That Time I Joined the Circus by J. J. Howard Read Free Book Online

than he had the clowns.
    He grinned. “Once, maybe. We went out when we were both younger. But now her husband would crush me to powder. She married a guy from Ringling. They hardly ever even see each other, but it seems to suit Faina just fine. Besides, Faina is … Well, let’s just say, nothing ever really pleases Faina. She drives Louie insane.”
    She was very graceful on the wire, moving slowly in time with avant-garde-sounding music. Her act was cool, but the weird music kind of ruined it for me. Faina dismounted, bowed — this time only to Bob, ignoring Jamie and me — and ran off. The next act was two tigers that jumped through a big hoop that Jamie said would be on fire for the actual show. Then Jamie said, “And here’s the finale.”
    Lina entered, along with the other elegant girl from breakfast and the guy who looked just like her. The two girls stood on one side on a platform, and the boy was on the other. They were all wearing black leotards, but not fancy costumes. The girls’ hair was pulled back tight. They had similar faces — angular, with high cheekbones and aristocratic features. But Lina had very dark hair, and the other girl was fair-skinned and her hair was dark blond.
    “That’s Lina, Eliska, and Edvar.” Jamie snorted. “But he goes by Eddie, for obvious reasons. They’re all Louie’s kids, of course.”
    “Not your favorite person, Eddie?”
    “He’s a pain, but whatever. The girls are okay. Lina’s awesome. Eliska is kind of frosty until you get to know her.”
    “If Lina’s warm compared to her sister, then I need to steer clear,” I said before I had time to stop myself. “Sorry — it’s nothing. Louie gave me a job; his kids can be whatever temperature they want. I’ll shut up now.”
    “Don’t need to on my account,” Jamie said. “You came on as crew, so none of them probably even noticed you. They’re a nice family, though.”
    “I thought Eddie was a pain?”
    “Well, yeah, except him.”
    There were a couple of guys from the ring crew checking the nets that were rigged beneath the swings of the trapeze. Lina looked massively annoyed.
    “Jamie, will you please make yourself useful and check the rigging?” she called down to him.
    Jamie smiled sheepishly at me before leaping away to do her bidding. “No problem, Lina.”
    He checked things out for a couple of minutes, then gave Lina the thumbs-up, and she called “Ready” across to her brother.
    “Eddie’s the catcher,” Jamie said, back beside me. “Lina’s doing a regular catch and return to warm up now. Then the first move’s an angel — the catcher will hold her by the feet and one arm.”
    “You seem to know a lot about this,” I told him. “And she had you check the net or whatever.”
    He looked sheepish again. “Yeah, my family’s done trapeze forever. My mom was a flyer. But look at me — too big.”
    I looked him over. I wouldn’t say his size was any sort of problem, but looking up at Eddie flying in midair, I realized he kind of had a point. “Are you sad about it?”
    “Not even a little,” Jamie said. “It’s a pretty harsh life. Lots of injuries, and you have to be really careful what you eat. No thanks.”
    I remembered Jamie’s unrestrained bacon festival that morning at breakfast and smiled. “I’m with you. I don’t plan to give up bacon and French fries until it’s under doctor’s orders.”
    “My kind of girl.” Jamie winked at me, and I blushed.
    We both looked up and watched Lina’s sister do a knee hang from the trapeze. My breath caught at the sight, but she easily swung over to where Eddie caught her. I looked across the ring; Bob’s attention was rapt. “I can see why this is the finale,” I said.
    “Yeah, it’s pretty awesome,” Jamie said. “But it’s no Hurricane.” He smiled. “My ride.”
    “I know the Hurricane!” I told him. There was one on the boardwalk in New Jersey — Sea Isle, if I remembered right. I had ridden it once with