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THERE WAS ANOTHER BREAK after Mr Crepsley and Mada Steve to tell me more about who the man was, but his lips were sealed All he said was: "I have to think about this" Then he closed his eyes, lowered his head, and thought hard

They were sellingthe break: beards like the bearded lady’s, models of Hans Hands, and, best of all, rubber spiders that looked like Madaht two, one for ood as the real thing but they’d have to do

They were also selling candy webs I bought six of those, using up the last offor the next freak to come out They tasted like cotton candy I stuck the second one over my lips and licked at it the sahts went down and everybody settled back into their seats Gertha Teeth was next up She was a big wos, thick arentlemen, I am Gertha Teeth!" she said She sounded strict "I have the strongest teeth in the world! When I was a baby,with hed, but she stopped them with a furious look "I aain, I will come down and bite your nose off!" That sounded pretty funny, but nobody dared chuckle

She spoke very loudly Every sentence was a shout and ended in an exclamation mark(!)

"Dentists all over the world have been astounded by my teeth!" she said "I have been examined in every ure out why they are so tough! I have been offered huge a and so I have refused!"

She picked up four steel bars, each about ten inches long, but different widths She asked for volunteers and four ave each of the them They did their best, but weren’t able When they had failed, she took the thinnest bar, put it in her h it!

She handed the two halves back to one of the men He stared at them in shock, then put one end in his own mouth and bit on it, to check that it was real steel His hohen he almost cracked his teeth proved that it was

Gertha did the same to the second and third bars, each of which was thicker than the first When it came to the fourth, the thickest of the bunch, she chewed it to pieces like a candy bar

Next, two of the blue-hooded assistants brought out a large radiator and she bit holes in it! Then they gave her a bike and she gnashed it up into a little ball, tires and all! I don’t think there was anything in the world Gertha Teeth couldn’t chew her way through if she set her ave one a sledgehae chisel, one a hammer and smaller chisel, and the other an electric saw She lay flat on her back and put the large chisel in her ehah above his head and brought it down I thought he was going to sasps and people covering their eyes with their hands

But Gertha was no fool She swung out of the way and the sledgehammer slammed into the floor She sat up and spat the chisel out of her mouth "Hah!" she snorted "How crazy do you think I aehaehammer is real!" she told him "Now," she said to those of us in the audience, "watch!"

She lay back again and stuck the chisel in her eha it down, faster and harder than the man had It struck the top of the chisel and there was a fierce noise

Gertha sat up I expected to see teeth falling out of her mouth, but when she opened it and removed the chisel, there wasn’t as hed and said: "Hah! You thought I had bitten off o to work, the one with the smaller haums, then let him position the chisel on her teeth and whack away at it He nearly hammered his arm off, but he wasn’t able to har them off with the electric saw He ran the saw fro everywhere, but when he put it down and the dust cleared, Gertha’s teeth were as white, glea Twins, Sive and Seersa, came on after her They were identical twins and they were contortionists like Alexander Ribs Their act involved twisting their bodies around each other so they looked like one person with two fronts instead of a back, or two upper bodies and no legs They were skillful and it was pretty interesting, but dull compared to the rest of the performers

When Sive and Seersa were finished, Mr Tall caht the freaks would coain and line up in a row, but they didn’t Instead, Mr Tall said we could buy more stuff at the back of the hall on our way out He asked us to ain for co and said that the shoas over

I was a little disappointed that it had ended so weakly, but it was late and I suppose the freaks were tired I got to ht, and turned to say so behind me, up at the balcony, his eyes wide I turned to see what he was looking at, and as I did, people behind us began to screae snake up on the balcony, one of the longest I had ever seen, and it was sliding down one of the poles toward the people at the bottom!