Chicken Soup for the Little Souls (4 page)

“What's your name?” Danny asked him.

“Vincent,” said the boy, smiling again.

“Well, Vincent, get ready for the night of your life! The circus has every cool thing you can think of. First, you'll smell the popcorn and hear the big band playing. The ringmaster will come out in a shiny red coat and top hat. In his boomy voice, he'll say stuff like: ‘Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, and children of all ages. . . .'

“Acrobats come tumbling out! They jump and leapfrog, and turn somersaults and cartwheels. They spin hoops on their arms and legs. The jugglers toss rings and balls and all kinds of stuff in the air and everyone parades around in their sparkly costumes.

“Then the music gets all mysterious. The lights lower almost to darkness. A blue mist creeps in and fills the ring. All of a sudden, two white horses charge out of the darkness, their flowing manes shimmering in the misty fog! They rear up on their hind legs and dance around their trainer.

“The lights go up and the music gets faster. The horses break into a speedy gallop around the ring, jumping through hoops that get higher and higher! More horses come out, with riders on them. The riders do flips off of the horses, each one landing on the horse behind her!

“The lights get low again. The music changes. The spotlight moves up, up, up, to the highwire! A woman tiptoes across.

“She stands on one leg . . . she does a split on the wire! A man walks out onto the wire, too. He does jumps and scissor-kicks. He does a backwards somers—”

“Do they ever fall off?” Vincent urgently whispered.

“Oh, sure. That's what makes the circus so dangerous and exciting.”

Vincent nervously bit his lip.

Danny said, “I'm just kidding you, buddy. They almost never fall off. They're real pros.”

Vincent let out a big breath.

“What else? What else?!” he begged.

“Let's see. There's the dogs! Yeah, the dogs do some really cool tricks.

“And the clowns! The clowns are awesome! Some walk on stilts so they look about as tall as a house. Others ride super-high unicycles or drive these wacky little cars or throw pies at each other.

“The acrobats are really cool, too! They hang from rings and twist their bodies up like pretzels. Then, on the ground, two of them clasp their arms together and toss their brother up into the air. He does somersaults in the air, then comes back and lands in their arms. They throw him up again, and he lands on his brother's shoulders. Then they each flip themselves up on top of the top guy's shoulders until they're a big human totem pole!