Circle

**Circle** is the ninth episode of Ginger Orphan Playhouse.

## Synopsis

The group forms at story circle and everyone tells stories about the last times they were happy.

## Plot

The Salesman has everybody form a story circle and go around, retelling the tales of their past, before the basement. Pissed off, Cooper blurts out that they should be focusing on getting out and not telling stories. The Salesman tries to maintain his patience, reminding Cooper of his interruptions and tries to invite him to the group. Saltrot Joe starts off by telling the story of how he ended up in the basement. One Halloween night, he was trick or treating with his mom, when he came to Madame Trinkett's house and the rest is history. He reveals to Cooper that his sailor outfit is just his Halloween costume and that his rash and raspy voice comes from his allergy to his own hat. Cooper gets sick of the crap and decided to tell his story. The Salesman tells him that it's not his turn but Cooper goes into it anyway and tells people the story of the last time he was happy. Cooper's story sees him as a little baby, living in a crappy old apartment with his biological mother, who sings a song about dying alone. Apparently, Cooper's Mom is a single mother, who works a horrible job as a flank steak maker at Hunsucker Meat Packing Solutions, for misogynistic perv of a boss, C. Hunsucker. Cooper's mom finds out that she has no way of supporting her child financially, so she sadly decided that she had to set him down by a tree and kill herself by jumping off a building. After the story is over, we learn that Cooper was the one singing it the whole time, in perfect replication of his mother's voice. Vanessa, on the other side of the door, hears this music and comes in to compliment Cooper on his beautiful music. Cooper goes loopy with love but seeing that she just opened the door, The Salesman slams it shut again, trapping everybody inside. Cooper flips out, now seeing that The Salesman had trapped them inside again. Before Cooper can even let The Salesman have it, The Salesman brings up how it is tradition for every single story circle to end with a human sacrifice. The Salesman's demon eyes light up and the kids all start making demonic enchantments. Clayton volunteers to go into the center of the circle and leaves Clinton's side to ask to begin his "final adoption", which is to be sacrificed to the King Parrot. The Salesman takes out his shaving feather and stabs Clayton to death. Cooper screams in terror as he watches Clayton get murdered in cold blood right before his very eyes. In the end, Madame Trinkett is shown, fast asleep in her bed upstairs, listening to *Turkey in the Straw* on her record player, completely unaware of the horrors going on in her basement.

## Characters

### Major Roles

* Cooper
* The Salesman
* Saltrot Joe
* Cooper's Mom
* Vanessa
* Clinton
* Clayton
* King Parrot

### Minor Roles

* Parrots
* Bully
* Black Ginger
* Madame Trinkett (Non-Speaking Cameo)
* Hunsucker (Non-Speaking Cameo; Flashback)

## Trivia

* Saltrot Joe has been in the basement for three years. He was first kidnapped on Halloween, when he went trick-or-treating with his mom at Madame Trinkett's house. That's when she kidnapped him. This also explains why Saltrot Joe was dressed as a sailor, as it was his Halloween costume.
* Saltrot Joe is allergic to his hat, which causes the rash on his face. However, despite knowing of these allergies, he still chooses to wear it for some reason.
* This episode reveals who Cooper's Mom was in a flashback. She was a kind and loving single mother, who took care of Cooper, when he was a baby. However, she lacked any of the money to support him financially so she killed herself and had him sent to an orphanage, as was the best option she had to keep him alive.
	+ In "Welcome to Madame Trinkett's", Cooper said that he didn't know what happened to his parents. However, this episode proves that he knows in full detail what happened to his mom.
* Vanessa gets trapped in the basement and officially joins the clan.
* The Salesman turns out to be an insane cult leader who occasionally murders the orphans.
* Clayton dies after sacrificing himself to the King Parrot.

### Continuity

* Vanessa is shown to still be lurking around The Trinkett House, after being revealed to still be there in "Saltrot's Shanty".
* Madame Trinkett's kidnapping of Saltrot Joe mirrors her kidnapping of Cooper in "Welcome to Madame Trinkett's".
* Cooper says the last time he was happy was when he saw Vanessa in "Lost Love".