Luyện nghe bài hát Tragic Events - Part II

Are you crying,

No... Well, yes.
I was just thinking Sandy.
And about and Kimba.
I them, Evelyn.

I know,
I them too.
this time of year, Evelyn.

The is 1991,
2 is the highest-grossing film at the Box Office,
the first Super Nintendo Entertainment System has just released,
and after 70 years of Communist
the Union of Soviet Republics has collapsed.

And on a chicken ranch outside of Claxton, Georgia,
twin are waiting for their supper.

The is old and operated by Alfred McClock,
an eccentric man with a fascination with War weaponry.
McClock's chicken farms produces over 140, 000 chickens a
and ships wings, and legs all over the continental United States.

the modest success of his business,
McClock leads a life,
never marrying and several of the chicken houses himself.
A simple man with a not bad heart.
McClock knew how to best take care of the young girls who came into his life shortly after their birth,
so he them the only way he knew how -
in a two foot by two wire-mesh cage,
on a of mash, crumbles, pellets and egg booster.

One clear day,
during the sixth year at the farm,
McClock does not come at time.
Night falls and still he appear.
The girls and the cry out from hunger.

Days pass, and the chickens in neighboring cages to die.
The smell of rotting permeates the air of the hot, humid barn.

Finally,
desperate to find food and over the whereabouts of their guardian,
the twins break from their cage.
McClock's is locked tight,
but the girls find the garden hose, which quenches thirst.
Still half delirious hunger,
make their way out to the road.

Little time passes a dusty black Cadillac Coupe DeVille drives by and pulls over.
A tall, mustachioed man with a kindly steps out of the vehicle.
He at the girls
(Hello)
and presents them with the first they have ever tasted - a Twix bar,
they share in silent, odd delight.
The girls do not feel at all uncomfortable the man leads them gently into the dark, spacious trunk.

In the following days the girls are into the trunks of several other cars (Hello)
by many kindly, (Hello) candybar-offering men (Hello)
until reach their final destination at a lakeside lodge in Manitoba.

The lodge is a collection of cozy, waterfront cabins with an attached trailer park along the shores of lake Winnipeg.
It is the world headquarters of Budding Flowers Entertainment,
specializing in the production and of photographs and VHS tapes for clientele with unique tastes.

The girls are welcomed by Mrs. Deborah Bulgar, the podiatrist, (?)
(Well, hello, girls!)
a woman of proportions,
who lives with her own three children in the lodge of the underwood.

Upon that the girls have no names she christens them Eva and Lynn,
names which neither she nor the themselves are ever able to keep straight.

(Eva, Lynn.)

The days at the underwood are relatively comfortable,
are well cared for,
the is delicious,
and there are many other girls age.
Once a week, sessions take place,
convivial affairs involve make-up,
a wide of dress up costumes
and new games.

Every few days Mrs. Bulgar the girls to one of their many uncles.
(Eva, Lynn, say to your uncle, Mark.)
(Heeey.)
uncles,
seemingly in number,
from all over the world to visit their nieces.

The girls don't always their new uncles,
but Mrs. is always quick to remind them
that 'family is family' and 'blood is than water'.

The conjoined sisters are not popular the other girls,
however, one gentle resident, a few their senior, befriends them and takes them under her wing.

(Hello, your name?)

Her is Sandy.

(I'm Sandy.)

She has soft blonde hair that reaches to her knees.
Everyone she looks like a mermaid.
Dressed daily by Mrs. in trademark fishnet stockings and vintage attire,
Sandy is by far the most girl of the underwood.
She has so uncles
that the twins count.

Every night dinner and chores,
Sandy tucks the young sisters into bed and tells fantastic stories
until fall peacefully to sleep.
(And after three long weeks at sea, Luke (?) the sailor finally spotted land.)
But happy times do not last.
Shortly after the twins' third Christmas Mrs. Bulgar's care,
disappears,
to return.

The twins in the underwood for the greater part of two long, miserable years.
Without Sandy to them,
they are and abused by the other girls.
(What are YOU at, four-eyes?)
The photo involve fewer fancy costumes,
and time their uncles become more peculiar.
(Did I ask you to talk?!)
The twins begin to a disturbing tendency
for girls, much like dear friend Sandy,
to quietly disappear from the underwood their twelfth or thirteenth birthday.
The sisters brace themselves for terrible.

One autumn, when the are eleven,
an old man, who speaks only Spanish, takes the twins into a large orange van and drives to their new home.

(Step right up, step right up, see amazing human oddities, freaks of nature! Be warned, people with heart condition, children, women - We will accept no for fainting, reoccurring nightmares, or death.)

Dillard and Fullerton, elusive and illogical show
is the twelfth largest touring in North America.
Former salesmen, Dillard and Fullerton,
distinguish their enterprise by the most shocking specimen of the grotesque and unusual.
small administrative staff works tirelessly
to combat actions and public allegations of animal cruelty
and slave trafficking.

Life in the circus is harder their time at the underwood.
There is always to be done.
In addition to chores of laundry and sweeping,
Mr. Dillard insist that the twins spend many hours day practicing their act.

(What are you standing for?)

The girls are of the clowns,
of whom, by amazing coincidence,
also happen to be uncles.
(Hello!)
(Hello!)
(Hello!)
But still, overall,
these early days at the are happy times for the twins.

Every night to the of audiences across the country,
the girls appear in the center ring, singing and a ukulele,
atop and Kimba - the world's only known conjoined twin siamese elephants.

The twins feel they have found true soulmates in and Kimba,
who they refer to as 'Elephant, Elephant'.
This special reciprocates by the pachyderms,
who fondly nozzle the girls with trunks
and seem to in giving them rides.

The and the elephants are inseparable.

With the help of the Alphonso the Arresting, the trainer,
(Like this!)
the tend to the elephants,
feeding and grooming daily.

But one August morning,
Bimba and Kimba refuse to their food.
Due to the conditions of their quarters
and an improper diet of and cotton candy,
the elephants have contracted a rare of elephantine diphtheria,
compounded by early Alzheimer's disease.

For the two weeks the twins can only stand by helplessly,
as their companions become sicker and
and displaying obvious signs of memory loss.
The last few days are unbearable.
Bimba and Kimba's confused, sad eyes
looking up at the girls with anguish,
but no of recognition.

And on one September day
the sisters' birthday
Elephant dies.

The funeral is held the day,
a grisly affair at an industrial trash compactor a Home Depot
in Dodge, Iowa.

The are devastated.
Without Bimba and Kimba is but a terrible and meaningless void.
They resign to living out the rest of their hollow existence
in mourning.
The emotionally exausted sisters fall from within the circus.

No longer to sing and play their ukulele,
the are dressed in a pink tutu and forced to balance on a giant red ball,
an impossible task for the sisters.

(Get on damn ball!)

The audience roars with laughter each time awkwardly fall.
discomfort is increased by a pair of radical groups ,
who have an interest in the twins.
Every in most major cities, protesters assemble,
nosily waving signs and chanting in front of the Box Office.

The first faction claims to represent an organization called 'FASSTEN' - the Foundation for Always Siamese Twins Everywhere Now.

Citing the bible, FASSTEN members vehemently
that it is the will of the that all conjoined twins
be and allowed to live individual lives.
Wielding symbolical surgical saws and carbon knives,
FASSTEN members chide the ticket buyers for the abomination of god.

The second group operates under the acronym SPLIT - the Society for the Preservation of Linked Twins.
A organization,
working to the claims of FASSTEN,
SPLIT believes that conjoined twins will play a role in the second coming of Christ.

The twins are terrified by both groups - the knives and saws make very nervous,
and SPLIT members threats to kidnap the girls
and take them to where they will be kept safe in a of darkness until the rapture.

One day before a Sunday matinee in Sacramento, a brawl erupts between the two factions
and one FASSTEN member gets close to the twins with a hacksaw.

(It's the of the Lord!)

with fear,
the sisters decide they are no longer safe at the circus.
That night, make a resolution - to leave the Dillard and Fullerton traveling show
forever.