a big caravan of trucks pulling trailers up the highway." He shook his head. "That caravan has seen better days, I wanna tell you. One of the trucks needed water for its radiator. Turns out the rest of 'em needed it too, so I was able to make some money today for once."
The two police officers looked at their friend.
"You said a big caravan?" Dan asked as the waitress brought the coffee.
"Yeah, I'd say about ten or twelve trailers." Willie replied. "Why?"
"Did any of those trailers have a sign on it?" Dick asked, suddenly getting serious.
"No, but the owner said it was called `Sam the Man's Traveling Circus Caravan'." Willie told him, looking puzzled, "Is something wrong?"
"That circus caravan might be involved in the disappearance of four men." Dan replied. "Which way were they going?"
Willie told them the highway number and that it was traveling north. Quickly getting up, Dan threw some money on the table and the two officers ran out of the diner and over to their police car. Willie got up and followed them.
"Hey, I think I might know what city they're heading for next!" He called after them.
"Which one?" Dick asked.
"The owner gave me a flyer with the name of the city on it. It's in my truck, I'll go get it." Willie ran over to his truck. Dan was already calling his HQ on his radio.
Willie searched and searched his truck, but couldn't find the flyer. He started to look on the ground for it, hoping he could find it to help out his friends, but it was nowhere to be found.