It was the beginning of summer and Toby was all set for summer vacation. A giant mysterious cube appeared in the sky seemingly out of nowhere. As everyone wondered where this strange cube came from the face of a young woman appeared in it who inform...
The trip was a lot longer than an hour. We all still felt queasy from the wormhole, but not as bad as we did when Zara's voice announced in her joyful way that we had arrived at the Circus at the Edge of the Universe.
"Is she ever unhappy?" Brian murmured, shaking his head.
I know I should be more excited about visiting a circus in space, but it just wasn't in me. As I climbed to my feet from sitting on the floor I realized that my back hurt and I had bad cramps. It must have been an aftereffect of the wormhole.
"Are we really at the edge of the universe?" Judy wondered.
Tak shook her head. "No, there only call it the Circus at the Edge of the Univers as a promotion thing," she explained. "It's like how on Earth every pizzeria claims they have the best pizza in town. I mean, what do they do, have pizza contests?"
When we left the cube I could see the striped tents of the circus in the distance. I was expecting something different, but it looked kind of like the circuses on Earth.
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"The whole circus is on an asteroid," Zara explained as she came up behind us.
Before we went anywhere Zara gave us each our own universal translator badge because not everyone in the circus was going to have one and she wanted to make sure there were no communication problems. Tak however didn't need one since she had one built into her bracelet.
Then Zara led us down toward the circus to a ticket booth. A white clown face with yellow eyes, a long crooked black nose, and a wide grinning mouth with black lips gazed out from the ticket booth.
"Hi there, Zara," the clown said to Zara. "It has been a while. What can I do for you?"
Zara gestured to us and said, "These girls are the special guests of the Cosmic Order."
The clown's mouth stretched into a wide grin, revealing two rows of sharp jagged yellow teeth. "Well, any guest of the Cosmic Order is a guest of the circus," he said in a devilish voice. "You may enter. No charge."
We entered through the gate. I trailed behind. The cramps had gotten so bad that I couldn't move very fast.
I saw that the circus was full of people. Some looked like earthlings. Others that looked like nothing I've ever seen before. There was a person that resembled a yellow pickle with four arms and a woman who was purple all over and had six eyes and seven ears. Something that looked like a giant onion with legs. And did I just saw a flying purple people eater?
There were tall striped tents all around us and glowing orbs that floated in the sky changing colors and shining down a rainbow of lights.
I could see clowns. Or at least an alien version of clowns. They were walking around entertaining the public.
I saw a tall lady clown walking by. And when I said tall I'm talking about ten feet. She had really long legs. She looked like one of those people who walk around on stilts under long pants that were sometimes seemed in carnivals or fairs, but I don't think she was on stilts because as she walked her legs bent at the proper places.
Following behind her was a little man just under three feet tall. He was shaped like a bullet wearing a turtleneck sweater he had a puff of dark hair on his pointed head and a pear-shaped nose. He was struggling to keep up with the tall clown, but every one step she took, took him about four or five steps.
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As they walked past us the tall clown slightly looked our way, then kept moving.
"Hey, guys, check this out," Brian called.
We went over to where Brian was staring into a cage. Inside the cage was an unusual beast that resembled a blue sabertoothed tiger except it had two heads, one on each end. It reminded me of that old Nickelodeon cartoon CatDog.
"It's called a Pushanpullin," Tak explained. "They're found on the planet of Shwooka."
"How do that thing poop," Brian wondered. "I mean does it come outta one head's mouth?" His eyes went wide. "God, that must be a living Hell."
"Well, you kids have fun," Zara said. "I have other matters to attend to.."
"You mean, with the Cosmic Order?" Debra asked.
"That's exactly what I mean," Zara said with a wink, then walked off.
"Let check out the clowns," Brian suggested.
I noticed a bench. "You guys go on without me," I told them. "I'm going to rest for a bit."
I wished I could enjoy the space circus more, but with my stomach and back hurting, I just couldn't.
As I sat down on the bench Judy, Brian, and Tak raced off. Debra stuck around.
"Toby, what's going on with you?" Debra wanted to know. "You haven't acted like yourself. Now please tell me, what's wrong!"
"I think I'm still suffering from going through that wormhole," I said. "I have this pain in my stomach."
Debra raised one eyebrow. "You mean, like cramps?"
"I guess."
Debra sat down beside me. "Are you having backaches?"
"Yeah," I replied, wondering how could she had known that. "I figured it was from sitting on the hard floor of the spaceship."
Debra gazed into my eyes. "Toby, I have only one more question for you. Do you feel bloated?"
I stared at her. Why would she ask me that? "I-I don't know."
Debra tried again. "Are your ankles swollen?"
Come to think of it, my ankles were beginning to hurt, but I was not sure if they were swollen. "They hurt a little," I admitted.
"Oh, Toby," she said that as though she just found out that I have an hour to live. She took my hand as she gazed into my eyes. "Oh, Toby," She repeated with compassion. "I don't know how to break this to you, but..." She leaned in close to me and whispered in my ear.
