Marvelous Mobile Menagerie

In a time that was much like the time we are in now but not quite, there lived a little boy and girl. They were brother and sister and while they got along most of the time, they didn't see eye to eye every minute of the day. Their names were Delilah and Kieran.

They lived in a big blue house on the corner of their street. They had a husky dog, a tabby cat and 5 guppy fish they helped their Mom and Dad take care of. On this particular day the kids were lounging on the couch watching tv. It was a nice, warm day so the windows were open and the fan was on. They were both laying sprawled out with their legs dangling over the arms of each side of the couch, their heads almost touching in the middle. There was nothing very exciting on and they were feeling rather blah. Just then, out of the corner of her eye, Delilah saw a large truck pull up and stop across the street. She sat up a little to get a better look. The truck made a "sshhhhh clunk skreeeech ssshhhhhhhhh" sound as it turned its engine off. Delilah started to realize that this was not a typical truck. It was ginormous!

Delilah shook Kieran a little to get his attention. 

"What is it?" He exclaimed.

"Look at that!" Delilah said.

They both hurried to the open window and got a good look. In fact, the truck took up more than half the block. It was bright red, very shiny and about as tall as a house. No one came in or out. There did not appear to be a driver in the drivers seat. 

Kieran and Delilah were in the living room and their Dad was upstairs in his office on a phone call. They could walk upstairs and ask their Dad if it was alright to go have a look but he sounded like he was on an important call. If they just walked out to the edge of their front yard, they could get a better look and then run back inside without having to bother him. 

"Come on." They said together. They didn't even bother to put their shoes on.

As they walked out the door and across the yard a little they both noticed that the back of the truck was open just a smidge. There wasn't any noise coming from inside that they could hear. The kids walked a bit more. The closer they got to the shiny red truck, the larger it seemed to get! The kids walked right up to the back of the truck and put their eyes to the tiny opening.

Inside was full of bright colours and movements. They could hear music too. Drums, horns, tambourines and flute sounds were escaping from the small crack in the door. What in the world was going on inside that truck?!

Just then the door opened wide and a booming voice echoed across the length of the truck. Out walked a large man with the longest moustache you ever saw, red and white suspenders, a red bow tie almost as long as his moustache and a top hat that must have been 3 feet high. Inside the truck the kids could see two trapeze artists swinging from the roof, a lady on a horse galloping around a ring, twelve flipping gymnasts and four crazy looking motorcyclists zooming around on ramps. There were red, green, blue and orange lights dancing all over the walls and streamers of every colour zinging this way and that. The music got louder and louder and a big live band appeared along the sides of the truck with their horns and snare drums, flutes and kazoos. 

"Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls of all ages! Sit back, relax and feast your eyes on our Marvelous Mobile Menagerie." The large Ring Master bellowed.

Every last person on their street came running out of their houses. Within moments 100 people were gathered around and Kieran and Delilah, still in their socked feet, were at the very front of them all. People dressed in tuxedos brought out 100 chairs out of nowhere and placed them on the streets for people to sit while more tuxedo clad hosts delivered liquorice, popcorn and cotton candy to the outstretched hands of the neighbours. 

The most amazing show began inside the truck. Delilah and Kieran along with the crowd watched fifteen dogs jump through hoops and over combinations of bars and boxes. There were nine clowns tripping over each other and jumping into pails of water. The crowd laughed so hard they spat their popcorn out. Next the lady on horseback did tricks and handstands while her beautiful white horse galloped around the ring. She wore the fanciest costume with diamond sequins and a big white and gold feather in her hair. Everyone oooooo'd and awwwww'd with every turn around the ring. The bikers did motorcycle tricks up and down their ramps doing high flips up in the air. The zoom of their engines roaring and brakes screeching sent the crowd into a cheering frenzy. The gymnasts flipped and tumbled through the air, their heads almost touching the roof but so skilled and practiced it looked completely flawless. The trapeze artists swung and flipped up and down, backwards and forwards throughout the length of the truck. 

The crowd grew larger as more neighbours heard the commotion and raced over to catch the show for themselves. Delilah and Kieran's whole street was covered in people sitting, standing and even some people had climbed to their rooftops to get a look. 

The last act finished their performance and the band took their final bows as the top of the truck let out a stream of fireworks up into the sky. The most colourful blasts of light cracked and popped into the air all around them and the crowd went wild! They were sure the fireworks could be heard from the tops of the mountains to the boats on the sea. Then the final crescendo of kaleidoscopic bangs, pops and blasts finished while a hundred of the tuxedo hosts raced through the crowd. They collected the chairs right from under them, cleaned up the bags of popcorn and candy, tipped their hats and returned into the shiny red truck. The Ring Master let out a giant "Thaaaankkk Youuuuuu!!!" as the door started to make its rolling descent and closed back up. The engine started with another "ssshhhhhhhh clunk skreeech shhhhhh" and the humungous red truck pulled out and rolled down the street and out of view.

Delilah and Kieran looked around as the crowd began to disperse. Everyone went back inside their houses looking rather stunned by what had just taken place. Almost as soon as the show appeared, it was gone. The only signs that it had all actually happened was the lingering smoke in the air and the smell of popcorn on their hands. It was like a thunder and lightning storm was raging around them and then the rain stopped and the clouds cleared.

As they crossed back into their yard they saw their Dad climbing down the drain pipe from the roof. He was smiling ear to ear with pink cotton candy stuck in his hair.

"Your Mom will be sorry she missed that!" He said. "It isn't every day the circus comes to your door, is it? Where the heck are your shoes?!"

Then they all fell onto the grass rolling around laughing, quite delirious with happiness.