Outside Reading 3 Post A

carrion- rottenness; anything vile. (77)

cooch- a sinuous, quasi-Oriental dance performed by a woman and characterized chiefly by suggestive gyrating and shaking of the body. (100)

"A few dozen angry men chase us for awhile, swinging pitchforks and baseball bats, although it's mostly for the benefit of the tale they'll get to tell at dinner tonight."(82) Jacob is telling how angry mobs are chasing after the circus train because Uncle Al, the "leader', or owner of the circus is packing up and leaving early. He still has a lot of shows to do in that town but he wants to leave to find himself an extraordinary person. Uncle Al likes strange people. He likes having a bearded lady, big men, small men. Just weird people. So he's going to ask this man who just left another circus tour to join his circus. The man has two heads and is supposed to make a lot of money.