Ringmaster

He shakes his head. “I’d rather throw in my shirtsleeves. It gives me a better range of motion. Plus, I think it would be a great introduction to the act. I’ll address the audience and tell them something dangerous is about to happen, and they’ll see me taking my jacket off and preparing. It’ll set the scene.”

I picture this in my mind. Cale’s grave expression and ominous words. The business-like turning back of his cuffs. “Yes, I like it. They’ll see you’re deadly serious. How about you wear a pair of suspenders under your jacket, ones that match my costume?”

“Sparkly ones, sparkle?” he asks with a smile.

“Well, of course sparkly ones,” I tell him, getting to my feet and brushing the grass from my behind. “This is a circus, after all.”

“Then sparkly it is.”

I head off to find Elke and Anouk and tell them the plans for our costumes. They’re in our wagon, and both think it’s a good idea about Cale’s suspenders matching my costume.

“But what color should we wear?” I ask them.

Anouk ponders this for a moment. Then she smiles a devilish smile. “Crimson. The color of blood.”

I fall back onto my bed, hooting with laughter. “Well, it’s perfect, but can you picture Cale’s face when I tell him we’re going to be wearing blood red?”

Anouk pulls her sewing box out from beneath her bed and starts sorting through it. “Don’t tell him. Let’s just do it.” She pulls out an old tobacco tin and opens it, revealing a shimmering pile of crimson sequins. “How about these?”

“Perfect,” I enthuse, running my fingers through them and watching them catch the light.

Elke hurries to the door of the wagon. “Someone must have a pair of men’s suspenders that we can make over. I’ll go hunt for them.”

Ten minutes later, Elke is back with the suspenders, and Anouk and I get to work with a needle and thread decorating them with the crimson sequins. Meanwhile, Elke starts rummaging through a box of costumes, looking for something for me.

She sits back on her heels with a sigh. “No. None of these. I don’t think kitting you out in a leotard and tights is that interesting, anyway. All the women in the circus wear leotards for their acts.”

I look up in surprise. “What am I going to wear if not a leotard?”

“I don’t know. Cale’s right about the drama of the act. We need something dramatic…”

I smile down at the sequins as I sew. It’s been a long time since I’ve had friends. People to laugh with. People who want to help me. It’s been a long time since I felt safe and secure, and that my company is enjoyed. I had no one, and now I have Cale, Elke and Anouk. My eyes snag on the polaroid I stuck to the wall by my pillow. Elke, Anouk and me in our costumes, arms around each other and smiling. It was taken the night of my debut.

As I sew, I blink tears from my eyes. Happy tears.

“Yes!” Elke suddenly shouts, make both Anouk and I jump. “I know. A catsuit. A long-sleeved crimson catsuit, and high-heeled red boots. Very sexy. Very dramatic.”

My eyebrows shoot up. “High heeled boots and all that straw? Won’t that make it difficult to walk?”

“You won’t need to walk around that much,” Elke says, a far-off look in her eyes as her mind whirrs. “It’ll be perfect, trust me. Now stand up so I can measure you.”

Anouk keeps sewing as Elke turns me this way and that. I try to imagine myself in the costume she described, but it seems far too grown up for me. I’m only just getting used to the pretty leotards and feathers we wear for our act. They’re prettier than anything I’ve ever owned. I get around in secondhand sundresses, and when the weather turns I’ll switch to jeans and lumpy sweaters. High heeled red boots and catsuits are as alien to me as diamonds and caviar.

“Stop scrunching your face up like that. What if the wind changes?” Elke swats my behind with her tape measure.

“I’m not scrunching, I’m thinking.”

When Anouk finishes Cale’s suspenders, she hands them to me and I head out to find him. He’s giving water to the horses, and he wipes his hands dry on the seat of his jeans as I pass them over.

“Well, look at these,” Cale says with a grin, turning the suspenders this way and that. Each of the sequins catch and reflect the sunlight. “For our act? And your costume is going to be the same color?”

I feel my cheeks turn the same shade of crimson as I recall what Elke is making for me. “Yes, uh, I’m wearing crimson, too.”

Cale smiles at me. “Brilliant. We’ll look great. How soon do you think your costume can be ready?”

I think for a moment. I have no idea how long it takes to sew a costume from scratch. “Maybe a week?”

“Great. Let’s debut our act then.”