NT FRANKLIN - ME AND BART GO TO THE CIRCUS

NT Franklin has been published in Page and Spine, Fiction on the Web, 101 Words, Friday Flash Fiction, CafeLit, Madswirl, Postcard Shorts, 404 Words, Scarlet Leaf Review, Freedom Fiction, Burrst, Entropy, Alsina Publishing, Fifty-word stories, among others.

Me and Bart Go to the Circus
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     Early that morning I was bouncing a tennis ball off the garage door, partly to keep in practice catching and partly because I was mad at Mom, and knew the noise bothered her.
     I took my eye off the ball and it rolled under my glove. I chased it down across the lawn and when I stood up, Bart was crossing the street wearing a big grin. Good, I needed a friend. 
     Bart stopped and put his hands on his hips. “Did you know the circus is coming to town?”
     “Yeah, I know. I saw a poster at the hardware store. My mom said we couldn’t afford it right now. I don’t want new clothes for school. I want to go to the circus. I’ve never seen an elephant.”
     “Well,” Bart said, “My mom had a friend over for breakfast and he said we should go to the circus.”
     “But my mom said—"
     “No, you don’t get it. I don’t know what he does at the circus, but he said they’re always looking for vendors.”
     “That still doesn’t get us to the circus.”
     “Vendors sell stuff. He said we could sell popcorn at the circus. And he’d grease a skid or something so we would be chosen as vendors. And we make money.”
     “You mean we get paid to go to the circus?”
     “We get in free. And the more popcorn we sell, the more money we make.”
     “Everybody likes popcorn. We’ll be rich. But I need to check with my mom first.”

     I was careful not to slam the screen door because I needed to have her say yes.
     “Mom, Bart’s Mom’s friend said we could be popcorn vendors at the circus and we’d get in free and we’d get to see every show and we’d see elephants and we make money and can I go, please? Please? Please?
     “If you stop bouncing that ball off the garage, yes.”
     “What? Really? I can go? Yes, yes, I’ll stop bouncing the ball.” I couldn’t believe my ears.
     I dashed out of the house, tripped over the garden hose and fell flat on my face on the lawn. Bart helped me up. 
     “I can go! And I can be a vendor.”
     “Great,” Bart said. “There are shows Thursday evening, Friday evening, and two shows on Saturday. And we get to go to every show.”
     “I can’t wait for two weeks for the shows to start. This will be like a job, but fun.”
     “I know. I guess they’ll tell us all we need to know at the orientation. I think we have to pay for popcorn we eat, just like at the movies.”
     “Get your glove,” I said, “let’s play catch.”

     Thursday took forever to come but it did. Me and Bart were at the circus gate three hours before the start and stood in line by a door labeled “Vendors.” 
     I looked around. “Everyone seems older than us, Bart.”
     “Yeah, I’m not worried. We’re mature for our age and we have an in.”
     We got to the front of the line and there was a skinny old man with a scraggly beard. Bart said, “We’re here to be popcorn vendors.”
     “Well, are you now?” The old man had a booming voice and he looked me and Bart up and down. I was afraid he wouldn’t let us in.
     He broke into a broad grin and said, “Welcome aboard, young fellas. We are indeed in need of eager popcorn sellers. Go to the room on the left and pay attention to what you’re told. Okay?”
     I hadn’t realized I was holding my breath, but I let out a big sigh as Bart answered, “You betcha.”
     The orientation was about making change from a dollar. Seemed pretty easy. We were assigned the north side of the arena. 
     “Which side is the north?” I whispered to Bart.
     Bart raised his hand and asked my question.
     “The north side is the one without bleachers,” came the reply. “The south side has bleachers. Stay in your assigned areas. Everyone get that?”
     I nodded along with everyone else.

     The first show wasn’t even close to sold out and I didn’t sell much popcorn, but I got to watch many of the acts. The trapeze artists flew through the air and were amazing. I was glad none of them fell to the net. My favorite were the lions and the clowns. That is, until the elephants came into the ring. I couldn’t take my eyes off them. The elephants were led out of the ring and then all the performers marched around the ring and then the circus was over. 
     I went back to the popcorn room to turn in my tray and money pouch, minus my take. “I still have four boxes of popcorn in my tray.” 
     The man behind the counter asked, “First time?”
     “Yes,” I answered.
     “How’d it go?”
     “Well, there are a lot of stairs and I’m kinda tired. But it’s good training for baseball.”
     He grinned. “The deal is that you can take the leftover popcorn home, if you want it.”
     “Really? For free?”
     “Sure. We don’t want to sell old popcorn tomorrow.”
     “Thanks. I’ll take it. I love popcorn.”
     I hadn’t seen Bart after the elephants left the ring, but I heard his voice as I backed away from the counter.
     “Bart, we get to keep the popcorn!”
     “I know, cool, huh?”
     “Where have you been?”
     “Visiting the elephants. They’re really big.”
     “Can I see them up close?”
     Bart nodded. “The elephant trainer said we could after the last show.” 

     The other shows looked just like the first show, but they were still fun. We sold lots more popcorn on Friday and Saturday than on Thursday. I had all the stairs I needed by the end of the second show on Saturday.
     I was excited about a profitable venture, free circus and popcorn, but I really wanted to see the elephants. I put my hand on Bart’s shoulder. “Now can we see the elephants?”
     “Yup, follow me.” 
     We arrived at the elephant tent and the trainer waved at Bart. “Remember our deal?”
      “Sure do,” Bart said.
     “What’s the deal?” I asked.
     “We shovel all the poo into the container and we get to keep a bag. Nobody in town has elephant poo.” 
     “That’s right,” said the trainer. “But first, come with me, and I’ll introduce you to the elephants.” 
     They were bigger up close than in the ring. I got to touch their skin. The skin felt a little like tree bark, but it was soft, or maybe like a big rubber eraser. One of the elephants ate some hay out of my hand. Now I was sure I wanted to be an elephant trainer when I grow up.
     “Thank you so much,” I told the trainer. “I grabbed a shovel and started in.”
     It was easy work and only took about ten minutes. Me and Bart each filled up a small plastic bag to take home. 
     The trainer said, “Might want to leave the bag in your garage, it’ll keep better that way.” 
     The trainer kept smiling and shaking his head the whole time we shoveled. Me and Bart were smiling too, because we were going to be the only ones in the area with elephant poo.
     Popcorn, money, touching elephants, and our own bag of elephant poo. All in all, it was a good day, and who knows, there is always tomorrow.

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