another: jugglers, magicians, tumblers.
A drumroll introduced the trapeze artists, and
two handsome men and a beautiful woman ran to the
center of the tent to take their bows and begin their
climb up the ropes. My heart pounded in anticipation.
There was something to see everywhere I looked.
When I turned to Luke, I saw that he had been staring
at me, a small, warm smile on his face, his eyes bright
with appreciation.
"It's exciting, isn't it?" he said. "See why I love
it?"
"Oh yes. I never realized . . . it's a wonderful
show."
"This is only the beginning," he said. "We'll see
it all."
Even in my excitement, I realized he had
entwined his fingers around mine to hold my hand softly, but I didn't mind it; I welcomed it. The music and the laughter, the spectacular performances and constant banter about the various acts, the applause and air of excitement, turned hours into minutes and minutes into seconds. I lost track of time and place. While I was in the circus, I didn't even think about my situation, about my running away from home. It was
as if the world had stopped turning.
We had more to eat, hamburgers and bags of
French fries. Luke started to order another beer, but
when he saw my face, he stopped and bought himself
a soda pop, too. Then we had ice cream cones with
candy sparkles. Luke paid for everything eagerly,
even though I offered to use some of my money. "Your money is all magic money," he said. "It's
not fair. As soon as you give it to the vendors, it will
disappear in their hands."
"Luke, I can't let you pay for everything. You
work so hard for your money."
"I don't mind. I don't have much to spend it on,
and never do I get a chance to spend it on someone as