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Schmitten
‘The head of the herd was calling
Far, far away
They met one night in the silver light
On the road to Mandalay
So Nellie the Elephant packed her trunk
And said goodbye to the circus
Off she went with a trumpety-trum
Trump, trump, trump’
With the killing of Rudy and Xavier behind us, we traveled through the night but with the murder issue resolved (we thought), all were in good spirits and singing ‘ Let me take you down, 'cos I'm going to Strawberry Fields,’ Well to a field outside Strawberry, Arkansas actually. We pitched camp there and erected the Big Tent the following day and a little later the sideshows were doing great business. Guess whose stall was busiest?
While the public flocked to the sideshows: I earned a pretty penny with my strong man act and so did Tornado with his Wall of Death act, but in addition I was obliged to give a lecture on recycling. ‘Yeah, Easy,’ I said pointing to the new bear bins for forest campers.
Meanwhile, Pablo, Hugo, The Mighty Ajax and Clyde helped with the mundane circus tasks: feeding the animals and the bagging of horse, elephant, pigeon and lion turds (all good sellers).
Alfredo, Charles and Harry were promoting the circus visit on local radio and Xia and Robert were demonstrating new acrobatic techniques to the local circus training school.
Grock with Felix gave a talk on the oft mentioned Romantic dimension to this circus dynasty.
And Clyde and William Kite just went around tending the animals with Emanuel Zacchinis. Normal activity.
In the evening I instructed the band to start up, as usual, at 17.50, which they did with ‘Thunder and Blazes’. With Rudy departed, the juggling snake routine was viewed as too dangerous and dropped and so the timetable was changed to bring on the acrobats; Xia and Robert. (Flipper 1 and 2 the troupe nicknamed them) The other acts followed as planned then we had the interval. Great audience, lots of selling: lots of profit.
Harry talked to me ‘I was glad to recover my 2nd set but I have to tell you my 3rd set of knives has been stolen. I was fearful and right to be so.
After the interval, Charles carried Emanuel Zacchinis, (‘Don’t let off your cannon’) shoulder high across the tightrope after which Jules and Alfredo did their great trapeze double act. Stars one and all.
At which point Clyde should have appeared with the lions. Instead he appeared with the lions and the elephants. It was tense, awe inspiring and a supreme performance. Words fail to describe the atmosphere, though the elephants tried to type out a message.. He got a 10 minute continous round of applause.
At the end of the show the crowds left well pleased and there was still a queue outside Gypsy Rose’s tent.
Then somebody said ‘ Where’s Hugo ‘ We set out to search.
We found Hugo’s body under some taupaulin stabbed seven times, with Harry’s 3rd set of missing knives, in a pattern. His life had been truncated. The elephants wandered off into the night.
I took control ‘Look’ I said ‘don’t forget we’re circus folk, we solve our own business’ ‘Let’s vote among ourselves as to who did this. And don’t forget we have a schedule to adhere to.
Under the circumstances it didn’t seem right, just yet, to mention to the crew that we had made a handsome profit on the nights performance.
We buried Hugo in Strawberry Fields and slipped into the night to the next destination.
‘The head of the herd was calling
Far, far away
They met one night in the silver light
On the road to Mandalay
So Nellie the Elephant packed her trunk
And said goodbye to the circus
Off she went with a trumpety-trum
Trump, trump, trump’
With the killing of Rudy and Xavier behind us, we traveled through the night but with the murder issue resolved (we thought), all were in good spirits and singing ‘ Let me take you down, 'cos I'm going to Strawberry Fields,’ Well to a field outside Strawberry, Arkansas actually. We pitched camp there and erected the Big Tent the following day and a little later the sideshows were doing great business. Guess whose stall was busiest?
While the public flocked to the sideshows: I earned a pretty penny with my strong man act and so did Tornado with his Wall of Death act, but in addition I was obliged to give a lecture on recycling. ‘Yeah, Easy,’ I said pointing to the new bear bins for forest campers.
Meanwhile, Pablo, Hugo, The Mighty Ajax and Clyde helped with the mundane circus tasks: feeding the animals and the bagging of horse, elephant, pigeon and lion turds (all good sellers).
Alfredo, Charles and Harry were promoting the circus visit on local radio and Xia and Robert were demonstrating new acrobatic techniques to the local circus training school.
Grock with Felix gave a talk on the oft mentioned Romantic dimension to this circus dynasty.
And Clyde and William Kite just went around tending the animals with Emanuel Zacchinis. Normal activity.
In the evening I instructed the band to start up, as usual, at 17.50, which they did with ‘Thunder and Blazes’. With Rudy departed, the juggling snake routine was viewed as too dangerous and dropped and so the timetable was changed to bring on the acrobats; Xia and Robert. (Flipper 1 and 2 the troupe nicknamed them) The other acts followed as planned then we had the interval. Great audience, lots of selling: lots of profit.
Harry talked to me ‘I was glad to recover my 2nd set but I have to tell you my 3rd set of knives has been stolen. I was fearful and right to be so.
After the interval, Charles carried Emanuel Zacchinis, (‘Don’t let off your cannon’) shoulder high across the tightrope after which Jules and Alfredo did their great trapeze double act. Stars one and all.
At which point Clyde should have appeared with the lions. Instead he appeared with the lions and the elephants. It was tense, awe inspiring and a supreme performance. Words fail to describe the atmosphere, though the elephants tried to type out a message.. He got a 10 minute continous round of applause.
At the end of the show the crowds left well pleased and there was still a queue outside Gypsy Rose’s tent.
Then somebody said ‘ Where’s Hugo ‘ We set out to search.
We found Hugo’s body under some taupaulin stabbed seven times, with Harry’s 3rd set of missing knives, in a pattern. His life had been truncated. The elephants wandered off into the night.
I took control ‘Look’ I said ‘don’t forget we’re circus folk, we solve our own business’ ‘Let’s vote among ourselves as to who did this. And don’t forget we have a schedule to adhere to.
Under the circumstances it didn’t seem right, just yet, to mention to the crew that we had made a handsome profit on the nights performance.
We buried Hugo in Strawberry Fields and slipped into the night to the next destination.
Clyde
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