The Sunburnt Circus

The Sunburnt Circus

Jim Reiher

Smashwords Edition

Copyright © 2016 by Jim Reiher

Reprinted 2018

All Rights Reserved.

This e-book should not be reproduced or resold to any third party in any format.

This is a work of fiction. All characters and events portrayed herein are fictitious and are not based on any real persons living or dead.

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright

The Sunburnt Circus

The Sunburnt Circus

1

The young boy is running and panting and crying all at the same time. He is no more than five years old. There is a trickle of blood oozing down his face from a cut on his forehead. It passes his terrified eyes and mingles with his tears. The little boy is crying out for ‘Mummy’. When that does not get the desired response, he switches to ‘Daddy!’ He is clearly lost and scared. Thick bushes scratch against his body as he pushes his way through the scrub. It is menacingly dark and tall shadowy gum trees stare down at him. His wide eyes are filled with confusion and fear.

When 12 year old Simon awoke some hours later, he majorly underestimated the significance of that frightful dream. In the cool light of the morning, he did recall the nightmare, but by then he just thought it was strange.

2

The circus caravans were in a long line, parked off the road. They had stopped at a roadside rest area just as the sun was setting. After a day of driving, it was time for dinner and sleep.

There were six vans plus a number of trucks. Each of the vehicles had distinguishing markings, paintings, and imagery upon their sides, which served to both advertise the circus to passers-by or locals, and create a sense of wonder and excitement as well. The six vans housed the full team of performers and crew of ‘Australia’s Sunburnt Circus’ – all 18 of them.

The first van was the home of a small family: the ringmaster and his wife, Tony and Janice Borkowski and their two boys Simon and Timothy.

The boys were both brown haired and hazel-eyed. Timothy, despite being a year younger than his brother, was the more solid of the two. He was also the quiet one of the pair. Simon on the other hand was one of those children who could graze through the pantry, without seeming to ever put any weight on. And he was anything but quiet. He was long and lanky for his age, and always active and talking.

There was a knock at the caravan door. ‘Who is it?’ Janice called out from inside.

‘It’s Daniel. I just needed to know what time we’re heading off in the morning.’ Daniel was one of the acrobatic team which was one of the great attractions of the Sunburnt Circus. He and his brother Kenny were indigenous performers who had been with the Borkowski’s for three years.

‘Come in Daniel.’ Tony’s friendly voice boomed through the door. ‘We’re having some soup, and you’re welcome to join us.’

Daniel – like everyone else in the circus family – never knocked back a delicious hot soup from Janice. She was famous with the whole crew for her cooking. Daniel looked for a space at the table and without any words being said, the two boys instinctively shuffled over to make room. There was a folded newspaper on the bench seat, which Daniel picked up in readiness to take its place. His eyes glanced down at the print.

‘September 16, 1991… gee the year’s flying by,’ Daniel muttered as he saw the date at the top of the paper.

‘It certainly is,’ replied Janice. ‘It’ll be Christmas before we know it!’

As Daniel sat at the table with the family of four, he took in the family at a glance. He noticed how they were outgrowing their van. The two boys were getting so big! Simon, the long lanky 12 year old, and Timothy, the solid 11 year old.

‘We’re heading off about 8.00am,’ Tony offered his guest, remembering the reason for his visit. ‘I don’t want to get to Wagga Wagga too late. We still have a lot of kilometres to get behind us.’

As Daniel and Tony talked shop, Simon tuned out of the boring conversation. He began thinking about the show, and the way the various animals were such a wonderful part of the performance.

‘Our circus doesn’t have a lot of animals does it?’ he asked suddenly, changing the conversation entirely.

His father looked surprised, but decided to run with the question. ‘Don’t you think so?’ replied Tony. ‘I would say that we have quite a few!’

‘But I was talking with Glen today, and he was telling me about the circus he saw from Moscow – that’s in Russia – and they had lots and lots of animals. We only have eight.’

‘We have 12 animals, actually, if you count the doves.’ Tony nodded his head in agreement with himself as he said that. ‘And I know where Moscow is,’ he added with a smile.

‘The doves don’t count!’ retorted Simon with a bigger smile. ‘They’re birds!’

‘I think they count. I certainly couldn’t do my full magic routine without them. And who made the rule that says birds aren’t animals? Of course they are.’

‘I mean bigger animals, like elephants and lions. We only have eight – and that includes the three chimps.’

‘Well, if you leave out the doves,’ offered Janice, ‘then you’re quite right: there are eight.’ She began counting on her fingers. ‘We have Julius, and Storm, and Shadow, and Oscar and Joe, and of course the three chimps: Peter, Edmund and Lucy. But that’s still a lot by some Australian circus standards.’

‘Not by Moscow’s circus standard though!’

‘Moscow Smoshcow…big deal,’ said Tony with a hint of a grin on his face. ‘It’s different in Australia today. Even having eight or 12 animals is sometimes seen as too many. There are a lot of people out there these days who say that circuses shouldn’t have any animals.’

‘Not have any animals!’ piped up Timothy, ‘None at all? That would be dumb!’

‘Well, some people say that we’re being cruel to our animals by just having them in circuses.’ Tony was happy to go down this path to see how his boys would react.

‘We aren’t being cruel: we love our animals!’ Simon responded.

‘Yeah!’ Timothy agreed.

‘We know that,’ said Janice, ‘but some people looking in from the outside think that we’re mean to them, because they spend a lot of time in cages.’

‘But the cages are always cleaned every day, and new hay is put in them, and lots of food and water, and we let them out sometimes, and…’

Tony interrupted Simon: ‘I know, I know… you don’t have to convince me! I’m just telling you the facts: there are a lot of people who don’t want circuses to have live animals as a part of their show anymore.’

‘What would we do without animals?’ Timothy asked after a pause. ‘It wouldn’t be the same.’

‘No, it wouldn’t. You’re quite right,’ replied Tony. ‘But think about what we do now, even without the animals. We have some brilliant acts that don’t need animals. There’s our wonderful trapeze troupe, and then we have the acrobats and all their amazing antics.’

‘That’s true,’ added Janice. ‘And there are the clowns – they’re always funny even if they don’t use the chimps. And then what about Matt and his brother Pete and their motorbike act inside that giant sphere? That’s something else isn’t it?’

‘And of course my magic show – with or without the doves – I could still do a lot of great tricks for the audience,’ said Tony.

‘Yeah…that’s all true,’ reflected Simon, ‘but I still think we’d be missing out on a lot of the circus without the lions and Gabi’s really cool act with them; and without Storm and Shadow, and the balancing act that Olivia does on them, and without the chimps – they are so funny!’ Simon looked over at his father. ‘And I would even miss the magic doves,’ he added as an afterthought.

‘Glad to hear it!’ replied Tony.

Timothy changed tack suddenly. ‘How did the chimps get their names?’

‘Olivia named them when they first arrived. She named them after the three main characters in her favourite books at the time. The only girl chimp became Lucy, and the two boy chimps became Peter and Edmund.’

‘Olivia named them! How old was she then?’

‘Well,’ said Janice, ‘she’s 14 now, so she would have been 11 when they came – about the same age as you Timothy.’

‘You know,’ said Tony, ‘I do agree with you when you say that the circus wouldn’t be the same without the animals. But I tell you something. The way things are going in this country we may just find that someday we’re not allowed to have animals in the circus anymore. And if that ever happens we would have to make a big decision.’

‘What big decision?’ asked Simon.

‘We would have to decide if we would take the whole circus overseas to a country that let us to have animals or if we stay here and do our circus without them.’

‘I don’t like the choices,’ said Simon. ‘Hmmm. I think I would vote to go overseas though. I would hate to say goodbye to Storm.’

‘Just Storm?’ asked his mother.

‘Well, not just Storm – but she’s my most favourite of all the animals. She is so beautiful, and when she gallops around the circus ring with Olivia on her back, it makes me hold my breath!’

‘She is magnificent,’ mused Tony. Then a moment of fatherly teaching popped out: ‘But technically she is not galloping. She’s not going fast enough to call it that!’ He must have realised that this digression into technical accuracy was not being all that well received, so he switched back. ‘But whatever! I agree: she is marvellous to watch. And tiny Olivia and her wonderful acrobatics make the crowd cheer every time!’

‘I like Julius the most,’ threw in Timothy. ‘Our only elephant is the best animal we have. He’s even better than Storm!’

‘He’s quite an impressive creature, isn’t he,’ Janice affirmed. ‘Maybe he is not as beautiful and as…’ (she was looking for just the right word) ‘…majestic as Storm, but Julius certainly has his appeal.’

After a few more moments of silence, Timothy asked another question. ‘We’re not going to get rid of any of our animals are we? If some people don’t want us to have them, are we going to do what they want?’

‘No,’ said Tony firmly and quickly, ‘we are not. We will keep using our animals, and we will always care for them properly, until the laws are changed. And who knows, that may never happen at all. Even if it does, it is not likely to happen for years.’

‘Good,’ replied Simon. It’d make me really sad to lose Storm – and all the others.’

‘Anyway, it’s time for bed!’ Janice added, changing the subject.

‘Your mother is right,’ said Tony. ‘Let’s say our prayers, and off to bed with you both.’

That was Daniel’s cue to leave. He thanked Janice for the lovely soup, and headed out into the night air.

3

As Daniel walked over to his van, he could just hear Tony saying ‘The Lord’s Prayer’. He thought about Tony’s interest in faith, and he had to admit he quite respected the Ringmaster. Tony never shoved his religion down anyone else’s throat, but the entire circus crew knew that he had a quiet kind of faith deep inside himself. It was clearly a strength that his little family benefited from. Janice was not as obviously religious, despite her Irish Catholic background, but she seemed to appreciate the impact it had on them as a family too. Daniel thought to himself as he walked out of earshot, ‘Oh well…Everyone to their own I say.’

As he approached his van, he noticed a group of about half a dozen young adults, clustered together on the other side of the highway. They were looking at the circus vehicles and talking together. Daniel wondered what they were doing out here so late at night. But he did not wonder for long, nor was he so concerned that he diverted from the track to his van. ‘Probably just checking their road map under the street light,’ he thought to himself as he retreated indoors and settled down for the night.

4

On the other side of the highway, the small group of strangers were not reading their road map.

‘That Sunburnt Circus is such an ugly hangover from the past. They’re a disgrace: they’ve never updated their routines to eliminate the need for caged animals. They’re pathetic and archaic.’ The tall blond male was the leader of the group. He was directing the discussion, and he clearly served as the instigator and motivator of this group’s activities.

A second voice, softer and female, replied: ‘It breaks my heart thinking of those animals locked up in small and stuffy cages. It’s so wrong.’

‘Absolutely! They’re living in the dark ages,’ affirmed voice number three.

A fourth person joined the conversation: ‘Even earlier! It’s like back in the times of Noah’s Ark! Like, you know, cramped living conditions for the animals, unclean sleeping environments, and generally unnatural, um, environment.’

‘Except with the Noah story, the animals were being saved from drowning, and it was only temporary – until the waters subsided. Here they aren’t being helped, and they end up living this way for their whole lives.’

‘Yeah, but it is also like Noah’s ark because the ark would have stunk on the inside – just like this whole Sunburnt Circus does!’ This contributor had to stop talking when he laughed out loud at his own joke, despite the fact that no one else joined him.

‘Enough with this pointless discussion!’ Ringleader was talking again. ‘I’ve found out that the circus is heading off tomorrow, heading for Wagga Wagga where they’ll stay for about ten days. So I reckon we aim to do it there. There’s a lot of open space and surrounding countryside. We can make our way up there on the weekend and do what we need to do after a show when everyone’s asleep.’

All agreed. Wagga Wagga was a bit over half a day’s drive, and they would be serving their cause in a place where none of them were known personally.

‘They’ll be so stunned when they wake up and realise what’s happened!’ one of them gloated. ‘I can just imagine how they must convince themselves and pretend that all’s well with their animals – and how ‘well’ they look after them. Makes me sick!’

‘Me too, but we’ll change all that.’

5

‘I really don’t want to go to bed yet,’ complained Simon. ‘It’s way too early.’

‘We’re getting away first thing in the morning,’ Tony replied. ‘I want to be in Wagga Wagga by 2.00, so we’re having a bright and early start.’

A reluctant Simon began going through the motions of getting ready for bed. Timothy followed his lead.

‘Good night boys,’ mum said as they were resting in bed. ‘We’re just stepping out for a minute to talk to the Fishers about tomorrow. You boys go to sleep now okay?’

The Fishers were another of the circus families. Jamie and Julia had their own van and it was parked next to Simon and Timothy’s. The Fishers were the leaders of the trapeze troupe for the circus. Jamie was built like a tree trunk and looked intimidating. It was actually very misleading: he was really a ‘giant softy’. The bear of a man had the heart of a lamb. His solid build made him look quite scary, and he tended to be very quiet, adding to a ‘tough guy’ impression. However, on the rare occasions when he opened his mouth, people quickly realised they were in the presence of a gentle giant. Julia was his perfect complement. She was a good talker, and very down to earth. Being more thick skinned and the tougher of the two, she would not suffer fools lightly.

Mum and dad’s voices faded and Simon flicked off his bedside light. The boys were comfortable in their almost dark van. As their eyelids slowly accepted their fate, they chatted about the different circus animals. The talking became quieter and began to be broken up with silent moments.

As the next half hour passed slowly, other lights began going out around the campsite. The animals had also settled, and the night was still. The Ringmaster and his wife were still talking to Jamie and Julia. As their murmurings faded into a distant drone, the boys dropped off to sleep. Just as Simon was dozing off, his last conscious thoughts were about Storm, the stunning white horse that performed so superbly with Olivia.

6

Storm was running around and around the big top circus ring. And in Simon’s dream she was not just trotting or even cantering, she really was galloping.

Olivia was standing on her back. Despite the high speed at which Storm was running, Olivia was not afraid. Rather, she was holding onto a large hula-hoop, and she began to jump through it as if it was a skipping rope.

The hoop was being turned and swung around her tiny body. Faster and faster it went, so fast