Dread in the Circus
This was it, the moment I had been dreading for two weeks; the moment
when the monkey would actually jump! Oh,
poor Bobo, he had been practicing this move for the circus for months and still
hadn’t gotten it right. Two weeks
ago, our agent had come up to us and demanded that we perform in the next show.
Still, Bobo wasn’t ready!
I watched from back stage as the trembling little spider monkey climbed
the gargantuan pole of the main circus tent.
He put tiny paw over tiny paw scampering up that pole. Poor thing, he looked terrified!
Finally, he reached the top. Posing
at the edge of a large diving board, he squeaked in fear.
His little clown hat and frill around his neck looked wildly out of
place, yet adorable. The whole
image of a terrified monkey in a cute little clown hat created great pity for it
among the audience. Still, the show
must go on and Bobo must jump.
He stepped out onto the platform. Wiggling
his little tail in the air, he leapt straight out and flew through the air in a
semi-graceful swan dive. Down,
down, down, the monkey fell.
Oh no! It looked like someone had forgotten to put his pool of water
at the bottom! The monkey would be
squished flat when he hit the ground! The
audience gasped as the adorable Bobo came closer and closer to h is doom.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, one of the trapeze artists flew in and snatched
the little monkeys tail, saving it from quite a messy death. Bobo scampered up the trapezists arm and onto his back.
They swung back and forth for a while accepting the audiences applause at
their death defying act.
Some time later, back stage, I ran up and thanked Hans, the brave
trapesist who had saved Bobo.
“It was no problem, missy,” he said in his thick accent.
“I not want to clean up the mess!”
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