Small Rural Town in Utah:
Lux was sweating her ass off. They had done a two-week performance in a nice A/C building three days ago. Now they were out in the middle of nowhere with temperatures so high that you could cook an egg on the sidewalk. Because of her fair skin, she had to put on a high SPF to prevent her skin from burning.

She had been wearing shorts or her pair of short denim overalls. Since she was climbing over and on a bunch of equipment, she wore her normal overalls. She had red marks on her legs where she burned the skin from kneeling on hot metal.

A few times inside the clown tent, a rattler or two had managed to slither inside. She almost got attacked by one, but luckily, she managed to kill it with one of the props in the tent. She didn’t like snakes. Something about them scared her, or didn’t feel right.

She didn’t mind the nights, because the temperature was lower and she could use a box fan she bought to cool the inside of the van. She managed to buy a used generator at a pawn shop that had low hours on it. The good thing about it, it could be hooked up to her propane tanks. She didn’t need to buy any gasoline for it.

Lux walks over to the concession stand that sells custom-made drinks. She waits in line for her turn to be served. All the drink stands were doing a lot of business, like the sandwich stands were.

“Lux, what would you like to drink?” Sara smiles at Lux.

“A large lime aide for me. Frank wants a large cherry aide, and Victor wants a large sweet iced tea.” Lux had texted them to ask what they wanted to drink.

“That will be fifteen dollars.” Sara had already started making the drinks.

Lux scans her debit card and gives Sara a five-dollar tip. She watches as Sara makes the drinks for her.

“Here you go.” Sara hands a drink carrier to Lux.

“Thanks, Sara.” Lux turns and walks back towards the maintenance truck.

By the time she arrived back, Victor had returned with their lunches. He had picked up hoagies for them from the new food truck that travels with them. They made all sorts of subs and salads.

“Man! It is hot out there today.” Lux sits down on an upside-down five-gallon bucket with a cushion on it.

She hands out the drinks to Frank and Victor.

“Thanks.” As Victor hands Lux one of the hoagies.

“You’re welcome, Lux.”

All three of them sit and enjoy their lunch in the nice cool air of the box truck. While they are enjoying their lunch, Victor looks towards Lux. “Hey, Lux, when do you find the time to dye your hair?”

Frank watches Lux’s expression because he has been wondering the same thing. He noticed that Lux’s purple hair has always been the perfect color. Since she has been working with him and Victor, it has gotten a little longer.

“I don’t dye my hair.” Lux looks at Frank and Victor.

“You have too. Normal hair color doesn’t come in purple.” Victor didn’t believe Lux.

“I swear, I’m telling the truth about my hair and my body hair. When I was born, I had black hair. When I turned six years old, my hair turned white and then purple. The hair on my arms is silky smooth and light purple. My body doesn’t grow hair on my legs or upper body, except my armpits and arms.” Lux had been surprised when she started changing.

“How is that possible?” Frank was stumped.

“Don’t know. The specialist my foster parents took me to couldn’t figure it out. He did every test possible on me and took several blood samples from me. He also did three separate DNA tests on me as well.”

“So, what did your doctor discover?” Frank and Victor were curious.

“That I was born with several genetic disorders and a high IQ. I have a natural talent for engineering and possess technical skills that take experts years to develop.”

“What does that mean?” Victor wanted to know more about Lux’s ability.

“Means she learns quickly and can solve most technical problems just by looking or examining them.” Frank has already seen how Lux is in action.

“So, that’s why she is so good at fixing things.” Victor now understood how Lux was able to figure out problems they had on some of the rides and recreate a replacement part to fix the problem.

“I can’t take all the credit. My last foster family, I learned a lot from. My foster father loved to restore all sorts of things. He worked for a hi-tech engineering firm that specialized in making unique or lost parts. Things you can’t get any more.”

“I’ve heard of those firms. They can take an old blueprint or construct the part from a broken piece.” Victor kept up with new engineering techniques.

“Where did you learn how to act and those aerobatics moves you do?” Frank knew Lux was just as talented a performer as she was as a mechanic.

“I’ve been taking gymnastic lessons since I could walk. I was also on my school’s gymnastics team, and we almost won the state championship. We came in second place. As for my acting skills, I helped out with the local theater group and was in the drama group in middle school and high school.” Lux loved to be busy.

“Where did you learn how to work on cars?” Victor knew Lux had rebuilt her Z car and the repairs she had done on the FedEx van.

“Vocational school, I was working on getting my AES certifications before graduating early.” Lux finishes her hoagie and tosses the wrapper into the trash bin.

“You still can get your certifications, if you want to.” Frank finishes his hoagie as well.

“Maybe once I’m stable. I need to build up some funds and find a place of my own when winter comes.”

“You can always stay at our winter camp in your van or one of the small cottages there.” Victor finishes his hoagie as well.

“Maybe. So, what do we need to finish doing today?” Lux didn’t want to go back to work.

“With the heat the way it is right now. We’re calling it a day. We’ll start early tomorrow morning.” Frank decided that it was too hot to go back to work.

“Sounds good to me.”