Ernest Vogel as a child liked to entertain people. He liked to get in front of huge crowds and amaze people by performing magic tricks. Everyday he would go out onto the streets of Boston displaying his newest tricks. But little did Ernest know that one day his world would be turned upside down. When a man named Mitchell McGrath approached him and offered him a job in his traveling freak show. Ernest who was only 16 at that time never had an official job, he has always been performing on the streets for money. When Ernest got home he told his mother, Catherine. She was a widow who lost her first son in the Vietnam war, he was drafted by the army and was taken away from his mother at the age of 15, after a few years she wanted to have another child. Once she found out she was pregnant Ernest's father was shot and killed also in Vietnam. After Ernest told Catherine that he was offered a job at the freak show at first she was overjoyed until she found out that it was for a traveling freak show. Catherine has always been there when Ernest needed motivation but now when he has an option to take his step further Catherine refused to let him leave. Ernest ran up to his room and sat in his room thinking. What could he possibly do to show everyone that he can carry himself and provide for his family. Then when he was about to go to sleep he came up with the one possible thing that could show his mother he can be independent. The next morning he met with Mitchell and told him that he should be the opening act for the traveling freak show and that his mother should be sat in the front row. Mitchell thought about the idea for a split second and rushed out of the restaurant with no answer to Ernest's idea.
