Carlos Goes to the Circus

One Friday morning, Carlos the Boogerhead was walking down his sidewalk when he heard something. Stopping in his tracks, Carlos stood very still and heard it again. “Mew.”

Carlos squatted down really low, and looked in the direction of the cry. Beneath a bush, he saw a white, long haired cat. Curious, he thought, as he called the cat out from her hiding place. “Someone is probably looking for you.”

The purring cat leaned against his arms, showing off his gold tag. “If lost, please return to Mr. Master at the ABC Circus.”

Carlos walked with the cat to his friend Alfonso Fonzio’s house, knowing that Alfonso was outside washing his car like he did every Friday Morning. “Alfonso, I found this cat. We need to return it to the circus.”

“The circus?” Alfonso said, “That cat is too small to be a circus animal.”

Carlos showed Alfonso the tag, and Alfonso agreed to walk with Carlos to find the cat’s owner.

Carlos had never been to the circus, he had only seen them on television. The circuses he saw had people flying in the air and lion tamers and clowns. Very exciting things, circuses, Carlos thought as the two friends turned a corner to the tallest tents he’d ever seen.

Carlos and Alfonso walked through a crowd of people with faces painted white and funny noses. There were people walking on stills that looked like they were ten feet tall. There were elephants, tigers, and horses with fancy jeweled bridles. But, who is Mr. Master, Carlos wondered as held onto the cat tighter and called out for the cat’s owner.

Suddenly, a man in a top hat and a purple tuxedo jacket stopped, turned around and said, “I’m Mr. Master.”

Carlos motioned to the cat, “I found her under a bush.”

“Oh my, thank you for finding her,” Mr. Master said gratefully. “Sugar, you silly feline. You have a performance in twenty minutes.”

Carlos and Alfonso looked at each other in disbelief, “Performance?”

Mr. Master nodded and said, “She’s one of our best acts. If you’d like to stay, you’re welcome to. As my guests.”

Carlos and Alfonso eagerly accepted and was lead by Mr. Master to the first row of seats. When the seats were filled, all of the sudden the lights went down and a bright light went on Mr. Masters. “Good Afternoon, Ladies and Gentlemen. I am your ringmaster for this show."

Carlos watched lions tamed and acrobats fly and clowns driving small cars. This is better than television, he thought as Mr. Masters introduced the final act.

“SUGAR!”

Sugar ran from the opening of the tent and did an obstacle course which included tightropes and swings and driving, almost everything that was done by all the other performers. Carlos didn’t realize that a small cat could be so talented. At the end of her performance, everyone stood up and cheered for the cat, who took a bow before walking back out of the tent. The lights went up, and Carlos and Alfonso started home.

“Well, that was fun,” Alfonso said when they got to his house. “Want to do something next week?”

Carlos nodded and said, “See you Friday.”