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the town trying to find a path toward
his loved one. As anyone would
understand, the milkman’s tame horse
cannot be compared to a disoriented
Asian elephant, especially taking into
account the perception of the citizens
who, in their fear, felt that there was a
much bigger difference between the
two animals than a simple trunk and
several pounds of weight. After all, in
these latitudes, everyone has had an
experience with a horse, even if it is
just trying to pet the animal’s neck or
looking at it from outside the barn-
yard. However, there are not many
people in the area who can claim to
know what to do when faced with an
elephant.
As a consequence of this incident,
the councilmen required, through a
decree, that circuses requesting munici-
pal permits install a perimeter security
fence surrounding the tent, the cages,
the transportation trailers, and the trail-
ers inhabited by circus workers. This
isolated, permanently and securely,
the small nomadic citadel from the rest
of the stable population in the munici-
pality.
Since the circus owner had plenty
of spare fences in his inventory, he
agreed to the requirement and estab-
lished his entertainment business for
duration of three weeks.
It was our fifth day in that city. The
weekend shows had already been
done and Monday (the day that
the circus is not open to the public)
promised a quiet afternoon with a
few rehearsals, minor repairs, and
the usual attention required by the
animal’s cages. This being a day of
rest limited to giving them food and
lightly cleaning of the area around the
cages.
I did this early, leaving them with
enough food to get them through the
day and, even though many of the
members of the circus take advantage
of these opportunities to go around
the town, get together to grab a drink
in a bar, go to the movie theater,
or choose any other leisure activity.
I opted to stay in my small trailer,
watching a movie on TV and drinking
a cold beer.
The movie was boring, there was little
beer left in my fridge, and the sun-
down had begun to open its red eyes
on the blue dying sky. I was told that
the tamer would be working with his
beasts, I probably would’ve helped
him (as I always did) to set up the
security corridor and the cage in the
ring, in addition to making sure that
both lions and tigers were locked up
correctly for the next day. However,
nobody told me. A few hours before,
Ivan had been rehearsing with his
tigers and lions, trying to teach them
some new tricks. He had diligently put
together the entire closed corridor that
allowed the felines to walk between
their cages and enter the ring himself,
also protected by bars, and, after
working with his “kittens”, he had
taken them back to their stations.
When working with them, it is not
unusual to hear their roars. You can
hear them all day long but particu-
larly in the late afternoon. The sound
becomes so usual that, at some point,
you stop noticing it altogether.
The soft knock on the door of my
small trailer interrupted my drowsiness.
I got up from the couch in front of the
TV and I opened the door slightly.
Standing before me, like an epiphany,
I saw Jennifer, the girlfriend-assistant
of the mature, jealous Hungarian and,
even though the fact that the entire
troupe lives together within the small
area that comprises the circus’ neigh-
borhood makes interaction among
neighbors quite frequent, my level of
socialization with her was not exactly
an example of integrated lives. The
reasons I can give for this are many
and each of them carries enough
weight to make the other unnecessary.
However, as an example, I will say
that she is a few years older than I,
that she has a perfect beauty, un-
reachable for a manure cleaner, and,
above all, that her boyfriend has an
amazing ability to handle of swords,
knives, axes, and any other sharp
objects within his reach. These were
enough reasons to maintain the level
of integration at “Hello”, “Good morn-
ing” (or evening, depending on the
occasion), and some infrequent “How
are you?” all said in passing and as
simple formalities to show good man-
ners.
Surely, my face must’ve shown surprise
at seeing her standing at my door be-
cause a happy smile came across her
face when she saw me, as a “Can I
come in?” broke any previous barriers
of distance in our relationship.
In an instant, images of my whole
trailer ran through my mind. Without
realizing it, in less than one second, I
mentally reviewed the state of cleanli-
ness and organization of my small
trailer home and, thanking God in
silence, I concluded that the level of
acceptability to receive visitors was
enough for me not to blush at an
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