Blueberry Inflation Literature Collection: Volume III

Blueberry Tightrope

"Nervous?"

"Naw, I'll be fine."

"You sure? There's a lot of people out there..."

Madison glanced over to Rosie, giving her a cynical look. She rose up from her backstage chair, pulling at her leotard.

"Are you trying to raise my blood pressure?" she scoffed.

"I'm just concerned," Rosie said quickly, taking Madison's hand from behind. "You know I worry."

"Look, I'll be fine. Yes, I'm nervous, but I'm a trained professional. If I can't handle going up in front of a crowd of people, then I wouldn't have gotten into this line of work in the first place."

Both Madison and Rosie had decided to join the circus at a young age. They trained in gymnastics, excelling at in almost every field. Years later they managed to land a job as a tightrope walker and trapeze artist in Darrel's Daring Performances, a traveling show. The dream of performing in front of a crowd up on the wire was finally coming to fruition. Madison sighed, a little more shakily than she'd prefer. She wasn't prone to stage fright, but it was impossible not to get a little jittery before her first live performance.

Madison paced back to her duffle bag, digging around in the pockets but turning up empty handed.

Rosie asked, "What're you looking for?"

"Gum," she said. "Something to take the edge off... I swear I had some in here... Damn it..."

She fished about the bag but found nothing. Finally she gave up and tossed the bag aside. As she straightened up, Madison came face to face with Percy, the circus's clown. He wore white face paint that looked terribly uncomfortable, a baggy red suit that hung low around his waist, and a small black top hat on top of his bald head. Madison recoiled at the sudden sight.

"Jeez, man! Don't sneak up on me like that!"

Percy bowed slightly in apology. In her few months of working at Daring Performances, Madison couldn't remember ever hearing him speak. Percy pointed down at her bag and titled his head questioningly, his way of asking what was the matter.

"Oh, I can't find any gum. It's okay, I don't really need it..."

Percy cut her off, raising his hands to stop her in comical fashion. He leaned over and began digging about in his suit pocket. Madison stood by awkwardly as he pulled out a few random props before presenting her with a small stick of gum wrapped in silver foil.

"Oh, sure" she said smiled, taking the gum. "This'll help, thanks Percy."

The clown nodded, giving her a wide grin before tottering off backstage, waving as he disappeared from sight. Madison shook her head as she unwrapped the gum. He was certainly a weird one but friendly enough. Probably just takes his job very seriously, which she could respect. She popped the piece of gum into her mouth and went back to join Rosie.

"Hm. Blueberry flavor."

The show was going smoothly. The first act was a motorcycle stunt routine, followed by a juggler with five flaming batons. Eventually the show rode its way up to Madison's high wire act. She climbed up to the top of the pole as the lights were dimmed. The crowd hushed and watched intently. A bright flash lit up the wide multicolored tent as the spotlight shined on Madison, waving to the crowd below. They cheered as the upbeat music started. Rosie watched from below, feeling the same nervousness as her friend. Madison breathed deeply, still chewing the gum as she began her routine.

She slowly stepped out onto the wire, keeping her feet straight along the thin string. The crowd held their breath as she strode her way out to the middle of the line. Madison blew a small bubble to ease her nerves, popping it quickly. In one swift motion, she raised her arms, bending over backwards until she was doing a perfect handstand on the tightrope. Cheers came from below as the music rose to match the excitement. Rosie clapped as well, cheering for her friend.