The Masked Shibarians

They call themselves “The Masked Shibarians.” Overall, it’s an accurate description. They are six people—three boys and three girls. Moreover, each one of them is an artist. They all handle the ropes skillfully, and can play bottom just as well as top. Additionally, they travel all through the state. And no one knows exactly where they are going to show up next.

They’re probably brothers, for they all share the same blonde hair, and they’re all slim. Likewise, it is evident, by the way they speak and behave, that they have received an education. It is impossible to deduce a regional accent based on their pronunciation. And they know how to properly address the audience.

One obvious fact for those who have seen them is that they are all good-looking. The oldest one, one of the boys, must be in his mid-twenties. And the youngest of the group, one of the girls, seems to be at the end of her teens. Their customs are designed to show the best of their features. And they very consciously tease the audience on every show.

Judging by what they get at the end of each performance, they must be making good money. And they seem to invest a great part of it in improving the show. Those who saw them in their early days say that they didn’t have all the lightning equipment they use now.

Their oddities only serve to enthrall the audience. They don’t have an agent. Nobody knows where they come from or where they go once the show is over. And every attempt at discovering their identities has failed… until now.

I can now ascertain, with all certainty, that the Masked Shibarians are the six sons of the most reverend Jonathan Barugossian, a preacher of Armenian descent whose sermons are noticed for the rigidity of their moral code and their emphasis on asceticism as a means of salvation.

Who would have guessed? Not many, to be sure.