This was going to be way, way better than home. I could already tell.
FAIRGROUND FACT #3
Many circus performers actually start performing when they are children. The circus is a big family and circus kids train for years, imitating the grown-ups. When they aren’t studying or playing, they’re working hard, helping groom the animals and practicing things most kids would love to practice. Like walking a tightrope that’s close to the ground.
In some circuses, children even get to ride the trapeze, which is a big swing that you can hang from with your legs or hands. You feel like you’re flying!
CHAPTER
4
Being a Little Explorer was fun when I was the only one.
But I wasn’t the only one.
There was that girl Big Top Bubba had stopped from running. Her name was April. She cried a lot. Plus a boy with funny hair named Davie. His brother, Chase, was afraid of clowns, which was bad since the circus had a lot of those! He kept hiding behind people whenever the clowns walked by.
Then there was Lexie. The girl who didn’t like friends. She was a Little Explorer before I came, so she thought she was the boss of me. She thought she was the boss of everyone.
“You can’t do that!” she yelled at me when I jumped in front of the line. We were practicing the dance Little Explorers always did during each show. I wanted to be in front. I was shortest, so it was only fair.
“Mr. Bubba!” April yelled. “Piper cut in line.”
Did I mention April’s a tattletale?
Big Top Bubba didn’t want to get involved. He just shrugged and went back to wiping Ronnie, one of the elephants. I think Big Top Bubba is better with animals than people.
“You have to take turns,” Davie said. “That’s what my dad says.”
“Your dad isn’t in charge,” Lexie pointed out. “Mr. Bubba is.”
Lexie cut me in line, which meant she got to be in front. She also got to wear the hot pink costume when Miss Sarah surprised us with clothes for the show. I had to wear the light pink one.
Secretly, I liked the light pink one better, but I pretended to like the hot pink one because I knew Lexie would want it. I think April really liked the hot pink one too, because when Lexie took it, she cried.
Little Explorers had an important job to do. We had to do a fun dance that involved spinning around, waving our hands in the air, then kicking our feet up over and over again. Miss Sarah showed us how to kick gracefully and point our toes. After the dance was done, the pretty performers in sparkly costumes showed up. I was really nervous about it.
“You have to smile,” Lexie told everyone when we were practicing the first day in our costumes. “And keep your head up high. No slouching!”
I made my smile as big as I could and looked at the other kids. They didn’t look back. They must see lots of bossy Lexie.
“Thank you, Lexie,” Miss Sarah said. “Now, why don’t you show Piper where we change out of our costumes?”
Lexie frowned. But then she thought about it for a second and smiled. I knew what that meant. She was happy that she’d get to be the boss.
I had to run to keep up with Lexie, who ran through two clowns practicing with a Hula-Hoop and a little sword, and jumped over a dog wearing a party hat. I wanted to stop to pet the dog, but I had to keep up.
There was a door with a paper sign taped to it. The words LITTLE EXPLORERS were written on the paper in black marker. It wasn’t an official sign, but close.
“This is it,” she said once we were inside. “Any questions?”
I knew if I said no, she’d run out. I didn’t want her to run out. I wanted her to tell me circus stuff.
“Yes,” I said. Then I thought and thought about what questions to ask. Looking around, I pointed at a long table. “What’s that?”
Lexie looked where I was pointing. “That’s where we put on the makeup,” she said.
I gasped. “We get to wear makeup?”
My mom would never, ever let me wear makeup. Makeup was for grown-ups, she said.
“Only because the lights make us look like we don’t have it on at all,” she said.
“Will you show me how to put makeup on?” I asked. “I don’t know how.”
She frowned at me. “The grown-ups will help us,” she said. “Is that all?”
“No,” I said.”
I needed more questions. “Do you know the clowns?” I asked.
Lexie sighed. “That’s a silly question.”
“You don’t know the clowns?” I asked. “Does April? Maybe April can introduce me.”
Lexie’s eyes got really wide then. “April doesn’t know the clowns like I do. I know the clowns best.”
And that’s how I got Lexie to introduce me to the clowns.
FAIRGROUND FACT #4
Many circus performers are really very talented ballerinas and gymnasts who train for years. Some of them travel around, working for different circuses in between doing things like dancing in plays and ballets.
There’s a college for circus performers, where you can take classes in dance, acting, and music. You can even go to college to become a clown. Some people say it’s harder to get into the Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Clown College than Harvard Law School! Whether you go to school or not, you have to be really good to be a performer in a circus.
CHAPTER
5
Opening night was huge. Bigger than even the biggest elephant in the circus. I was so nervous, I could hardly stay in line. The mean woman with the clipboard and ear microphone thing kept pointing at me to tell me to get back in line.
Mom was nervous too. I noticed this morning that she’d been biting her nails again. She always bites her nails when she’s stressed. I wanted to do the best job ever so she’d stop worrying and we could stay. No matter what she did, they wouldn’t fire her if her daughter was the best Little Explorer ever in any circus anywhere.
I looked out in front of us. There was a big floor with lots of rings all around it. The audience was up in the bleachers above it. When we were practicing down there, the audience area was empty. Now that the seats were filled with people, all looking down at the floor where we’d be, it was so scary.
I was worrying so hard, I didn’t even know it was time to go until Lexie started moving. That was when I stopped being scared that people would be staring at me and started being scared that I didn’t remember the dance we’d practiced over and over and over.
“And now . . . welcome the Little Explorers!”
We all marched out, just like we’d practiced. I looked out at the crowd, squinting a little in the bright lights, waiting for our music to start.
Finally, the music began. Everyone started moving in time. Except me.
I didn’t remember the dance.
I don’t know where they went, but somehow the kicks and shuffles and pointed toes had escaped from my brain. All the steps I had practiced over and over were just . . . gone. I thought maybe I’d remember them once we kept on going.
Nope. Completely gone.
The best thing to do when you don’t know a dance is to look at the person next to you. The girls were in front and the boys were in back, so that person was April. April knew the dance. I’d just follow her.
There was just one problem with that. I was so busy trying to watch April, I started to go off-balance. Before I could even stop, I bumpd into April!
“Oops, sorry!” I whispered. But it was too late.
April ended up crashing into Lexie. “Aaaah!” Lexie screeched as she fell back into the boys, who were now right in the path of the grown-ups who were coming in to start dancing behind us!
The whole dance was wrong for several minutes. By then the audience wasn’t laughing or clapping. They were just quiet.
I’d messed the whole show up, just by looking at April and falling over. I’d messed all the dancers up, and now the dance was all wrong for everyone. I’d ruined the whole show. My mom would be i
n big, big trouble.
I knew that even before I saw Mr. Winkles, standing on the sidelines, staring at me with a big frown.
FAIRGROUND FACT #5
There are lots of superstitions in the circus, probably because people are walking on ropes so far above the ground. You need all the luck you can get when you’re way up there. Here are a few circus superstitions:
#1 Performers always enter the ring with their right foot first.
#2 Many circus performers won’t wear green because they think it’s bad luck.
#3 If you set your suitcase down backstage, you aren’t supposed to move it again until you leave for a new town. (Seriously. How do they get their clothes out?)
CHAPTER
6
Mr. Winkles was not a happy camper. Not at all. He’d handed me over to Miss Sarah to “take care of the situation” and left.
“It’ll be okay,” she promised. “See? They are starting again already.”
She pointed toward the door of the tiny dressing room where we were sitting. On the other side of it, we could hear applause. Then the music started up again.
“The show must go on,” Miss Sarah explained. “That’s what we say in the circus world when something happens.”
I was probably supposed to smile at that, but I couldn’t. All I could think was that Mr. Winkles was mad at me. And Mr. Winkles would fire my mom and not let me be a Little Explorer anymore. And we would have to leave.
“I have to go back out there,” Miss Sarah said. “Why don’t we go find your mom?”
I nodded. I wanted to know what was going on. If Mr. Winkles was yelling at her, I could say it’s all my fault and he should yell at me instead.
So much for my plan to be the best Little Explorer ever. They could call me the worst Little Explorer ever. Lexie was probably the best.
When we got to the ring entrance, the show was almost over. Miss Sarah was biting her lip nervously. She wanted to perform, but she had to find my mom first.
“What are you doing back here?” one of the stage managers said when he saw us standing there, watching everything. “It’s the big finale. Get out there.”
Miss Sarah looked at me. I was expecting her to leave me with the stage manager, but she didn’t. Instead, she grabbed my hand and pulled me out onto the floor.
I wanted to hide. I was sure when the audience saw me, they’d start booing. Instead, they started cheering louder. I didn’t get it. I was the girl who had ruined the whole opening dance.
The other kids came out too, led by Lexie. She had this big smile on her face as she skipped over to stand next to me. She looked so beautiful—like a little fairy. I knew when people saw her, they had clapped for her instead of me.
After we finished bowing, we followed the performers back to all the dressing rooms. I stayed behind Lexie because she’d know where she was going. The other kids were with us. We all went back to the room where we’d been before the show. That was when I realized everyone was mad at me.
“The dance was all messed up,” Lexie told me when I asked Davie what was wrong. “It’s all your fault.”
“I couldn’t help it!” I said. Everyone shouldn’t be mad at me. I was mad enough at me for all of us.
“You should just sit in the audience,” Lexie said, shaking her head. “I don’t think you should be a Little Explorer. I’m going to tell Mr. Bubba that.”
I wanted to cry. If Mr. Bubba said I couldn’t be a Little Explorer anymore, I’d be so sad. I wouldn’t be able to even pet Ella anymore. Ella was the best friend I had here besides Miss Sarah.
Worst of all, if I was fired as a Little Explorer, they might fire my mom. That would mean I couldn’t even see Ella anymore. I could see her if I went to the circus, but she’d be far away and I’d be in the audience.
That was why when Big Top Bubba walked by, I ran after him.
“I’m so, so, so sorry I made everyone fall,” I said. “Please don’t let me never see Ella again.”
He’d been walking pretty fast, but when he heard me yelling after him, he turned to look at me and slowed down. “What?” he asked.
“I want to still be a Little Explorer,” I said softly. Tears were rolling down my cheeks even though I didn’t want them to be. Little Explorers were supposed to be strong.
He came back and knelt down in front of me. “Don’t cry, little one,” he said. “We all make mistakes. Did you know one time I lost an elephant?”
I wiped at my tears. “You can’t lose an elephant.” I smiled. “They’re too big.”
“That’s what I thought. But he wandered away while we were loading the truck. This big elephant was walking down the sidewalk in this city! People didn’t know what to think!” Bubba laughed a big belly laugh.
I laughed too. I was glad to be laughing instead of crying. “I’ll bet people were surprised to see that.”
“They were, but we found the elephant and everything was okay,” he said. “Do you know what that means?”
I shook my head no.
“People make mistakes,” he said. “Everyone does it. But it all worked out in the end and that’s all that matters, right?”
I wasn’t so sure.
“Come with me,” Big Top Bubba said. “I want to show you something.”
We walked back to the hallway where the clowns practiced. It was empty, but there were still props and costumes all around.
“Clowns mess up all the time,” Big Top Bubba said. “Once, Susie’s Hula-Hoop went out into the audience in the middle of a show. Do you know what happened?”
I shook my head again.
“The other clowns jumped in and acted like it was all a part of the show.” He gestured. “Come on.”
We went to the area where the dogs were all running around. A trainer was trying to calm them down, but they were all over the place.
“Sometimes the dogs go all off track,” Big Top Bubba said. “Denise here does the best she can, but when she needs help, do you know what she does? She signals and the other performers help.”
“That’s right,” Denise said with a big smile.
“We all practice over and over, but mistakes happen,” Big Top Bubba said. “They happen all the time. When they do, we help each other out. That’s what a family does.”
“Family?” I asked, not sure what he meant. Were these his brothers and sisters?
“The circus is a family,” he said. “And you’re part of it now. Welcome to the family, Piper!”
I smiled. I liked the sound of that.
FAIRGROUND FACT #6
The circus has its own lingo. Here are a few words you’d know if you worked in the circus.
Joey—Another word for a clown. If a guy named Joey was a clown, he’d be “Joey the joey.”
Roustabout—Someone who works hard getting the ring ready for the big night.
Candy Butchers—The people who sell candy and popcorn at the circus. Don’t call them that to their faces, though.
First of May—That’s what they call new circus performers. As in, “Look at that First of May.”
CHAPTER
7
Mom wanted to have a “special talk” about what happened last night. But it was while we were on the way to breakfast. In our circus, everyone had breakfast together every morning. Some of the kids sat together, but I didn’t. I usually sat with the grown-ups.
“It can be scary being up in front of all those people,” Mom said.
We’d been talking about the elephants two seconds before, so it was confusing at first. I thought she meant the elephants.
“I know you got scared last night,” Mom explained. “Don’t feel bad about that. You just have to keep trying. It gets easier each time.” She smiled at me and took my hand.
I looked over at my mom. Did she know? Had she been up in front of people before? She was really pretty and had a great singing voice. Maybe . . .
“Have you done it?” I asked. “Were you up in front of people on
ce?”
“Only in school,” Mom said. “Sometimes you have to get up and do speeches in front of your class.”
I nodded. I had to do that once. I had to tell my class last year what I’d done during summer vacation. I was so scared. But I did it, and after people asked me all about our camping trip.
“Now that you’ve been up in front of a whole circus audience, it will be easier to do little things like that,” Mom said. “Getting up in front of a class will seem like nothing.”
We were in the big room with all the tables by then. That was where we always had breakfast. I didn’t really want to sit with all those people, though. I wanted to have time with just my mom.
“You know what?” Mom said, like she was reading my mind. “I think we should sit over here. We should have breakfast together.”
She pointed to a small table in the corner. There was just room for two people. It was short, too, like it was made for kids. Mom gestured for me to follow, and we sat there together, me comfortable and Mom all squished to fit.
And that was when our daily mom-daughter breakfasts began.
FAIRGROUND FACT #7
Circus workers do everything together, including eating meals as a group. They become like one big happy family, watching out for one another’s kids and doing assigned chores that keep everything running. Can you imagine traveling around the country with a bunch of kids your age and their parents? It would be like having all your sisters and brothers, cousins, and aunts and uncles in one big place.
CHAPTER
8
“Does everyone have it down?” Miss Sarah asked.
We’d been practicing the dance over and over again for so long, my feet hurt. But I couldn’t complain. I was the reason we were doing all this.
Piper Morgan Joins the Circus Page 2
