Street Kid (19 page)

Just as I was about to make my way across to the horse box, I froze. I could hear the sound of whistling. Then someone’s footsteps, making their way towards the animal tent. A moment later, I recognized Mr Wilkie, the circus
owner, rounding the side of the tent, holding a torch.
He must have seen me! He must have!

I held my breath and flattened myself against the canvas. He walked past, not more than five yards from me, and disappeared inside the tent to check on the animals. I could hear his voice, talking tenderly to the horses, and could imagine them gently huffing back at him through their big, round nostrils.

A couple of minutes later, Mr Wilkie left and I felt able to breathe again. I waited until I was absolutely sure the coast was clear, then moved out of the shelter of the animal tent and made my way to the horse box. Once I’d quietly let myself in and closed the back it was completely dark inside, but I managed to find my school case and open it. Inside was the sandwich Sunday had given me for my packed lunch that morning. I tucked into it hungrily, reflecting for a moment what an age it seemed since I’d left the Allendene. A whole world away from me now.

I lay down in the dusty darkness with a blanket around me. It stank strongly of horse, but I soon got used to the smell.
I’d better find somewhere to wash tomorrow,
I thought to myself.
I’m really going to stink.
My mind sleepily started to move through my plans for the next day, but it wasn’t long before I was asleep. I slept very soundly, never hearing the sounds of the animals stirring in their tent next to me. It had been a long day. I’d been awake half of the night before working out my escape, and now I’d really done it.

I’d planned to be up and out the next morning before anyone was about but hadn’t realized quite how early the circus day started. Usually, I’d rely on the dawn light waking me, but it was dark inside the horsebox so I’d slept through. The next thing I knew, the back was flung open and the light streamed in, waking me with a start.

I sat up confused, not immediately knowing where I was, and found myself face to face with Carl, who looked just as shocked as I was.

‘What are you doing here?’

I didn’t say anything for a moment, just stared at him wide-eyed. But I knew I’d have to say something to keep him there and stop him going to tell his dad. I’d never opened up about my troubles to anyone before, but something told me that it would be the right time to do so now. I didn’t have to tell him everything, just a little to get him on side.

‘Please don’t tell anyone,’ I begged Carl. ‘I couldn’t go back home. I’ve run away.’

‘Why?’ the boy asked. ‘What are your mum and dad going to say when you don’t come back?’

‘My mum’s in England,’ I told him. ‘And my dad’s always hitting me. Most of the time I’m left on my own.’

Carl stood a moment, thinking. Finally, when he spoke, I knew I had him on my side.

‘Well, it won’t be safe staying here. People come in and out to fetch horse blankets. They’ll find your case.’

‘But where can I go?’
He’ll think of somewhere. Then I’ll be be able to stay.

‘I know just the place,’ Carl replied. He was starting to enjoy himself now. ‘At the back of the train there’s a carriage that’s used for storing props. No one ever goes in there, so you’ll be quite safe.’

‘Shall we go now?’ I asked

‘No, there’ll be people about having breakfast and stuff. We’ll go later when they’re all busy here. Just hide your case for now.’

The rest of the morning, Carl took me under his wing and I followed him about while he did his chores.
I grabbed the chance to wash whilst spraying the elephants with the hose.
I’ll be able to have my bath with them every day,
I thought to myself, happily.

Later on, when there was a lull and we wouldn’t be missed, Carl led the way across the field to the circus train. ‘I’ll take you through it from the front,’ he said. ‘Then you can see where everybody lives.’

We passed through the train, along a corridor which ran alongside the compartments. I was enthralled by what I saw. Each had been fitted out like a proper room in miniature. There were rugs on the floors and frilly curtains at the windows. Cheerful pictures hung on the walls, and some of the rooms had bookcases. Everything was so neat and cosy.

Towards the back of the train was the most extraordinary carriage of all. I stared at the rooms in amazement. Carl told me that they belonged to Marion and Billy Dash. He grinned as I stood there, gawping.

‘They don’t have kids of their own,’ Carl whispered to me. ‘So the chimps have their own room and everything.’

The chimps’ bedroom was a wonderful sight, like something out of Goldilocks and the Three Bears. Each chimp had his own little bed, complete with cuddly toys, and on a floor in a neat row were their potties. I realized that the Dashes probably loved the chimps just as much as they would their own kids.

I hope I’ll get a chance to help look after them,
I thought to myself. I’d been longing to feel their skinny arms clinging around my neck as I’d seen them do with Marion and Billy. Their arms were so long that they looked like they’d be able to wind round more than once.

At the end of the train, Carl opened the door of the box room. ‘Nobody ever comes in here.’

I looked around me and saw piles of old costumes, shoes and boxes. We pushed some of them aside and made enough space for me to lie down.

‘Here, these’ll do for a bed.’ Carl handed me a rug and some pieces of fur, which I unfolded and laid flat. I then rolled up some bits of material to make a pillow.

Carl stood with his hands on his hips, satisfied I’d be okay now. ‘Come on, hide your case, and let’s go.’

‘Wait,’ I said. ‘Let me just move these,’ I pulled two boxes either side of the bed we’d made, then laid an old cloak over the top of them, making a kind of tent. Now if anyone came in, they wouldn’t be able to see me.

‘Here, it’s best to leave this way,’ Carl said, leading me out of the back of the train onto a little platform and down some steps. ‘It’s great your room’s at the back. You’ll be able to come and go without anyone seeing.’

When we got back to the grounds, Carl told his dad I was new at the circus and that I was his friend. Mr Fischer, the lion tamer, was a man of few words and didn’t say much, but he agreed that I could help Carl feed the animals.

As luck would have it, I also got to help grooming and dressing the horses. The circus hand who usually helped look after them hadn’t turned up that morning and Harry Carry, their trainer, was looking fractious when we saw him.

‘Carl, I’m going to need your help,’ he grumbled. ‘I’m never going to have them ready for the show at this rate. Your friend can help too if she wants.’ Harry was looking at me and, although he was obviously feeling hassled, I saw a kindly twinkle in his eyes. ‘I’ve seen how gently you handle them, so I reckon they’ll be in good hands if you want the job.’

I nodded vigorously and found myself standing straight as a pole.
Yes, sir!

‘Just help Carl muck them out and feed them first thing. Then you’ll need to get them to the paddock. And before the afternoon show, there’s the grooming and dressing to be done.’ Harry gave his instructions, then looked at his watch. ‘Right, we haven’t got long before the show, so you two had better get cracking.’

Carl gave me the plaiting of the manes and tails to do. ‘That’s more of a girl’s job. You’ll be better at it than me,’ he said.

When I’d finished on the first horse, I asked him if what I’d done was okay. He came over and had a look.

‘They’re too fat,’ Carl said, looking at my sausage-shaped plaits. ‘Here, you need to part the mane like this.’ He divided the hair in half and showed me how to plait an extra row underneath.

I got it right the next time and soon started making good headway. Carl was right. I was more nimble-fingered than him.

When we’d finished with the horses, Carl took me round to see the lions and tigers. I could tell he felt really proud of them. He stood squarely and spoke to them in a deeper voice than usual when he put his hand through the bars and ruffled the fur behind one of the tiger’s ears.

‘My dad says you’ve got to let them know who’s master,’ he said. ‘They can sense if you’re afraid.’

I didn’t feel afraid of the tigers at all, although I didn’t feel sure enough of my ground to follow Carl’s lead.

‘First you need to let the animals get used to you. Make friends with them.’

I thought of Carl’s dad and how, when I’d watched him practising for the show, he’d put his head into the mouth
of the lion. You surely wouldn’t want to be anything
but
friends if you had to pull a stunt like that day in day out.

‘But why does your dad use the whip if he wants to keep them on his side?’ I asked Carl.

‘He doesn’t touch them with it,’ Carl explained. ‘Watch him tomorrow at rehearsal. He just uses the whip to get their attention and tell them when to move.’

We walked over to the lions’ cage. There were three of them lying there, dozing in the sun. When they saw Carl, the two lionesses half opened their eyes sleepily, then closed them again, but the lion got up and padded over to him.

‘You soppy old thing,’ Carl said to him, then turned to me. ‘I bet you didn’t think he was such an old softy when you heard Dad making him give that big roar, did you?’

I’d heard the lion roaring in the show and the audible quiver of terror that ran through the kids in the audience.
I bet they wouldn’t believe it if they saw him now,
I thought as I watched his old toothless mouth positively dribbling with pleasure as Carl stroked him under the chin.

‘I love it when he and Dad lie on the ground and pretend to be in bed together. You’ll see it tomorrow,’ Carl laughed. ‘This one puts his paw over Dad’s shoulder. It’s really funny.’

After my first proper introduction to the lions and tigers I went to see them every day, taking Carl’s advice –
First you need to let the animals get used to you.
I would stand by their cage so they’d get used to my smell, and then inch my way forward, little by little, each day. Eventually, I put my hand through the bars of the tiger’s cage and tickled behind Suki’s ears. Just like any ordinary cat, she loved it, and rubbed against my hand.

I’d always felt I could trust animals; be myself with them. Understandably, I was wary around my own kind.
However, something momentous was happening to me at the circus. It was as if the sun had come out after a bleak rainy season and I felt myself unfurling like a flower, opening myself to the whole experience. I was no longer feeling like a piece of jigsaw in the wrong box. Here I fitted in and could be myself at last.

Chapter Seventeen

C
arl told me I’d need to meet him earlier than usual the next morning as Friday was rehearsal day. Instead of needing to get the animals ready in time for the afternoon show, they had to be fed and exercised first thing.

I slept well in my train compartment. I didn’t need a blanket, as the fur we’d laid out as a mattress was very warm. As soon as it was light, I got up and set off across the field to the circus ground, where Carl had arranged to meet me.

When I got there, a couple of hands were already going about their business. As I sat on the grass waiting for Carl, I thought how confident they seemed compared to the other black people I’d seen on the streets of Johannesburg. Even Sunday, our head waiter at the Allendene, who was always efficiently businesslike in his white suit and red fez, wasn’t treated half as well as the hands at Wilkies Circus.

Everybody at the circus had a job to do, for the good of the whole, and there wasn’t an obvious hierarchy. Even Mr Wilkie, who owned the circus, never lorded it over anyone. He just expected everyone – people and animals – to work hard to create the best possible show and to make the audience happy. It was as simple as that. And I’d watched
with awe at how every little cog in the machine moved with well-greased perfection.

When Carl arrived, rubbing sleep out of his eyes and looking tousled in his leather trousers and braces, he took me first to wash the elephants. Mary and her baby, Lily, were tethered by the ankle near to a tap. When we uncoiled the hose and turned the water on, they both trumpeted with excitement.

‘Try lifting up your arm like this,’ Carl swung his arm up in the air, vertical in front of his face. ‘Watch!’

Both animals knew their cue and lifted their trunks in the air, mimicking him. I giggled and tried it too. Both elephants opened their mouths when they raised their trunks and made adorable little noises that sounded a bit like yawns.

‘They like being tickled on their tongues too,’ said Carl. ‘Try it.’

I moved forward and reached out to Lily. Her tongue was a pinky-grey colour and there was dribble hanging down from the sides of her mouth. I scratched it with my fingertips, which she seemed to like.

By now I was soaking wet and took the opportunity to rub myself down. Taking a shower with my clothes on was surprisingly effective and it didn’t take long for them to dry in the sun. I knew that, without a comb, my hair had become a tangled bush, but I didn’t mind, and knew no one else would either. That was the joy of the circus; no one judged you by what you wore or what you looked like. And there were no more horrid school assemblies and dress drills for me now. Every time I thought of what I was missing I wanted to whoop with joy.

As we walked to the animal tent with our buckets of feed, Mr Wilkie came up to us. He was a stocky man in his fifties with the kindest twinkle in his eyes.

‘Everything okay, kids?’ he asked.

‘Yes, thanks, Uncle Whilma.’ Carl always called Mr Wilkie by this name.

Mr Wilkie turned to me. ‘You’re new here, aren’t you?’ he asked. ‘Harry says you’re getting on well with the horses.’

I smiled shyly, but really pleased by the compliment. ‘It’s great,’ I said.

‘Any good worker is welcome at my circus,’ Mr Wilkie said. ‘And do feel free to watch the rehearsal today. It’s the only way to learn.’