Rewriting the Stars

A Flair for Show Business

"It's not a circus, Queenie," Tina muttered, though she looked intrigued too.

Later that night, after the girls had gone to bed and he was thinking things over, he considered what Queenie had said – and he realized she'd been right. Live shows were bound to generate some interest, he reasoned, particularly for families looking for a day out; maybe not wild animals (not yet anyway), but surely there'd be people with interesting acts to share. Families would be sure to love that kind of thing, and there was good money to be found in running a circus – provided he did it right, that was.

After putting out notices for acts of all kinds – singers, dancers, acrobats, even just unusual people – he'd been overwhelmed with the response; interviewing them all took days, and it seemed that in no time at all he'd gathered a troupe of interesting and curious acts for the public to watch. Most of them were people who couldn't find employment elsewhere, particularly due to their skin colour or where they came from, but that didn't matter to Percival – not if they could all make some money with what made them unique.

Word spread fast, and it wasn't long until anticipated crowds were turning up, curious to see the strange things advertised in the paper and on buildings; the crowds only continued to grow and grow, reaching people of all kinds across the country. Acts retired over the years, but Percival had found that there was never a shortage of oddities who came looking for work in his show – there were so many, in fact, that it was possible to alternate acts from night to night.

Tina and Queenie had loved coming to both rehearsals and to shows, and the whole circus loved seeing them just as much as they enjoyed seeing the acts – in an odd way, the circus quickly became a second family to the girls, a place they could call home. To add, Percival knew he could rely on any of the performers to watch the girls while he worked in his office, and the girls were always good as gold; it was an almost-perfect arrangement.

It was only a few months after the circus' first show when Percival had left his office to find both of the girls twisting and swinging from the trapeze ropes with two of the professional aerialists nearby – and he'd nearly had a heart attack at the sight.

"Both of you, get down from there!" He called up sternly, trying to control the fear in his voice. "Get down before you break your necks!"

"Ah, come on, Percy," One of the aerialists had jibed good-naturedly. "They're in safe hands – we're not about to let anything happen to them. Besides, they're naturals at it."

"We could make a trapeze act outta them yet," Another agreed, grinning and chuckling.

When both of the girls had gotten their feet on the ground, they ran to him; the excitement on their faces was unmissable, their joyful giggles ringing through the building as they bounded over to him.

"Did you see that, Percival, we were so high-!"

"-Please can we do it again, Percival-?"

"Susan and Walt can teach us, they're the best-"

"Percival, please let us learn how to do it like them!"

It was undeniable – he, Percival Graves, had a weakness for these girls. The whole circus troupe had taken to teasing him over it, and he'd ignored it or tried to brush it off – but it was the truth. They had him wrapped around their little fingers, and he couldn't do anything about it.

Looking between them and taking in their wide eyes and bright smiles, he knew he was beaten.

***

Over the years, it had become a ritual for the troupe to go out for drinks after the evening show and catch up; thankfully, the owner of the local bar didn't have any problem with a group of 'oddities' in his establishment, so long as they paid, and he didn't stand for any nonsense – those who attempted to start fights or who started to fling insults were thrown out immediately. Given the popularity of the show, each of the performers had been given a small pay raise – which meant more drinks in the evening, much to everyone's pleasure. Not everyone went out every night – some preferred to stay in their tents most nights, only going out when the mood struck – but there were always at least a few people who ventured out for a drink, not returning until the early hours of the morning.