The Revenge of The Juggler

The surrounding crowd went wild with applause after the juggler's grand finale- juggling four blazing torches while circling and spinning "high in the air" on his slender unicycle.

Everyone on the street had been totally entertained by the half-hour show at the annual fall foliage fair, everyone that is except little Henry. Henry was a street performer's worst nightmare, a ten-year-old boy with an endless supply of mischief. The juggler had tried everything in his power to get rid of the boy, but to everyone's surprise, Henry was still there when the last torch went out.

As street shows go, it had been a pretty good one for the juggler. In fact, people were actually being more kind than normal, and the expert juggler had been very funny cutting the kid down to size with some clever jokes. The problem was that the kid was shameless. A lot of people shaking their heads and begging him to leave but it did not bother him a bit. He stood watching the show like everyone. This was truly a boy in who needed someone to teach him manners.

At the end of the show, people filled the juggler's top hat with a lot of money. This was the applause that really mattered; it was gas for his car, food for his belly, and a roof over his head.

As he moved through the noisy crowd, answering questions, he often looked back at his now full hat, which sat on the sidewalk on front of his bright red box of props. From the corner of his eye he saw Henry sneaking up on the cash. Suddenly standing over it, he pulled a dollar from his pants pocket and lower it toward the hat but then quickly pulled it back. Over and over he dipped the money, like he was saying, "Look at me, I'm going to give you some money".

Never looking directly at him, the juggler kept tract of the brat's continual teasing. He also noticed that no one else saw Henry's stunt. There was his silly grin and all, trying to get the man's attention, dipping the bill up and down.

In Henry's mind, this was indeed his win, however, the next trick from the master juggler was timed to perfection. Just as his hand was descending toward the hat, the juggler pointed and yelled, "Hey you!" All at once, the crowd of people turned to see the boy lifting a dollar from the juggler's hat.

"Why you rotten little......," someone shouted.

"The boy is a thief too," yelled another.

By now the juggler was holding Henry by the wrist and taking the money from his hand although Henry swore that the money was his. As the boy shouted louder, the crowd began to believe him. With his fists made as if he were ready to fight, Henry ran off crying.

The smile of satisfaction on the face of the juggler lasted less than five seconds. He watched from behind his trunk of props to see Henry leading his procession. They wound their way through the crowd never taking their eyes off the juggler. There was his mom, his schoolmates and many of his neighbours.

"That's the man who stole my money," Henry shouted as he again started to well up with tears.

"Calm down honey," said the mother. "We'll get your money back. I promise."

"Hey pal you can't come into my town and expect to rob us blind, no sir." The police as angry as ever and had a huge frown on his face.

Henry's mother shouted, "Listen, if you give my child his money back and get out of town, I won't press any charges."

The juggler tried to tell his side of the story but nobody was listening to him.

"So I'm guilty? I think you people need to know what really happened."

An old man stood up from his stool and pointed his at Henry and shouted, "The kid's a thief. Throw him in jail."

The mother shot back, "My son would never steal!"

"Your angel here ripped off the juggler," a lady from the other side if the ever-widening crowd shouted. "Everyone saw it."

Soon more witnesses stepped up and gave the same account and every he'd within hearing range was nodding in agreement.

By now Henry's face was turning red as he tried to explain himself but the words were not there.

More and more folks were giving evidence for the juggler and no good words for the boy.

At the same time, the mom's features took an upside down turn from that of a wounded mother protecting its son, to a lion about to devour its own.

Embarrassed to be seen, his mother grabbed him by an war and led him down the middle of Main Street. The boy started to cry like a baby.

Still holding the dollar bill in his hand, the juggler folded it lengthwise and propped it up on his nose. He balanced it there long enough for the retreating Henry to get a good last look. Then took a deep breath and blew straight up. The bill shot into the air like a paper airplane and then came down like a leaf, finding its way into a little girl's hand.

"Okay," shouted the policeman, his thumbs tucked into his service belt, "show's over."

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A/N
This asctually as short story. It ends here. I hope you enjoy. Please feel free to tell me what you think of my story.