How I Joined The Circus | By Savannah Rakowski
This short story is whimsical and enchanting. The idea of two young boys joining a circus is absurd, but makes for an entertaining tale. The characters are fun and silly as they interact with each other and put on a show. Throughout the story, we are smiling and enjoying each bit. Arlo and Gilbert tease one another in a brotherly way, they meet Juniper, and they all perform in the circus. You might even feel as though you are in the circus tent with them!
“Gilbert, come on. You will lose your place in line. And it’s almost six. The show starts at six,” Arlo yelled as Gilbert came running.
“Hey, I was trying to find out what other shows they have next month,” Gilbert complained.
“You’re such a nerd Gilbert,” Arlo teased. They both laughed.
The line was moving, making them move toward the tent. As they walked into the big yellow tent they saw people with big costumes and animals with feathers on their heads. Both Gilbert and Arlo stopped in their tracks. It was so beautiful as the sun came down around six. It provided the perfect amount of light against their backs. Everything was red and yellow. There were big pieces of fabric that draped across the room. The ceiling was sixty feet high and the acrobats were hanging from it like it was only four feet. Everyone was loud and laughing, Arlo and Gilbert couldn’t even hear themselves think. They stood in awe of this wonderful new world. Suddenly a girl about thirteen-years-old knocked into them, making them both slam hard against the cement floor. The girl came down with them as well, making a big fuss. Some people even stopped to look at them on the ground.
“Ouch!” they all sang in unison. Then the girl stood and straightened her dress. She held out her hands, one for each of them, then helped them up. “I’m Juniper. You can call me June. Also sorry for knocking you over.” She smiled and ran behind one of the big fabrics on the wall before Arlo and Gilbert could introduce themselves to June. A smile came slowly across Arlo’s face, then he ran in the direction she ran, which made Gilbert start running too. Although Gilbert was slow, he caught up to Arlo eventually
As soon as they got around the tarp and saw her putting her makeup on, the loud announcer said, “Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, take your seats. Welcome to the sixty fifth show of the BARLOW'S GREAT NORTH AMERICAN CIRCUS.” As he yelled the last part a cheer rose from the crowd. Arlo and Gilbert took their seats in the back of the crowd.
“Well, today we would like to start with the wild animals.” Suddenly a car drove in and tiny men jumped out. There were at least fifteen of the little clowns that started to run in circles and hit each other with long blow up bats.
After the amazing dancing bear act ended, Juniper had the spotlight. She looked like a doll with all her makeup. She came on and started to dance. Arlo could not stop smiling when she came on, and was still smiling when she took her bow. Gilbert, however, was not as interested in the dance. “Hey, Arlo, I am going to get some popcorn.” Arlo shushed him then went back to the show. As Gilbert walked he thought about how Arlo, his own brother, liked June, it was so rediculous. He got popcorn then spotted Arlo from the other side of the tent.
“So you like June, huh?” Gilbert asked after the show. Arlo stood then patted Gilbert on the back. “You’ll know someday when you like someone.” They both laughed. Arlo was thirteen and Gilbert was twelve, so Arlo joked around like this a lot. The show ended and everyone was up from their chairs now and the boys could see Juniper and a man talking over by the stage. Arlo nudged Gilbert then started to walk toward June. Gilbert was getting tired of this by now, so when he saw this he just sat down and waited for Arlo to get done, or get kicked out.
“You did really good with your dance.” Arlo was proud that he complimented her in such a good way. He stood up taller so his already skinny body looked like a toothpick with brown hair. She smiled, like she has never heard that before, but Arlo figured she heard that all the time.
“Thanks,” June said, still smiling. “What are you up to after this?”
Arlo was not ready for that question. He stumbled on his words for a minute then spoke, “I have not thought about it. My, um, our mother told us to be home by nine.” He gave a flirtatious smile as he talked. “It’s only seven.” He moved his eyebrows up and down for affect. Her smile was thin as she started to walk toward the stage again. Arlo sighed an exhausted sigh as he watched her saunter off. The sun was gone as they walked home.
The next day, at noon, the time of day when you walk outside and the warm summer air is a puff of warmth, Arlo and Gilbert went back to the circus.
“Hey! Arlo, what are we doing here?” Arlo did not stop as he talked. “We have come here today to join the circus.” He tried to sound triumphant as he replied. Gilbert laughed strainingly. “You have to be kidding me.”
Arlo shook his head as Gilbert rolled his eyes.
They stood in the sign up line, both crossing their fingers.”What are we going to do? I think I would be great at training the animals.” Gilbert stood up taller as he said this imagining what it was like in the circus. It was getting darker the shorter the line got. When they got to the booth, a big man with a thick black beard awaited them. “Um, can I help you?” He wiped his nose with his arm then sniffed.
“Gross.” Gilbert said under his breath. The man heard him and glared at Gilbert. The man was around 6'5, so both of the boys felt small. Arlo, because he was only 5’5. Gilbert gulped then cleared his throat to speak. “I was wondering how many places you have open for the. . .” He looked to Arlo for an answer.
“We would like to become clowns.” Arlo was pleased by his wonderful speaking skills. Gilbert nodded. The man laughed out loud; so loud it would hurt everyone's ears in a ten foot radius. Considering that the boys where about three feet away, they almost became half deaf. They finally convinced the big man to let them join, and it took a lot of convincing.
Their mom dropped them off the next day thinking it was a field trip, but it was their training for clowning around. They walked inside and there were so many people in jumpsuits. They walked down to the stage where all the clowns in training were.
“And we will start with stretching first. Then we will find partners and do trust falls then learn the performance for tonight. Start your stretching.” A tall big woman yelled with a loud voice in the far end of the tent. Arlo got down and stretched his legs on the ground with Gilbert being not far behind.
“So are you excited?” Arlo knew the answer but could not stand the silence between them. “Well, no, but I can say that I want to be in the circus when I get older.” They laughed as the tall lady walked by. “Good job boys. It’s really hard to find young clowns these days.” She shook her head and walked away without another word.
The trust falls where so fast and easy, so was learning the performance. They both got a clown pass. Turns out that anyone can join the circus, even two young boys.
Their first show was that night at five o’clock. It was time to go backstage to start. It was very big, busy, and beautiful backstage. Everyone had a costume on and everyone was on a mission.
“So what next?” Gilbert asked. “Well, I think I…” Gilbert cut him off, “ You mean we.” Arlo smiled and continued, “Well, I think WE need to see where our clown costumes are first.” He spotted Juniper and started to walk toward her. Gilbert followed. “Hello, Arlo, Gilbert.” She nodded her head toward Arlo and then Gilbert as she said their names. “Yeah, we were wondering where our costumes are,” Arlo said, asking for the important thing first. She knitted her eyebrows together, as if asking why they needed costumes.
“Our CLOWN costumes,” Gilbert admitted. She nodded to silently agree.
“I know where they are if you need help.” June instructed. Gilbert smiled, thankful for the help. “Just over here.” They followed her into a small room with so many costumes, too many to count. “Thanks, June.” She bowed and skipped off to get her costume on.
“It’s about five, almost time to go on. I have so many butterflies right now,” Arlo stated as he put a hand to his stomach.
“I don’t have butterflies, I have crows in my stomach.” Gilbert wailed. They both laughed.
“Ladies and gentlemen, let's give a round of applause for Ellie the Elephant.” A loud clapping rose from the crowd. “Now, for the most wild thing we have planned for tonight. Let’s welcome the clowns!”
Gilbert’s stomach dropped and then did a flip. All the clowns piled into a mini car backstage then drove it onto the stage.
They drove in circles as the men toward the door hopped out until there were no more clowns in the car. They did back-flips and somersaults all over. Arlo could only do a flip and Gilbert could only do a partial somersault. All the clowns lined up and did a kick line to wacky music. Everyone laughed and the clowns started to throw each other in the air. Arlo was next as he urged his body to move forward. He flew into the air and then back down stopping to regain his balance. Then a boy his age fell on top of Arlo and they all fell into one big pile. Arlo stood, all eyes on him. Everyone was dead silent as Arlo’s face turned red as strawberries from blushing.
He sat on the floor and the stoplight was on him. His smile was out of embarrassment. Feeling as though the whole clown colony hated him, he put his head between his legs, holding back the tears threatening to come. Gilbert wiggled out from the huddle and sat next to Arlo. “Hey, they are all laughing.” Gilbert pointed out the obvious and he was right, everyone was laughing so hard they made Arlo laugh too. Gilbert got up and helped Arlo up too, they bowed as the other clowns got up one by one. They all got in a row and flowers were thrown and they had a standing ovation. Arlo wiped a tear off his cheek. He has never seen anything as beautiful as this. Juniper ran on the stage holding her hands over her mouth. “Oh my goodness.” She put her hands in Arlo’s and she kissed his cheek and he smiled bigger than ever before as June grabbed his hand and bowed with him.
“You know you get paid well in the clown business.”June gushed while walking off the set with Arlo.
“I know, but my mom would kill me.” Arlo began and grabbed Gilbert by the shoulders. “What if we join the circus?”
“You know, I do need a few bucks for summer camp.” Gilbert confessed. He smirked.
“What do you say June, do you want to start a circus?” She thought about it for just a moment.
“I got nothing else to do.” They all laughed. Years later they would make a circus and become famous and they will always remember the minute they decided to start it.
“Welcome to the 1st showing of June, Arlo and Gilbert’s magnificent circus!”
