Tightrope [Lapidot]

The Circus

Peridot's POV:

I stood in front of the gigantic tent, the wind gently making the cloth ripple. Trust me when I say I was not excited to do any of this; I'd rather spend time working on the little things I enjoy, like working on my robonoids. I slowly walked around the tent towards the back, calling out to grab anyone's attention.

Everything was dead quiet, with a few cars parked at the front entrance and a few caravans situated behind the circus tent. I scratched my head in confusion, reaching for my phone to check if I had perhaps misread the dates when the circus had staff working. Just before I was able to unlock my phone, a rough and dry voice came from behind me—a man clearing his throat to catch my attention.

I slightly jumped because of the sudden sound that broke the silence. "Miss?" the man questioned. I took a quick second to determine whether I should be talking to this man who sounded like he had been smoking for 30 years. He wore a saggy janitor's suit and held a simple mop in one hand as he stared me down with his beady eyes.

"D-do you perhaps work here?" I asked quietly, testing my luck and awaiting an affirmative answer. "Yeah? What about it?" the man replied, clearly unimpressed that I had snuck my way behind the tent. "Oh great! I was wondering if you could perhaps lead me to the ringmaster who runs this circus?" I asked, with a hint of uncertainty in my voice. The man only raised an eyebrow in question, encouraging me to explain why I would ask such a thing.

"I, uh, I need the owner of this circus to complete this form for me to be able to contribute my services to show business," I said shakily as I reached out to take a neatly folded paper out of my back pocket, showing the man an unfinished form. The man only stared at the piece of paper and then back at me. Finally, he sighed, signaling for me to follow him as he turned his back on me and walked away. I immediately inhaled deeply and repositioned my back into a proper straight posture, following the man closely.

We weren't walking for very long, as a few minutes later we arrived at a caravan that seemed bigger than the rest of the caravans. It must be the ringmaster's caravan... With the man giving two loud knocks, the door swung open, revealing a tall, chubby man with a large smile plastered on his face.

"Well, hello there, newcomer! Hello, Sam," the large man greeted me, then the janitor, who stood almost lifeless. So that's the janitor man's name; he looks like a Sam... With that, Sam shrugged and slouched away behind the circus tent. "So! What brings you here to my fine circus? Are you here for the show early?" the man asked with excitement. I blinked twice, trying to take in the fidgety energy.

I cleared my throat before speaking. "I'm here to contribute my services to the circus. It's for an extraordinary university, Keystone University; you might not know of it," I said sassily, clearly showing that I was very full of myself. "Oh, that boring building? Pffsh, that place has got no fun whatsoever, huh?" The large man chuckled. I'd be lying if I didn't say I was surprised this junky-looking man knew of the university, and he was in no position to say it was "boring" either.

I grumbled under my breath before the man began to speak again. "So let's get on with it, shall we? You may call me Mr. Smiley," he said with an extended smile as he introduced himself. "Peridot Green," I said softly, eyeing him with my nose in the air. "Alright, Peridot Green, what do I have to do with this little mission you're on?" Mr. Smiley asked, his hands on his hips. "I'm here to ask you to fill in a form. I need to complete 100 hours of community service to be able to join Keystone University." I took a breath before continuing. "One of the options was show business, and this was the best place to start with such a task at hand," I said calmly, my hands behind my back before I took the paper out of my pocket. I handed the form to Mr. Smiley, who took a good look and squinted his eyes as he read the paper.

"Ah, I see! Well, Peridot Green, you'll be instructed to work behind the circus, cleaning the cages and sweeping the cement flooring, just in case no junk slides in from under my tent." Mr. Smiley winked as he grabbed a pen from inside his caravan, hearing rustles and struggles. At last, he came outside of the caravan with a pen in one hand and the paper in the other.

Swiftly, he signed the paper, filling in his signature at the bottom. Pride started to build up inside me as he handed the paper over to me. I sighed in relief as I took a look at the form I held in my hands. One step closer to joining Keystone University. "Thank you, Mr. Smiley," I said as I hid the paper in my pocket once it was folded neatly again.

"No problem, kid. You can start working now if you want to get it over and done with sooner or later. I need to prepare for the show in a few hours," Mr. Smiley said as he turned his back and disappeared into the caravan. "Sam will help you with the equipment," Mr. Smiley yelled from inside.

I took that as my sign and searched for Sam. It felt like almost half an hour before I found Sam leaning against one of the empty cages, smoking a cigarette. Immediately, when Sam spotted me in the distance walking towards him, he threw the cigarette onto the floor, crushing it with his boot. He thinks he's so sly, huh? I could report him for even having a lighter near the tent without permission and proper supervision; it could cause the tent to go up in flames. But for the sake of my duty, I decided to stay silent about it.

"I need the equipment," I said, clearly disgusted by Sam's skirmish act. "Ah, right," Sam replied as he turned around and made his way to an old, beat-up caravan that reeked of urine. Boy, I didn't want to know what was in there... "Here," Sam said quickly, handing me a broom, a bucket of water, and a scrubber. Luckily, I had the choice to decide whether I wanted to wear a whole janitor's suit or not; of course, I chose not to. Sam shooed me away to put my labor to the test by cleaning the rusted bars of one of the cages.

What felt like forever was actually just a few hours of sweeping and scrubbing. I was out of breath and tired from using all my energy just to get the tiniest spots clean. Many people started arriving as the sun began to set, one car after another, getting louder as more crowds started forming. Tickets for entry were being demanded, and people were buying popcorn for the upcoming show. "Looks like there will be a lot more cleaning to do before the night is over..." I say with an exhausted sigh as scattered popcorn pieces lay on the floor. Luckily, I was at the back of the tent; no one except the staff was allowed back here, with all the caravans and animal cages. I'm assuming that all the animals were already taken inside the tent as preparation even before I arrived.

It took more than half an hour just to get all the viewers inside the tent and seated. Luckily, I wasn't told to handle the people; I was just busy at the back, eyeing them all from a safe distance, as I always do. I prefer it that way. One could hear the normal circus music playing inside the tent, with light shows already going absolutely ballistic; it's way too much for me, in my opinion. I didn't bother sneaking in a few peeks when Mr. Smiley welcomed everyone and introduced himself as the ringmaster of the circus. Although I did see many performers emerge from every caravan when the show started.

I didn't get a good look at each performer individually; some were dressed in tutus, tight acrobatic suits, and some were, of course, dressed like your typical clowns. Although, out of the corner of my eye, something caught my attention, or perhaps someone. I couldn't make out how they looked, nor did I know why that specific person caught my eye. I shrugged it off and continued sweeping the leftover popcorn into a pile.

One by one, I could see the performers being introduced by Mr. Smiley: your clowns, stunt pullers, fire breathers, tightrope walkers, and trapeze flyers. Naturally, I couldn't help but be a little curious about what a circus was like. My parents never liked bringing me even near a circus; they thought it was child's play, and naturally, I agreed.

The show had been going on for almost more than an hour. I've practically done everything I was supposed to, even sweeping up the used cigarettes lying on the floor that were left by Sam. I took a seat next to one of the cages right next to the tent with a long sigh and tired eyes. Mr. Smiley was about to announce a new performer to perform their "very dangerous" act.

"Now! For our one and only tightrope walker! Give it up for Lapis Lazuli!"

(1628 Words)