Playtime with Percy; Before Playtime

Saturday; Blended Salutations

June 1, 9:02, 2002

Percy admired the drawing through the short hallway. All of them were by the children from a few years ago, many of them with Percy and his friends or the kid who drew the picture with a character. Small lights on the ceiling flickered on and off, probably due to the lack of electricity.

If the power did go out, the playhouse gang would then malfunction, and a good possibility that they would shut down. Not forever, but for the time beginning, even after the power would come back. The thought of that made Percy shudder. Once on the show stage, Percy ignored the tense workers who were almost finished packing boxes, grabbed his backpack next to the chair Percy sat at, and headed towards the main stage.

Near the main stage was a French metal door, with fancy carpeting leading to it on the wall. The carpeting was old, though. So was the French door, with bits of rust being there and there. There was a sign above the door that said-

THE CIRCUS!

In bold and colorful letters. Charlie stared at the sign for a while, looking lost in thought. Percy nudged him, getting him back into focus.

" You okay?" He asked. Charlie looked up and down.

" I guess. I mean, I'm gonna miss this place when it's..." Charlie's words traveled off. Percy knew what Charlie meant and felt.

" Got to be honest here, I'm gonna miss this place too."

Charlie gave a soft smile. Percy pushed hard on the door, and the door made an eerie creaking sound when opened.

The lights were out when they went inside. Percy could see basic shapes around him, like the belchers on both sides of him, and the circle-shaped area in front of him. Outside the area was a thin and slightly tall stone rim, to keep all the sand in. The roof was oval-shaped, with lights and a few small platforms. The belchers ran around the circus halfway, where across from Percy were red curtains outside the area. There was an area between the bleachers and curtains, with a door with a sign on it that Percy could barely make out what it was saying due to how dark it was. Charlie poked Percy's arm.

" Do you think the power went out in here?" Charlie whispered.

" Don't think so. If it did, I think the whole building would be off." Percy whispered back. He took a few steps closer to the area and looked around.

The belchers were sliver, with no spots of rust anywhere. There were 4 rows of them, them getting progressively higher. There were no windows, but an air conditioning on the wall. Percy started at the sandy area, and then said, " You know, maybe they're somewhere else in the pla-"

He was interrupted by the sound of the lights turning on and pointed to the area. Percy was surprised, even jumped a bit, when Charlie's face changed from neutral to excited. Suddenly, a booming voice came from the ceiling.

" Ladies and Gentleman, I would like to announce, the Breathtaking, Marvelous, Exquisite, and Spectacular gang of wonderful acrobats, musicians, entertainers, and many more! I welcome you... THE CIRCUS!"

The voice was deep but clean and pure. After the voice gave its speech, a metal pole came slowly down from the ceiling, hitting the sandy surface of the area. At the same time the pole came down, a person attached to a rope-looking thing, came down from the opposite side of the ceiling. Then the theme music played.

Percy was shocked, not because of the other person swinging down from another rope, but how the first person on the rope leaped off the rope in midair, landing on the sand on two feet. To add to that, Percy looked up for a split second and saw a dark figure on the platform of the ceiling. He looked at the figure again and saw it take a small leap onto the pole, grabbing it without falling. Percy didn't know how that was possible, but he guessed the person either had sharp claws to hold onto it, or they were attached to the pole.