0. a circus master and his monster: “I couldn’t do it, I’m sorry. I can’t be enough.”
1. he loves her so much, her scales and her eyes and her deep, croaky voice— the piles of money her beauty rakes in. he worships her and the success she is a harbinger of. the world should love her as he does. the world should love her more than this. someone should love her more than this.
2. she is tired of him, in love with him, dependant on him. he provides for her, does he not? she shows her gratitude in the only way she knows how; his greatest attraction, the face that sells tickets. she must hold onto him, if only for her own survival. This premeditated voyeurism that their business is built on can have but one star.
3. “He is a man,” the ticket-seller reminds her gently, “and you are his wife. What more could you possibly aspire to be?”