knives around her?"
"Yep."
"I could never do that. And what if her husband
got mad at her?" I asked.
Luke laughed again.
"That's a big joke around the tents. It's not as
dangerous as it seems. There's a technique to it, just as
there is for most anything in the circus, but that's what
I love about the circus--the illusions, the makebelieve world, the excitement."
"It sounds like fun. What do you do?" "I just took on a part-time job, just for a short
while, just to be around it. I want to be a circus barker
one day. You know, the man who calls to the people."
He jumped up and cried out, "Come one, come all, to
the greatest show on earth. We have one-eyed giants,
a snake lady, the smallest man in the world, the
bearded lady, Boris the lion tamer, the greatest acrobatic team in the air!" he recited as if he were standing on a platform. People nearby turned our way, but he didn't seem to care that he was attracting
attention.
"How'd I do?"
"Very well."
"Thanks. I practice all the time, but it's hard
because where I come from, people don't know much
about circuses. They don't know much about
anything," he said sadly.
"Where are you from?"
"A place in West Virginia known as the
Willies. It's in the mountains above the town of
Winnerrow," he said and saw that despite what he had
said about the people back there, he had a warm
feeling in his heart for his home.
"Why do they call it the Willies?" I asked. It