The Butterfly Tiara

by Gwyneth Rees

  ‘I keep saying that to Uncle Max. I keep telling him Dad’s going to be fine and that he’s going to be furious when he comes out of hospital and finds out about Sukey.’

  ‘Sukey?’ Marietta queried.

  ‘That’s what we’ve called the baby elephant. She’s ever so sweet. I’m going there now to have my photo taken with her if you want to come and see.’

  ‘Why don’t you go, Ava, while I go and find Tony?’ Marietta suggested.

  ‘I can show you round the rest of the circus afterwards if you like, Ava,’ Lexi offered.

  ‘Really?’

  ‘Oh yes. I haven’t got anything to do for the rest of the morning – and I can’t stand being bored.’

  ‘Well, thanks – that would be great,’ Ava said with a smile.

  Lexi smiled too. ‘OK then. Follow me.’

  ‘Tony will be over the moon to see Marietta.’ Lexi chatted as they walked past a couple of old buses that had their side windows covered with frilly curtains. ‘The twins will be furious though.’

  ‘The twins?’

  ‘My cousins, Dulcie and Gemma. They’re not really twins – Gemma’s sixteen and Dulcie’s seventeen – but Uncle Max thinks “Tony and the Trapeze Twins” sounds better on the programme. They’re really spoilt and they’re dead jealous of Marietta.’

  ‘Why?’ Ava asked in surprise.

  ‘Because she’s much prettier than them and because they know Tony prefers working with her.’

  Ava was about to ask if Marietta came here a lot to practise on the trapeze with Tony, when they arrived at the edge of the field, where a big lorry was standing a little apart from the other vehicles. With its long bonnet and huge headlamps it looked more old-fashioned than the lorries Ava was used to. The upper flap of the lorry’s rear door was propped open and to Ava’s astonishment they could hear weeping coming from inside.

  ‘Oh . . .’ was all Ava could manage to say after they had climbed into the back.

  Huddled in one corner of the lorry was a baby elephant. It had light grey skin, a cute little wrinkly trunk, big floppy ears, a tuft of wispy hair on top of its head – and very sad eyes. Tears were running down its face as it continued to make the same heart-wrenching crying noise.

  ‘You poor little thing,’ Lexi crooned in a soft voice, rushing across to put her arms around the animal. ‘You miss your mother, don’t you?’ She looked up at Ava. ‘She’s been here a week and she’s been crying on and off like this the whole time.’

  ‘I didn’t know elephants could cry,’ Ava murmured.

  ‘Oh yes. They cry real saltwater tears when they get upset, just like we do. Elephants are a lot like us really. Dad told me that in the wild baby elephants live in families, and if a baby in the herd is upset the entire family goes to comfort it.’

  ‘Poor Sukey – you must be so lonely and frightened right now!’ Ava exclaimed, moving closer to gently lay her hand on the animal’s side. ‘So where is her mother?’

  ‘Uncle Max says he doesn’t know – not that I believe him. It’s easy to tell when he’s lying, because he gets all red and fidgety.’ Lexi frowned. ‘Oh, Sukey . . . I wish we could help you.’

  As Ava started to stroke Sukey’s head the elephant turned to look at her. Sukey seemed to be looking right into her eyes. Then she gave a little whimper and brushed the end of her trunk against Ava’s hand as if she recognized Ava as a friend.

  ‘Wow – it took me ages to get her to trust me,’ Lexi murmured.

  ‘Hey, have you seen my dad?’ came a sudden sharp voice from outside and both girls looked up to see a scowly teenager with a freckled face and blonde curly hair peering into the back of the lorry at them.

  ‘Gemma!’ Lexi exclaimed. ‘I thought you and Dulcie were practising your act with Tony?’

  ‘Tony’s girlfriend has just arrived,’ Gemma grumbled. ‘That’s why I want to speak to Dad. Tony shouldn’t be wasting his time with Marietta when he’s supposed to be practising with us.’

  Ava immediately felt indignant on Marietta’s behalf. ‘Marietta isn’t his girlfriend!’ she said hotly. ‘And she needs to practise too if Tony’s going to put her in his show!’

  ‘In the show?’ Gemma looked shocked. ‘You’re kidding!’

  Lexi looked amused as she told her cousin, ‘Ava is Marietta’s niece, by the way.’

  Gemma’s face went bright red. ‘Well, you’d better tell your show-off auntie to watch her back from now on,’ she snapped at Ava. ‘The trapeze is no place to make enemies!’ And with that she stormed off.

  ‘What does she mean?’ asked Ava, feeling nervous all of a sudden. ‘They wouldn’t do anything to hurt Marietta, would they?’

  Before Lexi could answer they heard Gemma’s voice complaining loudly to somebody outside. Shortly afterwards the back door of the lorry opened again and a scowling middle-aged man in trousers and red braces hauled himself inside.

  ‘Hello, Uncle Max,’ Lexi said cheerfully. ‘This is Ava. She’s Marietta’s niece.’

  ‘I know who she is,’ he grunted. ‘What I want to know is what does she think she’s doing upsetting my Gemma like that?’ Max turned to confront Ava, but did a double take as he saw her tiara. ‘Cor blimey, girl!’ he exclaimed instead. ‘Are those jewels for real?’

  4

  Fortunately Max’s attention was quickly diverted away from the tiara as a younger man leaped into the lorry behind him.

  ‘This is Tommy, our new elephant trainer.’ Max introduced him as Sukey took a few nervous steps backwards.

  ‘Let’s ’ave a look at ’er then!’ Tommy said, boldly approaching the elephant, who began to swipe at him angrily with her trunk. ‘Feisty, are we?’ said Tommy as he dodged out of her way. ‘Well, don’t worry . . . we’ll soon knock that out of you!’

  ‘You’re not going to hurt her, are you?’ Lexi asked in alarm.

  ‘Be quiet, Lexi,’ snapped her uncle. ‘He knows what he’s doing.’

  Tommy looked from Lexi to Ava, then back again. ‘An elephant rider and a butterfy trapeze girl, eh? Well, ain’t that swell!’ He too stared long and hard at Ava’s tiara, letting out a low whistle before turning back to Lexi’s uncle. ‘I’ll need these kids to stay away from the animal from now on. We don’t want them being too soft on her. The faster we break her spirit the better.’

  Max nodded. ‘Off you go, children. Oh . . . and the photographer from the paper can’t come until tomorrow, so you can change out of that costume, Lexi.’

  ‘What does he mean – break Sukey’s spirit?’ Ava whispered as soon as they were outside.

  ‘I’m not sure. Let’s listen,’ Lexi replied, creeping back to stand as close as possible to the open rear door of the lorry.

  ‘How long will it take to train her?’ Max was asking Tommy. ‘I’ve my brother to think of, see. If he does pull through – which doesn’t seem likely, but you never know – I need the act drawing in the crowds by the time he gets out of hospital.’

  ‘It shouldn’t take too long with a baby as young as this,’ Tommy told him, ‘as long as you’re not too squeamish about how you go about it. In my experience a good jab with a pitchfork soon lets ’em know who’s boss. Electric shocks tend to do the trick as well. Just leave it to me. I can start tomorrow.’

  Ava let out a little gasp of horror and turned to look at Lexi.

  Lexi had gone pale. ‘We’ve got to get Sukey out of here,’ she whispered hoarsely.

  ‘Yes . . .’ Ava agreed. ‘Could we phone the RSPCA or something?’

  Lexi’s lip was trembling as she shook her head. ‘My uncle will say we’re making it up if we tell anybody. Oh, Ava . . . if only my dad would get better . . .’ And she burst into tears.

  ‘Let’s go and find Marietta,’ Ava suggested gently when Lexi had stopped crying. ‘She might know how we can help Sukey.’

  But inside the big top a lot seemed to be happening and Ava saw that it wasn’t going to be easy to get Marietta’s attention.

  A variety of perf
ormers were practising their acts inside the ring at the same time. A young man was riding on a unicycle while a girl in a pink sparkly catsuit balanced on his shoulders. Two older men were practising a plate-spinning act and a group of girls in leotards were practising somersaults on a trampoline while juggling balls in the air.

  ‘Marietta’s up there.’ Lexi was pointing up towards the roof, where the flying trapeze had been rigged. Various ropes hung down and across from different places and a large safety net was strung up under the whole area. A long rope ladder led up to a narrow platform, where Ava could see Marietta in her red sparkly leotard and tights standing holding the trapeze bar in one hand.

  ‘That’s Tony,’ Lexi said, pointing to a dark-haired young man who was hanging by his knees from another trapeze swing, shouting across to Marietta and clapping his hands together at the same time.

  Ava watched open-mouthed as Marietta took off from the platform, swinging herself through the air towards Tony. Tony caught her by the wrists and they swung to and fro together a couple of times before Tony launched Marietta back into the air with a twist and she caught the empty bar.

  ‘She’s done that loads of times before,’ Lexi reassured Ava, seeing her shocked face. ‘And anyway, there’s always the net if she misses. Shall we call up to them?’

  Ava shook her head, reckoning that, despite the net, it was better to leave Marietta to concentrate on what she was doing. ‘Let’s come back and speak to them later.’

  ‘OK,’ Lexi agreed. ‘Let’s go and find Stella instead. She always knows everything that’s going on.’

  ‘Do you mean Princess Stella, the contortionist?’ Ava asked, remembering the writing on the side of the caravan that housed the magic mirror.

  ‘That’s right, though the “Princess” bit is just for the act of course.’ Lexi led Ava out through a flap in the side of the big top, adding, ‘She likes practising outside, away from the others. Look, there she is!’

  Lexi was pointing to a slim young woman in a purple catsuit who was balancing upside down on her hands, her body bent over backwards so far that the back of her head was touching her bottom.

  ‘Wow!’ Ava gasped.

  ‘That’s nothing,’ Lexi told her. ‘In the show she does that and shoots a bow and arrow with her feet. She never misses the target either. Dad says she’s one of the best back-benders he knows.’

  ‘Hi, girls,’ said Stella, unfolding herself from her impossible-looking pose.

  ‘Stella, this is Marietta’s niece – Ava,’ Lexi said quickly.

  Stella smiled and extended her hand. ‘Oh, is Marietta visiting us again? Seems like we can’t keep her and Tony apart these days! Hello, Ava – nice to meet you. Wow, what an amazing tiara!’

  ‘Thanks,’ Ava said, flushing a little.

  ‘Stella, we were wondering if you know anything about the baby elephant Uncle Max just bought—’ Lexi began.

  ‘It’s terrible, isn’t it?’ Stella interrupted her at once. ‘The reason I joined this circus was because there are no animal acts. Your grandfather always wanted it that way and so did your dad, but not Max . . .’ She sighed. ‘I know the two of them have never got on very well, but I just can’t believe Max has done this now, when your dad is . . .’ She trailed off, but they both knew what she meant.

  ‘Stella, do you have any idea where Sukey came from?’ Lexi asked her.

  Stella shook her head. ‘When I asked Max he told me it was none of my business. All I’ve heard is that a lorry – not one of ours – arrived in the middle of the night about a week ago with the baby elephant inside.’

  Lexi frowned, lowering her voice. ‘Stella . . . you don’t think Sukey could be stolen, do you?’

  Stella sighed. ‘It’s crossed my mind . . . what with Max refusing to say where he got her. Though how he expects to get away with it if she is stolen I really don’t know!’

  ‘Maybe we should go online and see if a baby elephant has been reported missing from anywhere recently,’ Ava suggested helpfully.

  ‘Go on what line?’ Lexi asked, looking confused.

  ‘Nothing,’ Ava mumbled, quickly realizing her mistake. Obviously the Internet hadn’t been invented sixty years ago. How weird it must be to live without it, she thought.

  ‘Listen, girls, even if Sukey was stolen we can’t just accuse Max without any proof,’ Stella said.

  ‘But, Stella, we’ve got to do something,’ Lexi insisted. ‘Sukey’s just a baby and she needs her mum. And that elephant trainer sounds really cruel. We have to get Sukey away from him.’

  Stella frowned. ‘Tell you what . . . If you find out for sure that Sukey’s been stolen then I’ll help you.’

  ‘Thanks, Stella,’ Lexi said, cheering up. ‘Come on, Ava. I’d better get out of this costume. Then let’s go and see what we can find out from Uncle Max!’

  5

  ‘Uncle Max and Aunt Val do a knife-throwing act together,’ Lexi said as she led the way to their caravan, having stopped off on the way to get changed. ‘She’s his human target.’

  ‘Isn’t she scared he’ll really hit her?’ Ava asked in awe.

  Lexi laughed. ‘Aunt Val isn’t scared of anything . . . oh . . . except spiders! Once a spider crawled on to her foot while she was leaving the stage after her act and she just about screamed the place down. The audience thought it was hilarious.’

  As they approached the caravan they heard raised voices and Lexi whispered, ‘That’s them. They must be round the back practising. Follow me.’

  The two girls peered around the corner of the caravan to see Max standing with a knife in his hand, ready to throw it at Val, who was leaning against a huge target-board, her arms and legs splayed out as if she was waiting for someone to draw around her.

  ‘You can’t lie to me, Max,’ she snapped as he threw the first knife. She didn’t even flinch as it landed beside her right ankle. ‘I know there’s something going on! If you did steal that elephant I hope you’ve covered your tracks, that’s all I can say.’ She waited for the second knife to land before adding, ‘And whatever you’ve done you were a fool to keep me out of it. You’re hopeless at doing anything on your own.’

  ‘I wanted to protect you.’ Max stuck up for himself hotly as he prepared to throw a third knife. ‘I thought the less you knew the better – especially if my brother does pull through.’

  ‘Yes, well, you’d better pray that he doesn’t! Those doctors said he wouldn’t last a week after his operation and he’s still with us. He’s a tough one, Max, and you were a fool to think otherwise!’

  Ava glanced at Lexi, but she didn’t seem too upset – or surprised – to hear them talking like this about her dad.

  Max looked furious and Ava held her breath as he took out two more knives and threw them both at Val in quick succession, the blades skimming each of her earlobes to land perfectly on either side of her head.

  ‘Where’s that paper you were reading the other day – the one you wouldn’t let me see?’ Val demanded.

  Max sounded defensive. ‘I don’t know what you mean.’

  ‘Oh yes you do! When I asked you what you were doing with a local rag from up north you went all red and squirmy on me.’

  The two of them went on bickering until Val finally abandoned their practice session and stormed off in a rage. Max was left to mutter angrily to himself as he collected up his knives and went back inside their caravan. Ava and Lexi were about to leave too when Max suddenly stepped outside again. He was holding a folded newspaper.

  They followed him, staying as close behind as they dared, watching him as he stuffed the newspaper inside a rubbish sack propped up behind one of the other caravans. As soon as he was out of sight Lexi rushed over to rescue the paper. It had been pushed well down under a pile of kitchen scraps and Lexi shook off some soggy potato peelings before bringing it over to Ava.

  ‘This must be the paper Aunt Val was talking about,’ Lexi said, studying the front page. ‘I don’t understand. We’ve been trav
elling around the south of England so far this summer. What’s my uncle doing with a newspaper from so far away?’

  The paper was a week old and as they flicked through it a particular photograph jumped out at them together with the headline BABY ELEPHANT STOLEN FROM ZOO.

  Ava had butterflies in her tummy as Lexi read the article out loud. It gave details about the zoo and described how its star attraction – an eight-month-old baby elephant called Bonnie – had been stolen from the elephant house in the middle of the night. ‘Fancy’s Zoo and Elephant Sanctuary purchased Bonnie along with her mother, Grace, six months ago, stating that they wanted to give them a home where they could stay together,’ Lexi read slowly. ‘The zoo, which opened only last year, has received much praise for the excellent care and living conditions it provides for its elephants. The zoo’s owner, Mister Hugh Fancy, is extremely distressed by the loss of baby Bonnie and is eager to hear from anyone with any information. Bonnie apparently has one distinguishing mark – a V-shaped scar on her left ear.’

  The two girls looked at one another.

  ‘Come on,’ said Lexi finally. ‘Let’s go and find out.’

  They found Sukey standing with her back to them inside the lorry. She looked round when she heard Lexi’s voice and took a few steps towards them. Lexi spoke to her softly and pulled an apple out from her pocket, which Sukey spotted at once. As Lexi fed it to her she told Ava, ‘It took me ages to get her to trust me. I’ve spent hours just sitting here stroking her and talking to her and feeding her apples. I think she’s finally realized I’m her friend.’

  Just as Lexi was about to take a closer look at Sukey’s left ear they heard a gruff, all-too-familiar voice. It was Max.

  ‘What are you two doing in here again?’ he barked. ‘Lexi, I thought I told you I don’t want you fussing over that animal! She’s not a pet. She’s got to earn her keep.’

  ‘Sorry, Uncle Max,’ Lexi said quickly. ‘I’ve still got to feed her and muck her out though, haven’t I? Unless you want Gemma or Dulcie to do it?’